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. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
– John 12:23-26
Those of us
from middle to upper-class backgrounds, like myself, are sometimes guilty of
attempting to construct stable, secure, self-sufficient lives for ourselves so
that we can live independent of those around us. Moreover, we tend to look down
upon the folks around us that are unable to find stability and security.
Jesus, by
calling us to follow him, calls all of this into question. It’s as if he says,
“That life you’ve built for yourself that you love—yeah, the “self-sufficient”
life you take pride in—well, if you want life with me, I’m going to need you to
give all that up.” Jesus calls us out of the stability we pretend to have, into
life in and with him, a life where we are, together, in complete dependence on
God. In which case, those we can sometimes look down upon might have something
to teach us about trusting God.
Jesus
exposes our security and self-sufficiency for what they are—a lie. However, in
so doing, we witness the good news. The good news is that Jesus calls us
renounce our former ways of life so that we can live life as it was intended to
lived—in union with God and the rest of creation.
~ Chris Agoranos
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