Citizens of Heaven - A Reflection on John 12:24-26


Very truly, I tell you, 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. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

Have I told you how much I love the things Jesus says? I probably have. Several times. I love them because not only are they radical, they are often paradoxical as well. They force us to think out of the box, because there is no way we will understand anything he says if we try to figure it out using normal human reasoning. Consider the things he says today. One: you have to die to live. Two, you have to hate your life to keep it. Three, to be a leader, you have to be a servant. Haha. Okay, so how do we reconcile the paradoxes? 

We cannot because what Jesus is talking about is a method of living in a system that is totally different from ours. He is talking about things work in heaven while we are accustomed to how things work in the world. Now, consider this. Imagine you want to emigrate to another country because conditions are terrible where you live right now. First, we need to gain citizenship to the new country. For this we have to revoke our citizenship to the old. Then, of course, we need to obey the laws of the country we are now a citizen of and follow its leader. If we want to really integrate, we need to know the customs of the country and follow them. In many ways this is the start of a new life. 

But gaining citizenship into heaven is a little more complicated, because it’s not just a new country we are moving to; it’s moving to an entirely different plane of existence. Here, we LITERALLY get a new life, but in order to get this new life, we have to die to the old. This is putting to death all our sinful ways and habits. As Paul says, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). So, you see, in order to live, we have to die.

Once we have obtained citizenship into heaven, we need to secure it, and one of the conditions for this is that we do not make excursions back to the world. We cannot say we are citizens of heaven, but every now and then decide to visit our old home. This is, to paraphrase Peter, like a dog returning to its vomit, or a pig returning to wallow in the mud (see 2 Peter 2:22). So, you see, to keep our new life, we have to hate our life in the world. It’s gotta be as yucky as vomit! Paul said, “Hate what is evil; cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9).

And, then, of course, there’s the matter of following the leader, which means doing what he says and does. And that’s being a servant. After washing his apostles feet one day, he told them: “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.” At another time he said to them: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (see Mark 10:43-45). So, you see, if we want to become leaders, we have to become servants.

And, now with these paradoxes resolved, let us know that if we truly live like citizens of heaven, we will bear much fruit. Just as Jesus says we will.

Watch a video of this reflection by Aneel Aranha here: https://youtu.be/PAR0gtPoxPI

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