April 9, 2000

Text: John 12:23-46 (read 12:23-27, 44-46)

I assume all of us have heard Kermit the Frog, the character from Sesame Street, sing "It’s Not Easy Being Green." To some extent each of us can identify with that song because in one way or another it is not easy being the person God created us to be.

I suppose it is a very human characteristic to wish we had something we do not have or to wish we did not have something we feel stuck with. "If I could only be better looking …", "If I could only run faster …", "If I could only learn more easily …", "If I could only be more sensitive …", "If I could only be more tough …", "If only I could have a better voice …", "If only I could be younger right now …", "If only I could be a little older right now …", "If only "If only …", "If only …", "It’s not easy being green."

It is not always easy being who we are; and it is not always easy doing what we have been created to do.

This was true for Jesus. He, too, knew what Kermit meant. "It’s not easy being green." In the passage we read today, Jesus said: "Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father save me from this hour?’ " In Matthew (26:39), Mark (14:36), and Luke (22:42), Jesus prayed: "Father, let this cup pass from me." In my imagination, I hear Jesus saying to himself something like: "Oh, to be just a simple carpenter."

"It’s not easy being green." "Now my soul is troubled." "Let this cup pass from me."

But Jesus trusted God, and he went on to pray: "It is for this reason that I have come to this hour." Or as quoted in Matthew, Mark and Luke: "Not my will but thine be done." Jesus trusted God, and that was the difference. Jesus could let go of what he wanted, because Jesus trusted God with what was facing him. "God," Jesus said, "it is not what I want that finally matters; it is what you are trying to accomplish that is really important."

This is the essence of commitment, putting what God is trying to accomplish ahead of our wishes and wants. Each of us has been given the potential of being used by God in accomplishing God’s will. The truth of the matter is that is why each of us has been created—to be the person God sees we can be, doing what God wants and needs us to do.

But for us to be the persons God intends us to be, we have to be willing. Or to say the same thing another way: we are to love God with our heart and soul and mind and strength. We are to love God with all that we are. When we love God, whatever God wants from us is more important than what we want for ourselves. We are to love God. This is not serving God as a slave—feeling we have no choice except do it or be punished. This is being the child who loves the ideal Father, who does what the ideal Father wants because the child loves the Father.

Adult children who have had the responsibility of taking care of an elderly parent know what it is to do what is needed in loving that parent, yet at the same time longing for the cup of that ordeal to pass from them. But they love their mother … their father; and so they willingly do what love requires.

But "It’s not easy being green." However, to refuse to do what love calls for is to reject being who one is—the child of this woman … this man. To refuse to do what loving God calls for is to reject being who we are—children of God. Love, true love, involves giving of oneself for the good of the other, whether we feel like doing it or not. And just so, Jesus prayed: "Father, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not what I want, but your will be done."

In the passage we read today, Jesus said that unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains merely a grain of wheat. But when the seed is planted and gives of itself to the point it is no longer merely a seed, then that seed is truly fruitful, and more wheat is produced. Our living becomes fruitful in the sight of God when we give of ourselves. Our living fails to be fruitful in the sight of God when the focus of our living is merely taking care of ourselves.

I think this is what Jesus was trying to communicate in that strange sentence: "Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life." Abundant living does not come from being self-centered and selfish. Eternal life, life with an eternal quality, is what is possible when we lose our lives—that is, when we give of ourselves the way Jesus did.

"Whoever serves me must follow me," Jesus said. Then he said: "Whoever serves me, the Father will honor." When we give of ourselves, doing what God wants us to do, our living does make a difference in the sight of God—even though it may go unnoticed in the world. In God's sight, our lives are fruitful. That is what it is to have God honor our lives. Our lives are truly honored when our living serves the purposes of God.

This morning some young people have chosen to be baptized. Baptism means more than we can say, just as the meaning of a loving parent’s kiss means more than we can ever say. But whatever else baptism is, it is the very special sacrament celebrating that the family of the followers of Christ officially has a new member. In baptism we are marked by the living water of Christ as one whose primary purpose in life is to serve Christ. This means we are setting our sights on living as Christ lived. This means living lives marked by the kind of love we see reflected in New Testament stories about Jesus.

When we are baptized as infants, baptism celebrates that the family of Christianity has had born into its midst another person, another soul, that will be brought up to live his or her days following the path of Christ—even though that path sometimes leads to a cross. And when we are older and we choose to be baptized, what baptism celebrates is basically the same. We are celebrating God having accepted us into the family of Christ; and in that celebration we are declaring to God and everyone that our primary goal is to live a Christ-like life.

But ‘It’s not easy being green." It’s not easy being the persons God intends us to be, doing what God intends us to do. It was not easy for Jesus. "Now my soul is troubled," he said. But he went on to say that it was for this purpose he had come to this point in his life.

This is the essence of commitment, putting what God is trying to accomplish ahead of our wishes and wants. Each of us has been given the potential and is continually being given opportunities for being used by God in accomplishing God's will. The truth of the matter is this is why each of us has been created—to be the person God sees we can be, doing what God wants and needs us to do. But as Kermit sang, "It’s not easy being green."

God, it is not easy being the persons you intend us to be, doing what you want us to do. Help us fulfill the purpose you have given us. Help us follow Christ, even when that leads us to some kind of cross. Amen.

God, you who are the Mystery behind all that is and who became one of us in Jesus and through Jesus revealed yourself to be like a Father who loves his children with ideal love, we ask you to teach us to pray—teach us not merely to say words, but to live in a prayerful relationship with you. Through the Scriptures you have told us that living such a life involves loving you with all that we are. Show us how to do that in the midst of all the different and difficult situations in which we find ourselves. Help us to love you as we ought to love.

Remove from us all that blocks our ability to be and do what you want us to be and do. Heal the old wounds we carry with us in our living, wounds of the soul that fester and poison our attitudes and distort not only our ability to love you, but also our ability to love ourselves and our ability to love our neighbors. Open our eyes to see your redeeming grace at work in our lives, and in the light of your grace enable us to identify all the phoniness, all the distortions, all the lies that all too often shape the way we live. By your grace set us free from all the ways we distort our living.

As you have loved us in Christ who was crucified, enable us to love you, ourselves and
one another. Help us live the life Jesus was teaching us to live when he taught us to pray: "Our Father …"