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, saying, "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 of the people of Jerusalem knew that He was there; 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 (even from among the ruling classes of the temple) 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, saying, "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."  My study Bible says that these Greeks mentioned here were Gentiles who believed in the God of Abraham, and they have come to participate in the Passover feast.  That they are still called "Greeks" shows that they were not yet full proselytes (converts).  Jesus had taught His disciples not to go to the Gentiles (Matthew 10:5; 15:24), so the disciples approach Christ before bringing these inquirers to Him.   When Jesus speaks of being glorified, He's referring to His death on the Cross.  My study Bible adds that Christ's obscure response is an indication of two things.  First, the answer these Greeks are seeking won't be found in words, but in the Cross; and second, the Cross will be the 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."  This image of a grain of wheat dying in order to bear fruit signifies that Christ's death will give life to the world, my study Bible explains.  In the Armenian Apostolic Church, this passage is read at every memorial service for the faithful who have passed.  In many Orthodox churches, boiled wheat, sweetened and spiced, is served at memorial services.  My study Bible comments that this affirms God's promise that those who have died in Christ will rise again to life.  

A grain of wheat springing to life from death is such a ubiquitous image that it is impossible to separate ourselves from Christ's framing of His death and Resurrection.  Jesus says "it falls into the ground and dies."  But this seemingly sad image is contradicted by His phrasing that the grain only remains alone when this doesn't happen.  To fall into the ground and die is to guarantee that it produces much grain.  So we are to understand His death and Resurrection -- that it produced and is producing much grain, much fruit.  In the story of the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, Jesus refers to the returning villagers coming toward Him as a field of grain white for harvest (John 4:35).  But here He speaks of His own death which will give birth to many faithful, and also invites the disciples into this process as well:  "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."  It is not just Jesus who will undergo such a sacrifice; others will follow.  Perhaps the sacrifices we make in our lives will take on different forms, but nonetheless, Christ's saying still applies.  For what we give of our time, our efforts, our dreams and goals, these also count when given toward service and following Christ.  In St. Matthew's Gospel, Jesus says that giving even a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple will be rewarded (Matthew 10:40-42).  This sense of sacrificial giving and receiving permeates the whole of the Gospels, and all of the Christian life.  It is part of the process of transfiguring our lives in His image.  Indeed, we might consider our recent reading in which Mary covered Christ's feet with a pound of highly expensive fragrant essential oil as a story of what it is to make an extravagant sacrifice given for love of Christ, and to be received by Christ with a gracious reward indeed (see this reading).  For we should count also His words teaching us that "where I am, there My servant will be also."  In giving of our own sacrifices for Him and for the Kingdom, so we also become inheritors, servants, and those who dwell with Him even in an eternal reality.  He promises even more:  "If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor."   In today's lectionary readings, we're also given the final chapter in the book of Job.  There we read of the tremendous reward, even while yet in this world, which Job receives after his great sacrifice of suffering for the sake of his faith in God (Job 42).  Throughout the Scriptures, then, the sense of sacrifice as gift which will be returned in abundant measure plays its role and gives its message to us.  In Luke chapter 6, we read Jesus' Sermon on the Plain, in which Jesus discusses topics widely covered also in the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus says, "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you" (Luke 6:38).  This is taught together with the concept of forgiveness, and so it is that in forgiving we "give up" or "let go" of something to God, and we should understand it that way, as a type of sacrifice for which we'll be richly rewarded.  Let us consider, then, Christ's example of His own sacrifice and abundance of harvest to reap as result, and see that in doing so He teaches us to do the same.  For the countless examples amongst the saints and figures of the Gospels and in the Old Testament we have an entire spiritual history to consider.  What else could inspire such faith but the love shown in such sacrifice, especially by Christ the firstfruits who gave His life for us?  For there is no doubt that this is true.  In a highly consumer-oriented modern society, we might have difficulty considering the idea of sacrifice in a positive light.  But it's what makes the world go around, and civilizations are built not on selfishness but on the willingness to give for what might be, and for love of the good.  Let us consider where we make our sacrifices, and why.  What else can give us back so much?

And he himself believed, and his whole household. This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee

 

 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.  For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.  So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.

So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.  And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."  The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"  Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives."  So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.  And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"  Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.  And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."  So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives."  And he himself believed, and his whole household.  This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee. 

 

- John 4:43-54 

 

 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why are You talking with her?"  The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?"  Then they went out of the city and came to Him.  In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."  But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."  Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"  Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.  Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'?  Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!  And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.  For in this the saying is true:  'One sows and another reaps.'  I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors." And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."  So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.  And many more believed because of His own word.  Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."

