When I was a kid, one of the rites of spring was the trip in to Toledo to buy greenhouse supplies. We would walk solemnly through the aisles of stacked pots, hanging baskets, thingamajigs and thinggummies of all kinds that were used to raise plants. My dad would feel the thickness of the pots and consider the prices, and then make the purchases. (His goal was to re-use them if possible!) We would pile the boxes full of pots, and bags full of soil amendments (perlite, peat moss, etc.), into our car and head back home to the country to start the work.
He would create a “greenhouse within a greenhouse” out of plastic sheeting, and start the seeds in a small compartment that he heated from beneath the flats with some kind of specially-designed heating pad. In late February or early March, it was still very cold, and heating the whole greenhouse would be expensive.
My brother, sister and I would push past the draped plastic (which felt like a playhouse to us when we were kids), and would enter the moist, warm chamber, which had moisture dotted on the plastic walls. We would crawl up on Dad’s stool each day to look for something to come up.
After what seemed like forever (but was really just a few days), the first green leaves popped up, followed by the slender stems. My dad would check and adjust the light, check the heat, test the moisture in the soil, and carefully shepherd the little plants into their best life.
My brother and sister and I were taught as young children how to sow seeds, transplant seedlings into pots, and generally follow the process all the way through to harvest (for vegetables) or to sale (for flowers.)
In the meantime, there was lots of work watering and fertilizing the greenhouse plants, and planting, watering and weeding in the garden. We learned a lot about growing and some about selling, but there was always lots of time when our hands were busy and our minds were free.
Today is Ash Wednesday, which kicks off the 40 days of Lent. (Lent is known to Catholic Christians as a time of fasting, repentance, and grieving for sin in preparation for the celebration of Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.) As Protestants, our family doesn’t observe the Catholic rituals; however, we do think of Lent as a time of repentance and preparation.
This year, it occurred to me that Lent begins at almost the same time the seeds have to be started indoors. We have been preparing to sow our seeds, and all these things have come together in my mind. So I was already thinking of Lent and the resurrection, and also thinking of seeds, when the Lord showed me this through my daily scripture reading:
What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. . . .So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable.” (1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42, ESV)
In his first letter to the people of Corinth, Paul was trying to give them a picture from nature to illustrate how resurrection works. In this case, he was using the idea that a seed must die in order to grow into its new form, be it a plant or a tree or some grain.
Have you ever planted a seed, then dug up the new plant, and found the original seed? Never! It is completely gone, transformed into the tissues of the new plant. It is completely changed.
Paul compared our sinful self to a seed. That seed has to die; it has to be buried in the ground and essentially be destroyed for the new life to emerge.
Lent is the season of repentance. And when you repent, you change your mind and turn away from sin. This is an act of the will. You make a decision to believe Jesus, and to follow him (obey what he teaches.)
And when you do make that decision, the stunted, sinful you, the stuck you that is filled with despair and lost hope, that you, quite literally, goes through death. You leave it behind.
You outgrow that claustrophobic little shell, and you begin to expand with fresh life. You forgive those who hurt you and become free of those you were once chained to in hatred. The new Spirit that Jesus gives you empowers you to grow past the boundaries that once held you captive, and you begin to live in ways you never dreamed were possible!
Is it sad to leave that old life behind and follow Jesus? NO, not once you being to experience all the wonders of your new life. Is the tree sad that it outgrew the seed it once was?
It’s sad that we waited so long to run into the arms of the One who loves us, who made us, and who planned a beautiful, productive life for us. Why did we wait so long, and continue to sin against him? For every sin we have ever committed, every lie (even the “white” ones), every time we lusted, every time we stole, every time we hated someone else (even if they deserved it), and every time we simply didn’t love someone, we added to the atonement that Jesus had to make for all mankind.
That drop of blood that ran down his face from the thorn pressed into his forehead? That was for someone’s sin, maybe mine. The same is true for every hair of his beard that was plucked out. He was beaten with a Roman cat o’ nine tails. He was slapped in the face, spit on, mocked and stripped naked. And he endured all of that in silence, never protesting, for our sakes, for yours and for mine.
And yet, he was the ONLY innocent man that ever lived.
And when it was over, he prayed for the ones who put him to death, but really for all of us:
“Father, forgive them. They know not what they do.” Luke 23:34
Lent teaches us to feels sorrow for our sin, to become aware of areas in our lives that are still not surrendered fully to God. The fasting during the season of Lent is to remind us to consider what Jesus left behind in heaven when he came to earth to live and die for us. Jesus said that we each have a cross, and that cross is to leave behind the sin and the sorrow and death it ends in, and follow him into life. During a fast, every time we are hungry, we are to turn from thinking of food, and consider the reason we are fasting. It helps us to keep our minds on Jesus.
We NEED that, in this world of sensation. For our flesh tries with everything in its power to stay alive, to distract us with sensory pleasure or mental puzzles.
Our reason can be a great source of sin because it leads us toward pride. But the only reason we can think is because God gave us a mind and he provided things to think about that He also created. We truly have nothing to be proud of except HIm.
Yesterday was Mardi Gras, or “Fat Tuesday;” maybe it was fun to eat a doughnut, and enjoy the taste. After all, the ability to taste and smell is another gift from God! But don’t forget what comes afterward. This life is only temporary. If you want to live forever, you must be changed, born into a new life (born again).
Maybe you will plant a seed this spring, and grow a garden. If you do, I hope you think about that little husk that goes into the soil, and how it transforms into something amazingly different, that possibly bears fruit! That can be like us! Don’t you wonder into what you will transform?
And right now, when we repent, and allow Jesus to remake our stony hearts into loving hearts, that is like our downpayment. We get a little taste of what it will be like to live in a world full of kindness and love, a world where no one suffers or is excluded. We were always meant to live in that kind of world!
That is why Jesus prayed that we would live in unity with other believers. We are in hostile territory here, and are supposed to take care of each other, help each other, provide comfort and rest, and pray for each other. The Holy Spirit is in each believer, and through that, we often recognize each other. Former strangers may suddenly feel they are in the presence of family, even though they have only just met, because the Spirit recognizes the Spirit.
Anyone who feels a tug on their heart from God (it’ll be gentle, like a still, small voice) can make the decision to turn toward him, and the chain of events will begin. Say yes, each step of the way, and you will grow into someone new! And that someone you become will be the person you were always meant to be, the person you always wanted to be, deep down. For it is the person you were created to be.
Then one day, we who love God will rise from the dead, and what will that be like? We will leave our bodies behind in the dust (for that is what they are) and the “corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. . .then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15:53-54
“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
Oh, be encouraged, my dear friends! For you are loved more than you know, and goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life. (And that is happening right now!)
The Fullers Four 