Out Our Way: Follow me - John 12:24-26

Out our way, riding in unfamiliar territory can be tricky. It’s so easy to lose your sense of directions in areas where you have never been before. That is just another reason I was so glad to have Charlie riding with me. Even though I didn’t know where I was and was easily turned around, he knew the land and the trails. “Just follow me,” he would say, and, sure enough, we got where we had been heading all along. I just followed him.

I was reading a novel about St. Benedict who was advising a guy who thought he knew it all. The young official had made a name for himself, amassed great amounts of power and fame, insisting he was “winning” in life even as his world was crumbling all around him. Like the Sinatra song, he proudly boasted “ I Did It My Way!”

“Yes,” said Benedict, “and look what it got you!” For the brash and proud man had lost his way. His life was miserable and, despite all the wealth and fame, he was empty inside. More than that, the “empire” of wealth and power and prestige he thought he had self-created was coming apart and he was about to lose everything.

Sort of reminded me of Charlie Sheen’s empty brag that he was “winning” as he was being fired from his TV show and shoved into obscurity.  

Jesus’ statement in John’s text is about the seed that refuses to let go — die to self — never becomes what it was created to be. The acorn that never ceases to be an acorn can never become an oak tree. Benedict’s advice to the young man was that until he let go of serving himself and focused instead on serving God and neighbor, he would never be more than a mere seed — shut up in its shell and useless.

A seed is a miracle of potential. It can become a stalk of wheat, a stand of corn, or a mighty oak. A miracle of potential yes — but nothing more as long as it remains a seed. The seed has to “die” — cease to be a seed and be transformed into something more — before it can fulfill its purpose.  

As you may recall, there is a word used by theologians describing this. The word is “umwelt,” roughly translated as “surrounding world.” The shell of the seed is its “umwelt.” It encases the seed and imprisons it. Only when the shell is broken down and discarded can the seed become what it was meant to be. My umwelt or shell is that pride and self-centeredness that insists on doing it my way. Until I start to let God and neighbor rather than pride and self-centeredness become my focus, I am locked in the shell and cut off from any hope of becoming what I really was always meant to be. All the potential in the world is meaningless if it is never realized.  

There is an old story of the airline pilot who came on the PA and told his passengers he had some bad news and some good news. The bad news was they were off course and would not be arriving at their intended destination. The good news was they had picked up a tailwind and were making excellent time.

As Charlie reminded me, simply galloping in the wrong direction was never progress, no matter how fast Doc covered the ground.  

I am grateful I was smart enough to follow Charlie instead of insisting I could do it “my way.”  

Blessings!

Brother John   

——

The Rev. John Bruington is the retired pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Havre. He now lives in Colorado, but continues to write “Out Our Way.” He can be reached for comment or dialogue at [email protected].