Of endings and beginnings

Beginnings and endings and beginnings again…

No wonder the disciples were confused and found it hard to understand. Human instinct is to preserve life, to keep institutions going, to survive. Jesus recognized the mystery of transformation which produces a head of corn from a single grain, and it spoke to him of his own path:

‘A grain of wheat remains no more than a single grain unless it is dropped into the ground and dies. If it does die, then it produces many grains.’ John 12:24 GNB

He could have stayed in the hills around Capernaum, or along the shores of Lake Tiberias, but instead he chose to go to the seat of power; to Jerusalem. He entered the city in procession, but on a donkey rather than a war horse. At roughly the same time, Pontius Pilate and his legionnaries entered from the opposite side in a public display of force at the tense time of Passover. The Romans didn’t want the Exodus stories of ancient liberation to give anyone any ideas.

Then Jesus went to the other seat of power in Jerusalem: the Temple. There he literally upset the order of things, overturning money changers’ tables and setting free sacrificial doves, calling for renewal in religious life.

John talks of Christ’s Passion as his Glory. When truth will be seen and God will be glorified. Jesus is prepared to embody the Truth and submit to death, even death on a cross.

This is a time of endings and beginnings in many ways: of aging and loss, of relocation and new challenges, of change in the Church of Scotland, and in the congregation I love and have served. May the sign of the fallen grain transformed encourage and give hope.

Earth-bound Messiah

Who embraced death to bring life

Plant in us the seed of faith

And nurture us to fruitfulness

And all for Love’s sake.

AMEN