“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.”
John 12:24
We all know that a grain of wheat contains the germs of life. Unless it falls to the ground, the germs will remain inside without growth. A single grain, by its death gives rise to a sapling. When it falls to the ground it releases the inner life power, which is held captive inside the husk. And when such grains fall on the ground, together they clothe the whole field with a harvest of much fruit.
Jesus is teaching this law for the moral world. From the scripture we know that “Jesus is Life,” “In Him is life” and “Whosoever believeth in Him has eternal life” (John 3:15, 6:47). Jesus is here saying that while He is still on this earth, this life exists. But this life grows and multiplies itself in the great spiritual harvest of the world, only after His death and resurrection.
Death in nature is an essential precursor to growth, renewal and fruitfulness. Jesus, by embracing death on our behalf caused many, including us, the first fruit of God. John 11:25 says that “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” We too should daily “practice death” in our lives. The seeds of sin, pride, lust of the flesh and lust of the eye, need to fall down into the ground and die so such evil does not multiply in us.
Some good seeds (good things) in our lives need to die in order to reproduce more good seeds. Some desires of our heart may not be a bad thing, but the Lord might impress on our hearts to let it die. This is what is meant when Jesus said, “If any man wants to follow me, he must carry his cross daily and deny himself.” (Matthew 16:24) We need to crucify some parts of us daily, so that the new life, the new nature, the Christ-like nature grows in us. Many of the traditions we love need to be put to an end.
Apostle Paul put to death his past priorities and goals, which were once valuable to him, as he now considered them rubbish (Philippians 3:8).
We need to put to death our doubts and fears. In our relationships, we can put to death certain arguments and quarrels and above all, we have to put to death our egos that stand in the way of our growth and fruitfulness.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, give us the grace to put to death all of our sinful activities and grow in you and produce good fruits.
In the name of Jesus I pray,
Amen
Sol. Gigi Jacob