Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain

 

 Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast.  Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."  Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus.  But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.  Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.  He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also.  If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor."

 

- John 12:20–26 

 

Yesterday we read that a great many in Jerusalem knew that Christ was there for the Passover; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.  But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.  The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:  "Hosanna!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  The King of Israel!"  Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:  "Fear not, daughter of Zion; / Behold, your King is coming, / Sitting on a donkey's colt."  His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.  Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.  For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.  The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.  Look, the world has gone after Him!"

 

 Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast.  Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."  Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus.  But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified."  These Greeks, my study bible explains, are Gentiles who believed in the God of Abraham, and have come to participate in the Passover feast.  Since they are still called "Greeks" it indicates that they were not yet full converts to Judaism.   As Jesus had taught His disciples not to go to the Gentiles (Matthew 10:5, 15:24), the disciples approach Him first before bringing these inquirers to Him.   The hour that He should be glorified is the time of His death on the Cross.  My study bible adds that Christ's obscure response indicates two things.  First, that the answer these Greeks seek will not be found in words, but in the Cross; and second, that the Cross will be teh event that opens all manner of grace to the Gentiles.  

"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.  He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also.  If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor."  My study bible comments that the image of the grain of wheat dying in order to bear fruit signifies that Christ's death will give life to the world.  It is traditional in many Orthodox denominations to serve boiled whole grains of wheat, sweetened and spiced, at memorial services for the departed faithful.  It's an affirmation of God's promise that those who have died in Christ will rise again to life.

In today's reading, it's almost as if the meeting of the Greeks from abroad who wish to see Jesus sparks in Him an understanding that this is the sign of His approaching death, the time in which He will be glorified.  In that context, His statement about the grain of wheat that dies in order to produce much grain is sad and wistful, although it is the truth of what will happen.  We can read into it at once the deeply human desire for life, to thrive, and at the same time the acknowledgement that what is to happen will happen for a reason, in order to give life to many.  Have there been times in your life when the Cross came in the form of asking you to give something up, in order to reap a much greater harvest?  Have you made sacrifices in time so that there will be later on a greater abundance or harvest of something?  Speaking strictly of spiritual life and spiritual fruit, there are, of course, many ways this can happen, and each particular to an individual, and also to a particular time in one's life.  Indeed, one can look back upon life and mark intervals by such choices and such sacrifices.  I can remember making a choice to depart from a path of a particular career because I felt it was the way my prayer led me; I may have forgone some financial and other rewards, but my spiritual life had time and space to grow as a result.  I chose to give up development of a career using one particular talent, but found instead gratification in another -- and one which allowed me to use my skills to study and write about the Bible, such as I do on this blog.  And there have been many such choices along the way in which a time of "crisis" became a time of the Cross, a time for making choices, and one which in retrospect exemplified Jesus' example of the grain of wheat falling to the ground in order to give life to much more.  I was simply following my faith and my prayer, and had no idea what lay down the road when I made a change.  But I can look back in retrospect and see the growth Christ is speaking of.  The ultimate sacrifice is, of course, Christ's on the Cross.  He made the choice so that we may all benefit, and take what we receive from Him in so many ways that affirm that in Him is the power of life, and of rejuvenation, revival, resurrection.  Again, when the Cross comes in our own lives we can experience through our faith this process of death and rebirth, such as I did in the various career paths mentioned above.  But it can happen in so many ways.  We might find that life is full of deaths and resurrections, grains of wheat we allow to fall to the ground in order to bring about a harvest of more abundance.  What is most important is that, in following our own prayer to Christ, we place in Him our trust, and know that He went first to show us the way.  He taught us that we must each carry our own cross, and follow Him.  These Greeks who appear at the feast, and seek Him, are in some sense a sign letting Him know that His Gospel is already going to the Gentiles, and that the grain of wheat that will fall in Jerusalem will be one that spreads a harvest out to the whole world.  Jesus gives to His disciples -- and thereby to us -- an image which will serve posterity so that we understand what is happening, and what will happen, in the proper context of the faith and Jesus' broader mission.  Let us keep in mind that His ministry and mission remain ongoing.  The fruit of that grain of wheat continue to be produced and to spread, to be experienced in the world by more and more people, and in new and broadening ways.  When we participate in His life, so we also participate in this death and rebirth, this giving up of a little in exchange for so much more.  We enter into His life, and into the life of His ministry by laboring in these same fields He planted.  Jesus says, "He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."  What of your life do you exchange for the greater life He promises to you?  Into which labor do you enter?