LEARNING DAILY

John 12:23-24, 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”.

The sequence of events might be important to understand. Lazarus has been called out of the tomb by Jesus. This is the final straw for the religious leaders and they resolve to kill Jesus. Later, Mary takes the opportunity to anoint the feet of Jesus with expensive oil and Judas said the oil should have been used to feed the poor. Jesus enters Jerusalem, knowing it is time to fulfil what God had sent Him to do; He now declares the time to be glorified has come.

John’s writing now centers on Jesus speaking about His death and resurrection. Many times before Jesus has said His time had not yet come; that has changed. He is following the time table established for Him. Again, it is God’s timing! One of the disciples, Philip, is approached by some Greeks wanting to see Jesus. Perhaps they approached Him because the Pharisees were beginning to understand they were losing their control (v. 19).  We are not told what the Greeks said to or asked Jesus but the conversation prompted Jesus to say what He did. He had to die in order for His ministry to bear fruit. He was responding that they needed to look at Him as He who was to lay His life down as a ransom for sin. Perhaps He was telling them they needed to see Him as laying down His life for their sin.

I believe it is good to remember and be very thankful for Jesus fulfilling His mission for His glory brought the offer of salvation and the opportunity to be reconciled to the Father. The reference to the grain of wheat falling to the ground certainly refers to Himself and the fruit refers to all who would believe in Him. His love for sinners, like you and me, wanting all to come to the Father through His suffering and death is hard to comprehend. Consider that “much grain” or “much fruit” means the multitude who have believed and walked a narrow way since His death and resurrection.

There is another meaning to the grain of wheat that needs to be planted to produce “spiritual” life and fruit. Believers “can only experience life and joy when they decide to die to their self-centered existence and give control over their lives to Jesus (Matthew 10:39; 16:24; Mark 8:35; Luke 9:24)” (David Jeremiah Study Bible). Would you agree that surrender is difficult because we want to be in charge of our life. We want to fulfill our desires and our dreams, in our way. But, the words of Jesus about His death apply spiritually to ours. When we give our dreams and desires to Jesus, when we die to self and trust Him to guide our lives, then we bring forth fruit. That means we can be used for His glory. Through our lives He adds to the kingdom of God by the change He brings in the way we live; His light shines forth through the way we live as His faithful followers.