“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” - really?
Two
seeds are buried and both die. Later one lives, the other does not. Why?
Because one is a good seed, the other is already rotten… corrupt…The first is a
situation called sin. The other is a situation called corruption. There is a
difference.
The first seed that dies is a situation of sin. We are all sinners. And just like that seed that is buried in darkness, we realize we need light in order to survive. So we ask for God’s help and mercy. We do not stay dead, we do not want to. So like the seed that searches for the light, we long for God to save us. When we acknowledge and admit: Yes Lord I am a sinner…we are actually plunging ourselves into the mercy of the Father, who loves us and waits for us every moment. And just like that seed which moves up the ground towards the light, we too look up to God’s light. And as the plant starts to live so do we in God’s grace.
The
second seed, the rotten one, however is in a state of corruption. This is when
God is no longer the treasure of our heart – when he does not matter anymore to
us. A corrupt person feels very comfortable and happy with himself like that
man who was planning to build new barns (Lk 12:16). "If you eat you'll
die. If you don't eat you'll die. You will die just the same... so why not eat
and die!"
If
the situation becomes difficult, the corrupt one knows all the excuses to get
himself out of it. “Stealing? That’s fine… as long as you don’t get caught.”
Corrupt people have built up their self-esteem on that type of deceitful
attitude. And they go through life
taking the shortcuts to their self-advantage, at the price of their own dignity
and that of other people. Their expression is: “Oh I didn’t do it” with a
matching face of a saint. Corrupt people berate and blame themselves
unconsciously and then project their irritation with themselves to others. So
instead of attacking themselves, they attack others.
The
first seed continues to grow because in dying it has seen its mission to live,
the second seed, the rotten one, the corrupt one, has lost hope in the
hereafter and sees death as the interruption of his life and his mission to
enrich himself here.
Instead,
Jesus saw death as a fulfilment of his life and mission. Many times in the gospel
the people had planned to entrap him but Jesus always escaped from their hands
because "his hour had not yet come" (John 7:30). But now: "The
hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.... And what should I say:
“Father, save me from this hour? No, it is for this reason that I have come to
this hour" (John 12:23, 27). Jesus uses the parable of the grain of wheat
to explain that when we shy away from death when the hour has come, we only forsake
our life and mission (our mission remains
just a single grain). But when we give up ourselves in death when the hour
has come, we bring forth life (our
mission will bear much fruit).
Let
me show this in a story: In the 1970’s in El Salvador, power and wealth were in
the hands of a few, while the great majority of the people were poor and marginalised.
Any widespread protest or unrest was suppressed by the army and by the death
squads of the rich and powerful. At that time Oscar Romero was bishop of a
small country diocese- timid, hesitant of change, and conservative. So when he
was appointed Archbishop, the rich and powerful felt he was under their
control. Romero’s conversion occurred just three weeks after his appointment.
In a small country town in his archdiocese a young Jesuit priest he knew (Fr.
Rutilio Grande), together with an old man and a boy were assassinated. On
hearing of their killing, Romero went immediately to the village and celebrated
mass there with the Jesuit provincial. That night, with the many peasants who
had come in from the surrounding countryside, he kept vigil. That night he read
the Gospel message anew through the eyes of the poor and oppressed. He said to
the Provincial, “When I looked at my friend priest lying there dead, I thought,
‘If they killed him for doing what he did, then I, too, have to walk that same
path’.”
Two
weeks later, in an interview a journalist asked him: “Are you afraid of death?”
He answered: “I have often been threatened with death. As a Christian, I do not
believe in death without resurrection. If they kill me, I will rise again in
the people. As their pastor, I am obliged to give my life for those I love, my
countrymen, even for those who are going to assassinate me. May my death, if
accepted by God, be for the freedom of my people and a witness for hope in the
future. If they come and kill me, I forgive and bless those who do it. A bishop
may die, but the Church of God, which is the people, will never perish.”
On the
24th of March 1980, as he was celebrating evening mass, right after he finished
the sermon and just as he had taken the bread to begin the liturgy of the
Eucharist, a hired marksman fired a fatal shot through the doors of the church;
Romero fell dead behind the altar. What a way to die!
Two
months from now, on May 23rd, Archbishop Oscar Romero will be
declared blessed in his native land, El Salvador. And this brings me back to the first
statement: When a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, will it really
bear much fruit? "Real"-ly!
References:
Bergoglio,
J.M. (2014). The Way of Humility. Claretian Publication, Quezon City.
Campbell-Johnston,
M. (2011). “Romero: the voice of those who had no voice.” http://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20110323_1.htm
Munachi,
E. (2012). Sunday Homilies for Year B. “Unless a Grain of Wheat Dies.” http://www.munachi.com/b/lentb5.htm
