A Devotion for Lent 5: Dirt

Lent is a season of earthly things. We began with dust, we follow Jesus on the dirt roads of Galilee and Judea,and we read Old Testament texts of creation springing forth, the earth and the sea under God’s domain. We are reminded of the frailness of our bodies, the cycle of breath, air, life and death.

I like dirt, but I tend to like it when I can control it. Dirt in my garden beds, under my fingernails after a long day of yard work. Dirt that I can scrub away, vacuum off, swept into neat piles and put in the trash bin. I (unlike my children) don’t want to be covered in the stuff. I want my house to be free of it, my body to be washed of it daily. I certainly don’t want to find myself buried in it – skin and humus mingled, nostrils full of peat and hair full of soil. No thanks.

I want the flowers and plants and trees and all the good and beautiful things that come from the dirt. I’m just not always a fan of the stuff itself.

In our Gospel lectionary reading this week, we hear of Jesus’ words to the Greeks. When they ask to see him (and perhaps hear what he’s all about), Jesus’ response is an interesting one.

"Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 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.”
-John 12: 20-26

Through the past few weeks of Lent, we have traveled with Jesus through the wilderness, heard his challenge on how to decipher things of heaven and of earth, heard of his righteous anger in the cleansing of the Temple and his continuous and repeated beckoning to tend to the Kingdom of God within and before us.

And now, in the Gospel of John, here Jesus speaks of grain and dirt, losing and keeping one’s life, of bearing fruit and serving with our very lives.

We know that Jesus’ words here are intentional; they are carefully chosen and laden with meaning. He knows the history that has come before.

More significantly, Jesus knows what he is walking toward. We know what he is walking toward.

His words are those of someone who knows that he will soon die, but he has not become uninterested in the things of this world – far from it. Rather, he remains passionately engaged in the “stuff” of physical life. With his words, he calls us not to look merely above and beyond, but, as Jan Richardson puts it, to perceive the kingdom of heaven “tucked into the midst of this very world.”

That dirt that I mentioned before?

Yeah, we need it. Not just the imagery of it, not just what it produces.

No, we need the dirt of life, the sandy, gritty, soil-y stuff.

In that stuff, the seed, the grain that falls has a chance to do what it was meant to do. To die.

What sprouts from it will be beautiful.

But so is the dirt.

Friends, I can’t tell you that all the hard stuff is your life is good dirt. But what I do know is that Jesus routinely uses the soil and earth, the seed and grain, to talk about the stuff of Kingdom of Heaven – peace, and righteousness, and hope.

And so I hope and pray that in the dirt, you will see how God’s kingdom is tucked into your world. That you will find beauty in the physical world around you – the soil and plants and life, and that it will remind you that God is still very interested in the “stuff” of your life.

We have plenty of dirt – in our work sites, client’s homes, in our cars and in our shoes. Don’t wish it or wash it away. See what God might be doing with the dirt, and what seeds might be ready to die and bloom yet again.

In hope,

Chaplain Amy