LESSON: John 12.20-26, NRSV

SERMON TITLE: The Paradoxical Gospel

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INTRODUCTION:

  1. ILLUSTRATION:

    Ole and Lena were sitting down to their usual cup of morning coffee listening to the weather report coming over the radio. "There will be three to five inches of snow today and a snow emergency has been declared. You must park your cars on the odd- numbered side of the streets." Ole got up from his coffee and replies, "Confound it okay."

Two days later, again they both are sitting down with their cups of morning coffee and the weather forecast is, "There will be two to four inches of snow today and a snow emergency has been declared. You must park your cars on the even numbered side of the streets." Ole got up from his coffee and replies, "Confound it okay."
Three days later, again they both are sitting down with their cups of coffee and the weather forecast is, "There will be six to eight inches of snow today and a snow emergency has been declared. You must park your cars on the...." and then the power went out and Ole didn't get the rest of the instructions. He says to Lena, "Confound it, what am I going to do now, Lena?"
Lena replies, "Aw, Ole, just leave the car in the garage."

  1. Ole is a paradox.
    1. For him life is a paradox.
    2. What he has heard and done is based on true and adequate information.
    3. His responses are contradictory.
  2. Paradoxical
  3. Are we a little like Ole?

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MAIN BODY:

  1. The Bible contains a considerable amount of paradox.
    1. Kent and Rachel Wilken@aol.com describe 15 categories of biblical paradox with a total of 91 passages of scripture.
    2. The text for today is a paradoxical one.
      1. John 12:20-26, (NRSV)
      2. We are all right up to verse 25, then we read a puzzling statement by Jesus.
        20Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." 22Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
      3. Verse 26 is again straight forward and clear.
      4. But verse 25:
        1. Those who love their life will lose it.
        2. Those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
      5. Paradox = A paradox is a seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true. This is true of this statement by Jesus when he talks about hating and loving life in terms of finding or losing it. What does it mean to love, hate, find and lose?
  2. Those who love their life will lose it.

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ILLUSTRATION:

In their new book, The 48 Laws of Power (Viking, 1998), Robert Greene and Joost Elffers take a look at the lives of history's most notorious power brokers and distill their nefarious ideas into four dozen stratagems of amoral wisdom. (1)

    1. Here are some ways to demonstrate for us how one can love one's life and so lose it.
      1. Law 2: Never put too much trust in friends; learn how to use enemies.
      2. Law 7: Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit.
      3. Law 9: Win through your actions, never through argument.
      4. Law 11: Learn to keep people dependent on you.
      5. Law 13: When you are asking for help, appeal to people's self-interest, never to their mercy or gratitude.
      6. Law 14: Pose as a friend, work as a spy.
      7. Law 21: Play a sucker to catch a sucker; seem dumber than your mark.
      8. Law 28: Enter action boldly.
      9. Law 32: Control the options; get others to play with the cards you deal.
      10. Law 33: Discover each person's thumbscrew.
      11. Law 47: Do not go past the mark you aimed for; in victory learn when to stop.
    2. This is to focus one's life on one's self.
      1. When you consider the basis foe all sin, you may develop a whole set of rational, rationalizations or excuses.
      2. The basis of all sin is selfishness.
        1. We accept that in the story of the fall in Genesis that Adam and Eve sinned.
        2. They ate of the forbidden tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil.
        3. They were selfish in that they wanted to be like God, knowing good from evil.
        4. In this they were successful.

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    3. Remain selfish and all is lost, often in this world, definitely in the next.

ILLUSTRATION:

Thomas Merton, one of the most sought-after spiritual guides of our time, said one day to a fellow monk,
"If I make anything out of the fact that I am Thomas Merton, I am dead. And if you make anything out of the fact that you are in charge of the pig barn, you are dead."
Merton's solution?

"Quit keeping score altogether and surrender yourself with all your sinfulness to God who sees neither the score nor the scorekeeper but only his child redeemed by Christ."

    1. Jesus Christ is calling us from selfishness to selflessness.
  1. Those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
    1. The word hate is a difficult one for us because of the ways in which we use it.

ILLUSTRATION: ILLUSTRATION: Luke 14:26-27, (NRSV)

26"Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

      1. Hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even life itself.
      2. When we hate something or someone, we really hate!
      3. In the biblical material hate is used for loving less.
      4. Those who love their life less than they love God, and Jesus Christ will be able to develop the understanding and the means to obtain the crown of eternal life.

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ILLUSTRATION:

    1. In stead of attempting to make ourselves self-adequate we should apply the words of Jesus "Blessed are the poor in spirit."
      1. This speaks of our need for God.
    2. Instead of fixating on our own hurts and grief we should apply the words of Jesus, "Blessed are those who mourn."
      1. This speaks of our need to identify with the hurt, grief and sin of the world.
    3. Instead of being controlled by selfish impulses and needs we should apply the words of Jesus, "Blessed are the meek."
      1. This speaks of the need for us to live a shared life with God who provides the power to maintain control.
    4. Instead of being filled with the self or projections of the self, we should apply the words of Jesus, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness."
      1. This speaks of our need to fill our lives with God and the things of God.
    5. Instead of seeking love for ourselves and failing to extend it to others, we should apply the words of Jesus, "Blessed are those who are merciful."
      1. This speaks of our need to extend mercy to others.
    6. Instead of allowing the self to be pulled in all directions we should apply the words of Jesus, "Blessed are the pure in heart."
      1. This speaks of our need to focus single-mindedly on God and the things of God.
    7. Instead of desiring a kind of peace and justice where we will not be bothered by the strife and brokenness of the world, we should apply the words of Jesus, "Blessed are the peacemakers."
      1. This speaks of our need to work for peace and justice which makes for peace.
    8. Instead of standing for ourselves or for those who are very close to us, we should apply the words of Jesus, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake."
      1. This speaks of our need to stand for something greater than ourselves. (2)

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  1. We are being urged to focus on Jesus Christ looking through his eyes and living out the teachings of his life.
    1. In Mark Mark 8:35 we read a parallel passage which says, For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
    2. So we are being exhorted in John 12.26
      1. 26Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.
      2. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

CONCLUSION

  1. To conclude: Perhaps the Prayer -Adapted from Arthur Bennett will help us keep it all in perspective.

            Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,
            You have brought me to the valley of vision,
            where I live in the depths,
            but see you in the heights;
            hemmed in by mountains of sin
            I behold your glory.
            Let me learn by paradox that the way down is up,
            that to be low is to be high,
            that the broken heart is the healed heart,
            that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
            that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
            that to have nothing is to possess all,
            that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
            that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision.
            Let me find your light in my darkness,
            your life in my death,
            your joy in my sorrow,
            your grace in my sin,
            your glory in my valley.
            Amen.

1. Robert Greene and Joost Elffers, "The Laws of Power," Utne Reader, September-October, 1998, 78-84.

2. When we look at the Beatitudes as Jesus' description of the way of life for his followers, in each instance we discover that something kept getting in the way of the fulfillment of that beatitude, and that something is the self. -Carl B. Rife, in a personal letter to Leonard Sweet, April 22, 1998.

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