Sermon - John 12:20-33

Your Faith Journey - Finding God Through Words, Song and Praise

Many of you know that I am a huge proponent of systems thinking. I truly believe understanding systems and the way they function is vital if we are going to understand the many processes that take place within any organization, whether it is within the church, within our families and even within our very selves. Systems thinking is the process of understanding how various actions within systems, influence other components and affect the whole. Systems thinking can be applied to many facets of life. Our families are considered systems, government is a system, politics is a system, education is a system, healthcare is a system, we have a financial and economic system that drives the way we live, religion often becomes a system, and faith communities function as a system. The way we use power and authority can become a system – unfortunately often a system of domination where we leverage power over others in a very unhealthy manner. The list of types of systems goes on and on…. Each system is often made up of multiple smaller systems composed of inter-connected parts. And, the connections within a system cause behavior of one part to affect another. Every day, each one of us is a player in multiple systems as we navigate our waking hours. Some systems can be very helpful, while others can be very harmful. One thing we soon discover about systems is that they are created to be self-perpetuating. Consequently, it becomes very difficult to break a system, to change systemic functions, or break free from a system. And, today, in John’s gospel, we are going to learn about a system.

As we begin the last two weeks of our Lenten journey with another reading from the gospel of John, we discover our focus is increasingly directed toward Jesus’ crucifixion and the work of the cross. The writer of John’s gospel has a large and very dramatic understanding of the work of the cross, an understanding in which the cross becomes the hour in which the Son of Man will be glorified. This “hour” represents the completion and fulfillment of Jesus’ mission. And, in today’s reading, John tells us that Jesus’ crucifixion judges “the world” and drives out the “ruler of the world.”

Last week the word used to describe world referred to the cosmos, to all of creation. However, this week, the word translated as world is not synonymous with God’s creation. Instead, it is describing the fallen realm that exists in estrangement from God and is organized in opposition to God’s purposes, in opposition to God’s dream for this world. The word world in today’s reading from John, would better be described as a superhuman reality, a reality concretely embodied in structures and institutions that aggressively shape human life and hold human beings captive to their ways. The word we see translated as world would better be translated as “the System” with a capital S, the system of sin. And, in the gospel of John, this System of sin is driven by a spirit or force, “the ruler of the world,” whose ways are violence, domination and death.[1] In fact, theologian, Charles Campbell suggests that in today’s reading, “the crucifixion could be interpreted as an exorcism in which the System is judged and its driving force (‘ruler’) is ‘cast out’ by means of the cross.”[2] The cross of Jesus shatters the system of sin.

On Sunday mornings when we speak the words of Confession and Forgiveness, we frequently say, “We are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.” Those words describe our captivity to systems that take us down the path of death rather than life. In our culture, many systems hold us captive. We are held captive to the system of consumerism as we consume and consume, all the while knowing that our consumption is killing others around the world, others who work in sweat shops so they can feed our insatiable appetites. We are held captive by hierarchies of winners and losers, systems that shape our behavior and thinking from birth to death. We are held captive to structures and systems that perpetuate racism, sexism and heterosexism. We are held captive by myths that shape our thinking and culture, myths that promote what some call “redemptive violence.” In fact, theologian Walter Wink has suggested that “redemptive violence” is the primary myth of the System as we try to bring order out of chaos through violently defeating “the other.” This myth is everywhere in culture – in video games, in movies, in the rhetoric I hear spoken among people, in our response to any kind of threat, in our response to terrorism, and right now in our country’s response to any who are unlike us! We even find this myth in cartoons. Remember the Popeye cartoons in which Popeye restores order by eating spinach so that he can beat up Bluto?

Yes, we are held captive to systems, especially the system of sin that becomes a system of domination within our very selves. And, Jesus, throughout his ministry and journey to the cross, enacted freedom from systemic myths by refusing to respond to the domination and violence of the System. Theologian, Marcus Borg, in his book The God We Never Knew, wrote: “The point is not that Jesus was a good guy who accepted everybody, and thus we should do the same (though that would be good). Rather, his teachings and behavior reflect an alternative social vision. Jesus was not talking about how to be good and how to behave within the framework of a domination system. He was a critic of the domination system itself.” In fact, Jesus’ freedom from systems of domination and his rejection of violence is what distinguishes his way from the way of the System of sin.

In the gospel of John, Jesus’ death is not a matter of sadness. The cross is the purpose of his entire life, it is his mission, and he has been driven by this mission. And, that cross stands before us as a mirror, as Jesus exposes the System for what it is. As we look to the cross, we begin to see the world, the System with a big S, for what it really is, the way of death, and we can then begin to find ourselves set free from the system’s captivating ways. As we look to the cross, we are set free to die to a life that has been shaped by the System so that we can live fully into the way of Jesus, the way of life that truly matters.

Today, John’s gospel tells us Jesus’ hour has finally come. The writer of John’s gospel tells us Jesus has finally come to the cross, the purpose and mission of his life. And, as we continue to journey with Jesus to that cross, death is something we do not want to face. In fact, death is something we fear and do not even want to talk about. However, God is taking us to the cross, taking us to the purpose for which Jesus came. God is taking us to the cross, so we can see the act of ultimate love for all of human existence. It is in the cross that we discover the source of love that sets us free. It is the cross and the love of Christ that is shown in the cross that sets us free from the System of sin that imprisons us. And, it is in the cross where we discover that this love of the Crucified One is drawing all of humanity to God’s very self.

[1] David Brown; Barbara Brown Taylor, Feasting on the Word Year B, Volume 2 (Westminster John Knox Press, 2008),141.

[2] Ibid., 141