John 12:24  I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.

Anyone who likes to garden or comes from an agricultural background understands this image. It is always amazing to think that something so lifeless as a seed - dried up, hard, dead - can, with God's help, grow into a vibrant, green, living plant.

Jesus here is describing what must happen to Him for life to blossom. He was to become dead. Alive, during His ministry on earth, He had many followers. They flocked to Him, witnessed miracles, and listened to His teaching. Yet while still alive, He was abandoned by all but a few of His followers, and He died nearly alone.

But in that death, and the glorious resurrection that followed, the seeds of His ministry, by all appearances dead, were brought to life in faith and grew to a vibrant, living church.

I often start my garden with seeds. This gives me a good opportunity to watch the change in the lifeless seeds. And they give me a good lesson in faith. Some never grow. But some, and often the hardiest of the bunch, grow and come out of the soul with the husk of the seed attached to a leaf or a stem. They grow well and are alive and vibrant, but there is a reminder of their death that grows with them.

We, too, grow with a reminder of our death. We have died, but we have been reborn. In our Baptism, and with the seeds of faith that Christ has planted in us, we live and grow in Him. Yet we remember our death. Not only our death in Christ, which He accomplished for us, but our death to sin. And in that death, there is life - everlasting life in Christ.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish

John 11:43-44  Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, comes out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

Children acquire likes and dislikes very early in life. Already at the age of three Jacob had some very definite opinions on clothes and shoes. On Easter morning, his mother thought it was a good idea for Jacob to wear his new oxford shoes.

"Today, Jacob, we're going to really dress up because we're going to celebrate Jesus' resurrection," mom said. Jacob ran off to get the shoes he intended wearing, his Nike tennis shoes. "No, Jacob, you're going to wear the special shoes your mom and dad bought you. You're going to wear your new oxfords."

Jacob insisted he would not. His mother insisted he would. Mom won! The oxfords bedecked Jacob's feet for the special resurrection service.

Perhaps, however, Jacob did not have such a bad idea after all. He wanted to wear his Nike tennis shoes. Nike is a Greek word that means "victory." In ancient times, after a victory had been won, the announcement would be made throughout the cities, "Nike! Nike!" It meant a victory had been achieved.

Easter should be a time when the shout of victory is proclaimed with voice, and yes, even with the shoes we wear. Already in the raising of Lazarus, Jesus had given a prelude of what would happen because of His life, death, and resurrection; "'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out" (John 11:43-44). So through His victory from death, from sin, and from the power of the devil.

Nike! Nike!
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish

John 11:25-26  Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"

Bethany is a town very near Jerusalem. When Jesus arrived there not long before Holy Week and His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, He found friends mourning the death of Lazarus, brother of Mary and Martha and also a dear friend of Jesus. Lazarus had been in the grave for four days. The two sisters both insisted that had Jesus arrived earlier their brother wouldn't have died. They knew Jesus, the Great Physician, had power to restore health.

But power to restore life? That belonged to the glory and power of God, and it was for this very reason - that Jesus would be glorified and seen as God's Son - that Jesus delayed His Bethany arrival until after Lazarus' death.

Jesus' words to Martha in our verses above are loved for their comfort and assurance, especially when we face death, both our own and that of loved ones.

"Do you believe this? Jesus asked Martha. It is an important question that Her also asks us. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we answer confidently along with Martha, "Yes!" The words that sound like a riddle are as clear as can be. Because of Jesus, we will live and never die. His resurrection secures our own.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

John 11:10  It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light.

How illuminating it is for our lives that Jesus is the light of the world! Without light there is only darkness. And as Jesus teaches in the passage above, those who walk in darkness stumble. Were it not for Jesus shining His light upon us through His death and rising again we would still be walking in that darkness of sin. By God's undeserved love, however, we can assert with Isaiah: "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light" (Isaiah 9:2)

Even as the sun gives light to the moon and the moon reflects that light to us who are His children and we reflect that light. We are the light of the world. We reflect His light to those with whom we live.

What a contrast! "You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light" (Ephesians 5:8). Our source of power as lights in this world comes from the light of the world, Jesus Christ. Even as the moon cannot shine unless it receives light from the sun and reflects that, so we cannot give light to others unless we receive and reflect from the Son of God the light which He gives to dispel the darkness of sin and to guide people on their journey in life.

With the psalmist we affirm: "The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear?" (Psalm 27:1).
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish

John 10:27-28 My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand.

Of all the people you have met, who has the strongest hands? Pastors shake and hold numerous kinds of hands, and many of the clergy would agree that farmers have some of the largest and most powerful hands of anyone around. Evidently, their daily work builds incredible strength in their hands.

The Lord reminds us that as His sheep nothing and no one can snatch us out of the almighty and loving hands of our Good Shepherd. He is the one who gave His life for us, the sheep, when He died on the cross of Calvary. He is the one who rose from the dead and defeated Satan, sin, and death. His conquering and caring hands assure us of a life with meaning and purpose that is for today, but goes on for eternity.

Jesus Christ has us in His powerful grip. We can know and trust in the one who holds us and strengthens us as we listen to His voice and follow Him. His Word becomes His loving and guiding voice as we listen to it, study it, meditate on it, and memorize it. What a comfort to know that with Jesus as our Good Shepherd, nothing can snatch us out of His mighty hands.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,
Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish

John 10:14-15  I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep and My sheep know Me - just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father - and I lay down My life for the sheep.

My Shepherd knows me. This is the first great realization of the heart. That I, of all people, am Jesus' little lamb! I belong to Him. I am not some insignificant nameless number at the bottom of the corporate barrel. My Shepherd knows me even as I know Him. Our relationship is mutual.

Second, my Shepherd knows me in the same way He knows His Father. And They are one! This means that the life of God = Father, Son/Shepherd, and Comforter - iis life in me. The heart of God is in my heart. The Holy Trinity has chosen, as my Shepherd said, to come and make a home in...me!

Finally, my Shepherd laid down His life for me. He knows me as I am. He knows that I love to wander. He knows that I am by nature sinful and unclean. He knows that I am frail unto death. He knows all this! And as a result, He laid down His life - for me - that I may be His own. There is no greater love than the love of my Good Shepherd for me. And for you. There is no greater love than the love of our God for all the lost and wandering sheep of the world, including me.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish

John 10:11  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

The Associated Press reported that in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, a youth shaved his head as a sign of love and support for his mother. His mother always had beautiful hair but had lost it because of cancer treatments. However, when the young man went to school, some of the students beat him up thinking he was trying to be a skinhead. Support for his mother ended up giving him a black eye!

Young and old alike support others in a variety of ways. They shave their heads. They walk or jog in a rally. They protest. They sit by a bedside holding a friend's hand.

Few, however, give their life for another. It is the greatest act of love someone can show. Yet that's exactly what God did. He who created us perfect was saddened to see us flagrantly disobey Him; nevertheless, He did not give up on us. He continued to love us enough to lay down His life for us on the cross. He died in our place, rescuing us from the consequences of our sin - death. He did it so that we might "have life, and have it to the full" (John 10:10). It is what a good shepherd does for his sheep!
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish