20150322 Lent 5 B

Jesus said “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”
A grain of wheat that is never planted will always be ‘Just a Grain of Wheat’. But when a grain of wheat is planted, watered and the sun warms the soil, the single grain will sprout a stalk and grow into about fifty kernels of wheat. Think about it; fifty kernels of wheat from that one seed.
Jesus used parables and examples that the crowds could understand. It was the poor of that time who came to hear Jesus and they were mainly farmers and shepherds. By using references to these occupations, the people could understand the lesson Jesus was teaching in the story.
Since this is a Holy Cross group, I should refer to a seed potato which will produce six or seven potatoes so we would understand the story better.
Jesus continued “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.”
John Pilch wrote “The parable of the seed indicates the means by which Jesus will be glorified. His death will be the source of life for many, actually for all (Israelites and non-Israelites). Moreover, those who follow Jesus will gain their entry to eternal life through death.
For this reason, the one who is too attached to life in this world will not prove to be as honorable a follower of Jesus as the one who prefers life in the world to come. In eternity, the disciple will be with Jesus in the Father’s love, an honorable status that nothing on earth can match.”
But we are getting ahead of the Gospel. Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast came to Philip and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” This is the first mention of a non-Jewish people who are seeking Jesus. The Greek word “to see” also means “to visit with”, “to meet” or “to have an interview with”.
It is common in Mediterranean culture to have someone be a mediator or a patron to obtain access for you to a person you don’t know. Philip and Andrew were from Bethsaida in Galilee. Galileans were mostly bilingual. Therefore, they probably came to Philip and he went to Andrew because they have Greek names and would be able to translate for them.
We too want to see Jesus. Gerald Darring wrote “If we should like to see Jesus, we need to look for the fallen grains of wheat around us, the sick and impoverished, the abused and oppressed. If we should like to see Jesus, we need to look for those who are losing their lives, the victims of poverty, abuse, discrimination, and war.
What we need is a new covenant, a covenant of love and forgiveness. We need to have written in our hearts that we are God’s people, that we aspire to be like Christ in transforming the darkness of the world’s pain into the life and joy of Easter.”
Jerimiah said that God would establish a New Covenant with the children of Israel. It would not be like the Old Covenant with their fathers, but a new covenant that would be in their hearts. “No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives how to know the LORD. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.”
Jesus came to fulfill that covenant. The path to fulfillment was not easy. Jesus knew the path would bring temptation, suffering and death. He spoke about this at the end of the Gospel when he said “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”
Through the New Covenant of his death and resurrection, Jesus overcame death to bring us salvation. The message in today’s Gospel is to seek Christ, serve others, lose the love of this life and follow him so that when we die, we will gain eternal life.
St Josemaría Escrivá wrote “I have distinguished as it were four stages in our effort to identify ourselves with Christ—seeking him, finding him, getting to know him, loving him. It may seem clear to you that you are only at the first stage. Seek him then, hungrily; seek him within yourselves with all your strength. If you act with determination, I am ready to guarantee that you have already found him, and have begun to get to know him and to love him, and to hold your conversation in heaven.”
If we would like to see Jesus, we must lose our love for this life and follow Jesus. To follow Jesus means to live the life that he lived: serving the poor, the widow, the orphan, the stranger and the immigrant. If we are with him in this life, then we will be with him in heaven for all of eternity.
Our world is troubled and torn by violence and war, by hatred and disrespect for the value of life. We are all created in God’s image and each person deserves to be treated with kindness and respect for their individual worth as a child of God. We need peace in Ferguson Missouri and the rest of our country regardless of where a person is in society, how much money they own, the color of their skin, their cultural background or the generation in which they were born. We need peace in the Middle East so that Christians can live without fear that they will be burned or beheaded.
We must pray for peace in our world. We must pray that we will respect and treat each person with dignity regardless of their color. We must pray for the Christians in Syria and Iraq that God will give them strength in their time of need. We must die to self so we can share God’s love with everyone we meet.
Will we follow Jesus and serve others as he did? Or will we remain ‘Just a Grain of Wheat’?