I spent some time this past fall on a sunny day clearing out the garden bed of dead plants, preparing to put our house up for sale. I spent several hours tidying up, pruning back the herbs and pulling weeds. The previous season had been a garden space for peppers, tomatoes, and one of my favorite plants: tomatillos.
Tomatillos come in their own paper wrapper. They have a taste reminiscent of the slightly sweet green of a watermelon rind. They are a bit sticky, look like a tomato, and have the seed count to match—averaging 75 seeds per fruit. If you have ever had awesome salsa and thought, “What is that flavor?”, it was probably a tomatillo. They can be a bit expensive so I usually try to plant them.
But this year we had no time to garden. The bed went largely neglected until that fall day, where I discovered exactly one flourishing, enormous, healthy, prosperous tomatillo plant: a volunteer. I had seen it growing and saw that it even had a few tomatillos on it, but I had no idea that I would uncover. . .
Eighty-six perfectly good tomatillos.
One neglected fruit from the season before, unpicked most likely due to its unremarkable appearance, fell to the ground and nestled in for the long Michigan winter. As it decomposed, just one seed from that fruit dug deeper, died in its form, and sprouted the heartiest, most productive tomatillo plant “I” had ever grown!
Like that seed, the Lord gave me a little thought that day, and like that seed, it took a while to develop. I tried to write this before but it was too early. But this week—after the long winter of my mind and on the cusp of spring–I was reading with my children and it all came together.
In John 12 we read about Jesus sitting at a meal with Lazarus, whom he had just raised from the dead. The One who raised him would shortly prove that not only could He raise Lazarus but He could raise in His own power, forever defeating death, paving a way for the redemption of mankind, and securing an eternal home for those who are born again through repentance and faith. Mary lovingly anointed His feet with spikenard while using her hair, the fragrance of deep love, reverence, humility, and thankfulness permeating the room and no doubt lingering wherever it touched.
The very next day Jesus entered Jerusalem to the equivalent of a ticker-tape parade, the people rejoicing to celebrate the victor. They had heard of the raising of Lazarus (v.18) and He was publicly proclaimed to be the “King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord” with their loud cries of “Hosanna”. Even the Pharisees bitterly murmured that “the whole world is gone after him”, (v. 19).
In Luke’s account in chapter 19 verse 37 it states that “the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen.” No doubt the rejoicing was beautiful to experience, Jesus finally being recognized for who He was.
But during all of this Jesus cryptically says something to Philip and Andrew, as He so often did, seeming to say something opposite of what was happening, the truth of His statements hidden by our fleshly understanding.
He said that “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.” But then He said:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. (v.24-25).
Oh do you see the beauty? Do you see how Jesus, discarded by so many, unremarkable by His birth into poverty, laying dormant for nearly 30 years, the power of Life Eternal hidden beneath the outer shell of a plain man He agreed to take upon Himself—-how that seed of redemption would so soon after His statement, be crushed at the tree of the cross, planted in a tomb, nourished by His own blood, only to raise up in glorious VICTORY never before or after seen, springing up as a tree of Life, and bearing so much fruit that the number is insurmountable? Outnumbering the stars of the sky and the sands of the seas??
And I am one of those fruits!? Oh, it is too much for me! I will never, ever stop being amazed at the Savior’s selfless love for me, ME who offers absolutely nothing on my own!
Oh, but the next verse (v.26):
If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
If we are to serve Him, we must follow Him. Where?
To the losing of our life.
To the losing of our will.
To losing of our desires.
To losing what we think we are, and to the realization of what we really are in comparison to Christ: a filthy, broken sinner.
To ultimate surrender.
We see Jesus do just that shortly, at His crucifixion. And unlike the ticker-tape victory parade, He endured it alone. Victories bring crowds. Suffering and a seeming defeat caused all to scatter.
Everyone talks about Judas and his betrayal. Jesus knew all along that Judas was a traitor. Jesus considered him a friend but Judas had rejected Jesus over and over. Surely Jesus was deeply hurt, the blood He was about to shed being trod by Judas’s feet.
But Peter. . . Peter WAS His friend. Peter defended Him, looked after Him, tried to protect Him. And Peter, His friend and arguably the disciple who walked the closest to Him. . . denied ever knowing Him. Not just once, but three times, adding to the suffering.
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Are you a “victory ‘Christian’ ”? Are you a person who celebrates who Jesus is and what He can do, but you have never died to self? Have you danced all around Jesus but never met Him? Have you never come to Jesus in prayer, humbly acknowledging your sin, the conviction of the Holy Spirit showing you your sinful nature, and seeking His face in prayer until you experience the forgiveness of sin? If so, you are no Christian at all. You are a spectator of Jesus.
There were some spectators that came to the parade—Greeks who wanted to see Jesus (John 12:21). But they never spoke to Jesus. Jesus says in the next verse that the hour had come for Him to be glorified. They had come too late.
There is coming an hour that no man knows, that Jesus will come back as a judge, the visage of the meek baby in the manger hidden by the terrifying image of Jesus in His full glory, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. And on that day it will be too late. There is no second chance. There is no after-the-rapture extension. You must be known BY JESUS before you take your last breath and before His return, and you know the date of neither. Start seeking Him.
Are you a “victory Christian” but a child of God, taking the talent that the Lord gave you when He left and burying it in your flesh? The only way to be fruitful and serve Jesus is to follow Him in the path of self-denial. You MUST take up your cross and die daily to produce fruit. How many lost and dying are around us? How much glory has God been robbed of because of our preference for our will?
Is your lifestyle and conduct denying that you are a friend of Jesus, the One who died for you? When is the last time you suffered for Jesus? Do you ride the spiritual “highs” without trudging through the “lows” where we are actually remodeled to look like Jesus, able to withstand what may come our way because of a deeper, abiding relationship to Him executed through obedience to His will?
Oh I have so much to learn and so much more to DO. This is for me as well as anyone, and I suppose that is why the Lord teaches us in His word, bringing to light specific things that we need to see.
May we all come to Jesus and follow Him in self-denial.
Love,
Sandra