We Must Pay Our Dues

As we prepare ourselves in this Season of Lent for the climax of Jesus’ life and ministry, we recall Jesus’ many efforts to prepare His disciples for His death. The disciples were reluctant to accept His word on what would happen to Him, especially when He told them that He would suffer and die as a common criminal. At one point, to try to help them understand, Jesus told them a beautiful little parable about a grain of wheat. He said, “Unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” He was trying to help them understand that death is absolutely necessary if there is to be new life; that the great God who has sent Him as Lord of Life, is a God who works through a process of death/resurrection; that this is the way God has chosen to bring new life into the world; that unless He dies, they cannot…