“Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” — John 12:24
Something changes in John 12.
Throughout much of John’s Gospel, Jesus has spoken about an hour that had not yet come. There was more to do. More to say. More road to travel. Even when others wanted to force events forward, Jesus seemed to move according to a timetable larger than anyone around Him could see.
Then some Greeks arrive in Jerusalem and approach Philip with a simple request: “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”
Philip tells Andrew. Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And suddenly Jesus says the words we have been waiting for: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”
Glorified.
Hearing that word you might imagine something magnificent. Something unmistakably triumphant. Something accompanied by applause and celebration. Perhaps the people around Jesus expected something like that too. After all, if this really was the Messiah, surely His moment of glory would look like victory.
Jesus tells them about a seed. A tiny kernel of wheat.
Unless it falls into the ground and dies, Jesus says, it remains only a seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.
That is Jesus’ picture of glory. Something falling. Something disappearing. Something dying. And somehow, from what looks like loss comes an abundance of life.
Jesus isn’t offering a gardening lesson. He is telling them what is about to happen to Him.
The hour that had not yet come has arrived, and Jesus knows where it will take Him. Before long there will be betrayal and arrest. There will be accusations and mocking and nails. There will be a cross outside Jerusalem and, afterward, a borrowed tomb.
Jesus knows all of that. And He is troubled by it. That matters.
“Now my soul is troubled,” He says. Jesus does not pretend suffering is painless simply because God will redeem it. He does not minimize what lies ahead or treat death casually. The cross will cost Him dearly.
And then, “What should I say, then? ‘Father, save me from this hour? ‘No. This was the very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Once again, there is that surprising word.
Glory.
Jesus sees glory where almost everyone else will soon see defeat. He sees life where everyone else will see death. He sees a harvest where everyone else will see a seed disappearing into the ground.
Then a voice comes from heaven. Some standing nearby think it thundered. Others believe an angel has spoken. And Jesus tells them “This voice was for your benefit, not mine.”
Then Jesus offered them another extraordinary promise:
“When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.”
John makes sure we understand what Jesus means. He is speaking about the kind of death He will die. Jesus will be lifted up. On a cross.
And somehow this instrument of humiliation and execution will become the place from which God draws people to Himself.
That is the strange wonder at the heart of our faith.
We are accustomed to looking for God in strength, success and unmistakable displays of power. We want Him to fix what is broken, defeat what threatens us and make everything turn out the way we hoped.
Sometimes He does things we immediately recognize as wonderful. It can even look, for a little while, like God has lost.
Seeds are like that.
Hold one in your hand and at least you can see it. Put it into the earth and it disappears. Cover it with soil and there is nothing left to admire. For a while, there is no evidence that anything is happening at all.
Just dirt. And then life.
The people standing around Jesus could not yet see what He saw. They could not imagine Easter from where they were standing. They could not know how far the life produced by this one Seed would spread.
But we can look backward.
Which takes us back to those Greeks who appeared at the beginning of the story. “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”
Perhaps that is a fitting prayer for us as well. We would like to see Jesus.
Then look.
Look at the One who knew exactly where the road was leading and continued anyway. Look at the Savior who was troubled but did not turn away. Look at the cross, where what appeared to be weakness became the power of God’s saving love.
Look at the seed falling into the earth. And then look at the life that followed.
This is the glory Jesus wanted us to see.
Life out of death. Hope out of what appeared hopeless. A cross followed by an empty tomb.
A single Seed becoming a harvest that continues to grow.
You want to see Jesus? Then look. And wonder.
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