²⁰Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. ²¹They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” ²²Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. ²³Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴Very 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. ²⁵Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.”

“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” What a simple request. Some people have heard about Jesus and want to see him. But to the disciples it wasn’t so simple. After all, these were Greeks, foreigners. Philip didn’t take them to Jesus. Instead, he told Andrew, and then they told Jesus about the men.

Jesus responds by talking about a seed dying. Was he talking about his upcoming death? Or was he also trying to help his disciples recognize that they were trying to hold tightly to the restrictions the Pharisees had placed on living their faith—keeping it to themselves, being exclusive rather than inclusive, refusing to be the blessing and light to the nations that God had called them to be?

What about us? Do we cling tightly to the way we’ve understood church to be, not allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us to welcome others not like us, perhaps even drawing support from others to justify our attitudes?

Or are we willing to let go of our traditions and wrestle with what it means to die to self, to allow the Holy Spirit to work within us? What would it look like if I unclenched my hands and let go of those things that I cling so tightly to? What if I allowed Jesus to truly have all of me—my time, my talents, my money, my biases, my traditions? What if during this Lenten season, I asked Jesus to burst through that hard shell I have created around myself and engender new growth in myself that would allow me to give recklessly and joyfully in his kingdom work?

Prayer: Lord, help me to unclench my hands and release all, absolutely all, that I cling to, save you alone, so that you can produce amazing, abundant new growth in me that welcomes everyone and leads them to you. Amen.

Patty Ford has been an RCA missionary for 35 years, focusing on Christian education and spiritual formation. She is currently serving in Beirut, Lebanon, with her husband, Peter.

⁵So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; ⁶as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” ⁷In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. ⁸Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; ⁹and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, ¹⁰having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

For the past two years, I have been teaching Introduction to Christianity to freshmen at Meiji Gakuin University who, like the rest of Japan, are overwhelmingly non-Christian. This experience of teaching has been a wonderful learning experience because, in the essays and reflection papers that the students write, I get new insights into what they find to be the parts of Christianity that are difficult to understand.

One of the difficult concepts for most of my students to grasp is the hypostatic—the belief that Jesus Christ is both fully human and fully divine. Other religions have hybrid entities like demigods, which are a result of deities intermingling with humans, a mixture that is somewhat less than divine. In this respect, Christianity is very different from other religions.

Hebrews gives a clear explanation of why this belief in the two natures of Christ is so important. Hebrews 4 says that because Jesus is truly the Son of God without sin, and because he is at the same time fully human and thus truly able to sympathize with us, we are able to “approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (4:15).

Often, Jesus is misunderstood to be some sort of superhero that came into this world walking on water and knowing everything there is to know. But that’s not the case. Jesus “learned obedience through what he suffered” (v. 8). This demonstrates that Jesus had to learn things through life’s hardships, just like us. More importantly, it expresses the depth of Jesus’s love for us as he suffered for our sake.

Prayer: Father God, we give you thanks and praise for sending your Son into the world to dwell among us and to save us from our sin. We pray that in this season of Lent, we come to learn the depth of the love you have for us and to share that story of your love with those around us. In Jesus’s name, amen.

Abraham Kist-Okazaki and his wife, Sayuri, work in evangelistic training for congregations of the United Church of Christ in Japan, where less than 1 percent of the population is Christian. They also serve as associate pastors at Kugahara Church in Tokyo, in the area of local mission.

¹Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
²Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.

³For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
⁴Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.
⁵Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.

⁶You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
⁷Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
⁹Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.

¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
¹¹Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.

As a child, spring cleaning was the necessary activity that I disliked the most. It was a time to evaluate, take inventory, and set the entire house in order for a new season. The task I disliked the most was the process of cleaning windows to make them spotless and shiny.

During this season of Lent, as we reflect and examine ourselves, remember the words of Jesus, “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). Because of God’s grace and Jesus’s steadfast commitment to fulfill the will of God—his determination, sacrifice, suffering, and death on the cross and glorious resurrection—believers who put their faith and total trust in Christ enjoy forgiveness, salvation, and fellowship with God. We are called to worship God and live in humble and faithful submission to the will of God and utilize our gifts and talents in service to God and others.

What areas of our lives do we need to examine, surrender, and submit to God? How have we missed the mark, distorted God’s truth, and deliberately disobeyed the will of God? What sins do we need to confess to God and others?

The psalmist models for us how we are to deal with sins in our lives. When we confess our sins to God and others, God is able to forgive our sins and create in us clean hearts, steady spirits, and minds and wills open to and fixed on God. As we seek Christ and strive to live in God’s presence, we can overcome the power of sin and live to the glory of God.

Prayer: Gracious God, I thank you for the gift of Jesus and the sanctifying presence of the Holy Spirit. Forgive me of my sins and help me to be steadfast in my walk with you. Amen.

Derrick Jones is the supervisor of RCA mission in Africa and the interim co-director of RCA Global Mission.

¹⁴And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. ¹⁷Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. ²¹But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

John 3:16: Talk about a verse that represents the entire popular Christian experience. Every professional football game, baseball game, monster truck rally, rodeo, and even wrestling bout in North America features an excited Christian waving John 3:16 around like a code for the world to decipher. This same sign appears on billboards, in Christian media and literature, and on the sides of hills in remote villages in India. I even had a family friend who, upon becoming a Christian, changed his name to John 3:16. He had to eventually change his name again because too many people in India assumed he was working for the secret service!

To be fair, this verse is profound in our circles for very good reason. It is the Christian faith in a nutshell: We have God’s love. We have God’s Son. We have God’s promise of eternal life. This is beautiful.

And yet, lurking beyond this verse is a one that is overlooked: “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (v. 17). God did not send the Son to condemn but to save the world. My mother comes from a faith background that did not emphasize the love of God this way. She grew up in fear. Fear of doing the wrong thing. Fear of retribution. Fear of having her eyes poked out by a God who might find her imperfections and punish her in cruel ways. When she read this verse for the first time, she found a God who came into this world in the flesh, not to condemn but to save everybody. Not to destroy but to save!

This is our Jesus. This is our role as followers of Jesus. Not to condemn or destroy but to save the world through God.

Prayer: God our Father, we thank you for sending your Son into this world and for reminding us of our call to love just as you loved us. May we see this world the way you see it, as a place worth saving. In Jesus’s name, amen.

JP Sundararajan serves as the India-Asia director for Audio Scripture Ministries. He is married to Katy and together they have two children, Leila and Reuben. He loves telling stories, hacking technology, and participating in God’s mission around the world.