A synopsis of the sermon delivered by the Rev. David L. Hicks at St. Paul’s Reformed Episcopal Church on Sunday, April 20, 2003, Easter Sunday. Please read St. Matthew 12:31-32.

Jesus told a parable in which he compared the kingdom of God to a mustard seed. “The kingdom of God is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” Jesus told this parable to illustrate the small beginnings of his earthly work that was to usher in the kingdom of God. All over the world today, Christians are gathered together to worship God and to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Millions of people are reading the biblical account of his resurrection, singing many of the same hymns that we are singing and praying similar prayers. All of this started 2,000 years ago with the small seed – the seed of David – who was planted in the grave and rose again to establish his church that would eventually encompass the globe.

In John 12:24 Jesus said, “Truly, Truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth an dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone loves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also.” We who serve Christ, the seed, are to follow in his steps and that includes dying. We must die to our selfish desires that are contrary to his desires, so that some day we too will share in his resurrection. If we are to have the new life of the kingdom of God, then must follow the Seed into his death. This death involves repentance from our sinfulness and rebellion against God.

In conclusion, C. S. Lewis makes a thought provoking observation about this very matter.

Repentance is no fun at all. It is something much harder than merely eating humble pie. It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means killing a part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death… Remember, this repentance, this willing submission to humiliation and a kind of death, is not something God demands of you before He will take you back and which He could let you off if He chose: it is simply a description of what going back to Him is like. If you ask God to take you back without it, you are really asking Him to let you go back without going back. It cannot happen. [Taken from Mark Nielsen, ed., A Clean Heart Create in Me (Creative Communications for the Parish, 2003), 8.]