 

 Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.  For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.  So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they also had gone to the feast.  Jesus' own country is Galilee (see John 1:46; 2:1; 7:42, 52; 19:19).  There were Galileans present at Jerusalem during the Passover feast (John 2:13-25), when Jesus performed many signs.  My study Bible comments that while the Galileans received Christ having seen His signs, St. John Chrysostom gives greater credit to the Samaritans for accepting Christ based on words alone without the accompanying signs (see also John 20:29).  For the story of the Samaritans, see the readings of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (above).   This saying to which Jesus Himself testified, that a prophet has no honor in His own country, appears in all four Gospels (see also Matthew 13:57, Mark 6:4, John 4:44).

So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.  And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum.  When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.  Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."  This setting for today's reading is Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine.   My study Bible comments on these verses that Christ is admonishing the people in general (you in this last verse is plural both times) and not only the nobleman.  It remarks that faith based on miraculous works alone is insufficient for salvation; this kind of incomplete faith quickly turns to scorn should the miracles cease (see John 19:15).

The nobleman said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies!"  Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives."  So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way.  And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!"  Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better.  And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."  So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives."  And he himself believed, and his whole household.  This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.  My study Bible notes that the nobleman's concern is clearly for his child, even though his faith in Christ is weak.  He doesn't understand that Christ is Lord over illness even from a distance, and neither does he grasp that Jesus would have the power to heal even if the child were to die.  In the end, he asks about the timing of the healing, still not completely trusting Christ's authority.  Only after everything is confirmed do he and his whole household believe.  Therefore, in healing the child from a distance, Jesus heals not just the body of the child, but also the soul of the nobleman.  The text notes for us that this is the second sign of seven included in John's Gospel.  

It's quite interesting that my study Bible remarks that in the healing of the body of his child, the nobleman's soul is also healed by Christ.  This is the remarkable thing about the mysterious workings of God's power.  We don't know by what means or roundabout ways God's effective grace works in the lives of people, but ultimately there is a very significant factor that is always pertinent, and which we so often discount -- and that is the effect of God's work on faith itself, on those who come to faith.  My study Bible has also noted in today's reading that faith based solely on miraculous or marvelous works is a false faith, because if the miracles cease, so an incomplete faith turns to scorn.  We should keep in mind that ultimately it is not marvelous or miraculous signs that form the substance of faith or its purpose.  Jesus has stated that His purpose in being sent is for salvation:  "that the world through Him might be saved" (see John 3:16-17).  Although nominally speaking, today's passage tells us about this important second sign in John's Gospel, perhaps a greater purpose is served in the saving faith rendered in the nobleman and for his whole household, as the text tells us.  This is an important filter through which we might look at many things in the world, including our own lives and the others that we touch through our faith and through the grace that can be at work through us, whether or not we realize it.   There are times when even adverse circumstances can work to help bring about a saving faith; oftentimes it is only when things are not going well that people may turn to prayer, and it is in such a time when their hearts will turn to God and respond to the comfort and care mysteriously found there.  This article at the blog of Oxford University Press cites studies that show growth in people's reliance on religion and the importance of God in their lives in times not only of natural disasters but also man-made disasters such as war and conflict.  Adversity in childhood can often be a factor in the development of a strong religious faith in adulthood.  Psalm 27:10 reads, "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up" (KJV).  There are many who have found that less-than-perfect parenting is deeply healed through a sense of the love of God as Father, Son, and Spirit, as good guidance and support replace what was destructive and chaotic during upbringing.  Through the prayers of the saints, such as the Virgin Mary, many have experienced an inexplicable motherly tenderness that helps guide adult life; and the virtues of the saints as described by St. Paul as fruit of the spirit become a firm ground for the responsibilities of maturity, as opposed to what was poorly presented by natural parents in childhood.  I heard a very wise speaker say the real danger in a life of ups and downs is that when things are going well we will forget to pray, forget our need for God.  We should remember that the signs given in John's Gospel are just that:  they are "signs" of the presence of the kingdom of God with Jesus Christ.  They manifest in some way the presence of the Kingdom, the work of God present to us and among us.  But it is a life of faith that saves, that sometimes rugged journey that asks of us to grow and to struggle and to work and to pursue our faith; in the words of St. Paul, to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).   Even as we read the magnificent and significant signs in John's Gospel, we must remember that they are called "signs" for a reason, they point to something.  And it is that deeper "something" that is the substance of faith and of salvation, in whose life we participate through prayer and worship, and in Whom we find ourselves.