Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

“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.” (John 12:24)

From the beginnings of Christian faith the death of Jesus has been understood as the way to life. Every Lutheran knows this all too well when we learn the Small Catechism.

What then is the significance of such a baptism with water? Answer: It signifies that the old creature in us with all sins and evil desires is to be drowned and die through daily contrition and repentance, and on the other hand that daily a new person is to come forth and rise up to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

Then Luther hands down what Paul wrote to the Christians living in Rome:

"We were buried with Christ through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we, too, are to walk in a new life." (Romans 6:4)

Our death in baptism is to be understood in terms of Jesus’ own death. We understand in this community of faith that the death of Jesus is the gift of life.

This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and all people for the forgiveness of sins.

The death of Jesus alters the world situation and issues forth in a new covenant as promised by the prophet Jeremiah.

The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. . . . for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more. Jeremiah 31:31, 34b

The sacred meal that we share is at a table of fellowship, of peace, and of reconciliation. We do understand Jesus’ death as sacrifice, but not the sacrifice whereby God’s wrath is placated by the death of God’s Son. God’s wrath is placated by God’s own decision to intervene in the world situation to the benefit of the world. This was eloquently affirmed in our assembly last Sunday when we heard the affirmation of God’s action in Jesus Christ:

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17)

The glory of God is that God can enter the human situation without succumbing to the conditions of our sickly, deadly world. I know that on the surface it looks as though Jesus does become the victim of this world. But therein lies the mystery of the cross. Not Jesus but the world succumbs to the cross. For the cross shows up the world for what it is. And the cross shows up Jesus Christ for who he is, God’s very Word to us capable of setting us free from our slavery to sin, death and the devil.

We must be very careful to communicate what we mean when we speak about the death of Jesus as a sacrifice. Are you sitting there thinking in terms of a blood sacrifice meant to placate the wrath of the gods? It is the gods who need placating. They, like the powers of this world, are hungry for blood. And believe me. The powers of this world are getting their blood in vast quantities whether in the wars that surround this globe in Israel, the Congo, Sudan, Pakistan, Iraq or Afghanistan. But the bloodshed is also horrific in the struggle to corner numerous markets in the world such as we see in Mexico today or in the reassertion of dominance by Russia over her neighbors. The gods are getting their share of blood.

If it is true that our death in baptism is to be understood in terms of Jesus’ death, then we are going to listen carefully to Jesus’ own words about his death.

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.

These words are those of one who knows what it is to give up one’s life, that is, to sacrifice one’s life. The objective is not to die and thereby make God happy. The goal is to die and thereby make the gods happy. Nothing could make the powers of this world, yes, the ruler of this world, happier than to stop Jesus.

You will hear the words of these powers this evening when power of the Gospel of John will be read before you in one sitting. There you will hear the rulers conspire. They fear that they will lose their hold over the people and that Rome will intervene then with deadly force. Listen!

So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, "What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation." But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all! You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed." (John 11:47-50)

Caiaphas knows that Jesus must be eliminated, because his bid for peace will upset the balance of power and control in the land. To Caiaphas the only way to have peace was to kill the one who threatens and undermines the bloodthirsty grip that the powers have over the world. They are afraid of losing their power. They are desperate.

The Pharisees then said to one another, "You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!" (John 12:19)

There is nothing here on their lips about dying, about letting go in order to let a new power possess the land. Their way is the old way. They will do what they have always done. They will kill. That is why the Biblical witness interprets the death of Jesus as necessary. It is necessary because it is inevitable that the one preaching peace will be a threat to those who know only bloodshed. They will kill Jesus, and Jesus knows this all too well. And what is his response?

“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.”

Dear congregation, the prophecy is fulfilled. Jesus’ death is yielding much fruit. God is creating in us clean hearts. God is renewing a right spirit within us. For the new covenant has been struck between earth and heaven, and is now connected by the cross. We are the fruit predicted by Jesus before his death. Jesus’ own death is not perceived by Jesus as the end., but rather as the beginning.

Jesus refers to “much fruit.” We should know already that this fruit is the community of faith that is compelled toward the crucified Christ. We are drawn to the dying Christ because we want to know what kind of life would be more willing to die than to participate in the killing in every generation. What kind of life can speak of his own death as though it were just one more problem in life to be solved?

It is none other than Jesus, God’s word to us.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Ultimately, this glory is revealed in the cross. Those who gaze upon it will receive from it the power to become children of God.

Of death I am no more afraid;
your dying is my living.
You clothe me in your royal robes
that you are always giving.
Your love is dress enough for me
to wear through all eternity
before the throne of heaven,
where we shall stand close by your side,
your church, the well-appointed bride,
when all the faithful gather.*

And the peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

*A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth. Text: Paul Gerhardt, 1607-1676; tr. Lutheran Book of Worship, alt.
Text © 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship, admin. Augsburg Fortress.