I assure you, “Unless a
grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just one grain; it
never becomes more but lives by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces many
others and yields a rich harvest. (John 12:24, AMP). Many
of us “gave our hearts to Jesus.” That was something
we did during the years we were growing up in America. Have we really looked at
this passage though? What does it mean, unless a grain of wheat falls into the
earth and dies? “Oh, I know that answer,” someone says. “That is referring to
Jesus death. We couldn’t become Christians without Him dying.” Good Sunday school
answer. How many of us have given it any thought beyond the point in time we
gave our hearts to Jesus?
What does Jesus say to the disciples? Does he say, “You have
done well to believe in me; now
go your merry way?” No, Jesus is not only talking to His disciples but teaching
them, too. The purpose of John’s Gospel is “so that you may know.” Read
the whole book. We see John the Baptist opened the book by saying that he is
pointing the way; he is not the Messiah. He is the one crying out in the wilderness, who
is preparing the way of the Lord. So, why does Jesus tell this parable to the
disciples?
Let us consider first,
what a disciple is. A disciple is one taught and mentored by a
teacher. This teaching is not a once off but a daily, moment-by-moment
interaction. It is a sharing of life with the teacher. There must be a purpose
for this form of teaching, right? There is. This method of teaching is not only
so you can gain knowledge, but so you can understand with certainty and put
into place the things you are learning as well. This is a life-changing
education. For that reason, a disciple is one who learns and absorbs the
lessons of God so that his or her life is changed-the way they see things and the
way they live.
How does this definition
affect our reading of the passage in John 12 now? Is it only concerning Himself
that Jesus spoke? We each are to become grains of
wheat that die so God can use our
lives to produce a harvest that will return to a relationship with Him. What,
you say? Does a seed produce when fresh from the plant? No. Do we live for God
if we do not die to self? No. Did you ever give that a thought? What does
becoming a Christian mean? It means we no longer do what we want to do but
instead we place God’s priorities as the reason for our lives. In baptism, you symbolize this dying to self by being laid down
into water and rising out of the water to new life in Christ. The seed, yourself, dies when you become a
Christian. You do not follow a life path of your own making; you are dead to
yourself. When we are dead to ourselves, from that time God can use us to bring
other people to Him, to a life and love relationship
with Him.
Now, let us consider
this again. "I assure you, most
solemnly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it
remains just one grain; it never becomes more but lives by itself alone. But if
it dies, it produces many others and
yields a rich harvest" (John 12:24, AMP). Our lives are useless lived exclusively for
ourselves. Getting our wants met is not the priority. Everything we own we
cannot take with us after we die nor will it keep us from dying. The only way
to possess true purpose in life is to be in a relationship with our Creator. He
loves us so much that He made a plan for us to return to Him even before He
created us. Additionally, we gain eternal life if we “fall
into the earth and die,” as Christ said in this
parable. Jesus was not only
talking about Himself; He was talking about His disciples, too.
God uses the
people who died to themselves and their own purposes to tell others the Good
News that God loves them and wants to have a relationship with them. This is
the harvest, the others to whom we tell about God’s love incarnate in
Jesus Christ. The seed is we, dying
to self and living for Christ. We do this because not only have we heard the
Good News, but we are being transformed by it until we can say with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who
lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me
and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20,
NASB). The fields are white and ready for harvesting; will you allow the Word in you to
transform you?
