"… unless a
kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it
dies, it produces many seeds."
Change can be a pain, and really hard to deal with. Our family has
moved twice since the kids came along. Sure, it’s exciting in some ways, but each
time we change, there are some painful moments as well. Friends, family, and other
familiar faces are no longer around. It’s like a piece of you dies.
Each of us has at least a little part inside that wants things to be
constant. We like routines. There’s a TV show that we just have to see each week. A
lot of us have morning routines we use to get ready for the day, and our routines seldom
change. If something goes wrong and we can’t follow our "normal" patterns,
we tend to get really grumpy.
But things have to change. God wants them to change. In the verse,
Jesus was warning his disciples about some really big changes just around the corner. He
knew the changes were coming. He knew that they wouldn’t be particularly pleasant. He
even asked his Father if there was another way. He didn’t stay on his couch watching
TV or playing computer games. Nor was he frozen by fear.
We’re surrounded by the world and by sin, and it’s easy to
either get comfortable and complacent, or to get really scared and hide. The pastor in
Arizona says that his job is to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the
comfortable." Like the grain of wheat, we have to change, or we’ll be sitting
alone, stagnant. Jesus was kind of like a seed. His resurrection fulfilled God’s
promise for salvation, and gave new life to God’s plan for his people. If he
hadn’t died and gone through those changes, what then? But since he did, salvation
has blossomed. We are his new seeds. We continue his work.
As little Christs, we’re bound to go through some changes as well.
It can’t be any other way. As we follow him and do his work in the world, we’re
going to run into some interesting people or situations. Some won’t be pleasant. Some
will be downright scary. Some will hurt a lot. Those changes can remind us that we are
his, and that he’s the only constant. Those changes change us and bring us closer to
him.
