Lenten Reflection V – Lent 2024

Reflection for Lent V

By Rev’d. Allison Dean

I have decided to follow Jesus.

No turning back (praise the Lord), no turning back.

This is an old familiar song which many of us learnt as children. Though we are grown up now, such things stay with us our whole lives. It brings back memories of when life was simpler, of a time when maybe we had more joy in the Lord, when we liked going to church, and so on. And, importantly, they remain words which we can still sing. Because at every age – 4, 40, 80 – we still have to decide to follow Jesus.

The difference for us as adults is that we know something of life now. So we know that following Jesus isn’t always easy. We also know (hopefully) that following Jesus is about more than simply doing and saying the right things, though of course doing and saying the right things is important. Many of the readings leading up to Holy Week and Easter focus on the nature of discipleship, what it means to be a follower of Jesus. (You can read my earlier reflection on following Jesus here). That is certainly the case with the reading from John 12 this week:

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very 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. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also (John 12:20–25).

Scripture gives us many descriptions of the same thing to help us get a full picture. But this image of the wheat dying in order to bear fruit may be a little hard to understand if we don’t know anything about agriculture.

That definitely applies to me, so it was wonderful when I read a commentary on John by Jo-Ann Brant, in which she says, “In this context, Jesus seems to suggest that the Greeks’ request signifies a total break with their former life. They cannot simply be religious tourists: they must become part of the divine household.”

I thought this was such a relatable analogy. We live in a tourism-driven economy, many of us travel, so we know the nature of tourists. Tourists come, they take a break from their normal lives, they spend a little time with us, then they return home, and their life continues as it was before. Rare is the case where a person’s whole life is changed by casual visits somewhere.

But the person who comes again and again, the person who takes the time to learn the culture, the person who makes friends with those who belong to the place, the person who eventually decides to stay and live, that person is no longer a tourist. They now belong to the place that they have chosen. The things that have shaped and formed them can’t be changed. But as they go into the future, their life is permanently changed by dwelling in a new place. I think about this in relation my living in Eleuthera. I’m not from here, and I won’t be here forever, but my character, my perspective, ultimately my future, have been irreversibly changed by the time I have spent here.

In the Christian life we have a choice.

One option is to be religious tourists: people who go to church (however regularly), maybe even participate in a church organisation or two, but never experience any lasting impact on the rest of our life. It’s a good time while we’re there, then we go back to ‘real life’. This doesn’t only apply to the Christmas, Easter, and funerals attendees. Any one of us could end up in this camp if we are not diligently tending and watering and weeding the garden that is our spiritual life.

The other option is to be those who make their home in a new place; we can be as the wheat which gains new life through dying. The Christian life, our faith, then become who we are. We take on what Paul says in Philippians 2, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus”. When we are the wheat that dies, we leave behind our selfishness and pride, we leave behind our need for revenge, we leave behind our hatred, we leave behind lust for power and money. We leave behind everything that is not of God, everything opposed to his will and purpose. In the space left behind, we can fill our hearts and minds with the desire to follow Jesus wherever he leads, to answer whenever he calls, and in so doing, find new life.

Will you decide now to follow Jesus?

No turning back (praise the Lord), no turning back.