Unless a Kernel of Wheat Falls to the Ground and Dies (John 12:20-33)

Unless a Kernel of Wheat Falls to the Ground and Dies

 

John 12:20-33

 

The cross is the symbol representing Christian faith. And the cross means “death.” But this death doesn’t merely mean the biological death with which all the vital signs stop in the body. This death includes every “deadly experience” we have while living our life. In 2Corinthians 2:15, Apostle Paul called himself and those who followed Jesus “the aroma of Christ.” He spread this fragrance through his life of dying every day (1Corinthians 15:31). But he also said, while this fragrance is the “fragrance of life” to those who are being saved, it is the “smell of death” to those who are perishing. After all, how the faith of each individual is may be determined by what smell he smells from Jesus dying on the cross. If one smells the fragrance of life, he will follow Jesus, and if one smells the smell of death, he will be fearful and run away from Jesus. And therefore, one will be saved, and the other will perish. In this sense, how we understand Jesus’ death on the cross will be the heart of our faith. And without correct understanding of this, we will be chased and harassed by the smell of death day and night until we are devoured by death. In today’s text, Jesus knew that his death was coming, and he taught its meaning to people. Jesus’ teaching on death is far different from our knowledge of death. With regard to his own death, Jesus mentions “many fruits.” He mentions “the glory of the Father and the Son.” He mentions “victory over the Devil.” And he mentions “saving all the people throughout the world.” After all, every truth of the gospel that we believe had been packed compactly inside the body of Jesus, and upon Jesus’ death and resurrection, this truth burst into blossom with all its glory, fully revealed to us who believe.

 

There is a novel named “Hope for the Flowers” written by Trina Paulus. This novel describes the life journey of caterpillar Stripe. Caterpillar Stripe was living a boring life, just eating tree leaves all day long. He wanted to find a more exciting and meaningful life, so he set out a journey. On the way, he saw a great column rising high, so high that its top was hidden inside the cloud. When Stripe came closer to the column, he found that the column was actually a pile of caterpillars squirming and pushing upward. Stripe was curious, but nobody said to him about why they were climbing so hard and what was on the top of this column. Still seeing so many caterpillars crawling up competitively, Stripe was sure that there must be something great on the top. Highly excited, Stripe joined the race. And pushing and being pushed, trampling and being trampled, he climbed up little by little. And at last, he reached the top hidden inside the cloud. Surprisingly, however, there was not anything great that he had expected. On the top of the column, caterpillars were wrestling with one another in order to keep their positions, and some fell down, leaving fearful screams. What was a more surprising finding is that there was not just one column. On the top, Stripe saw that there were countless piles of caterpillars covering all the land. Stripe was greatly disappointed, and he came down to the ground. Then, the frustrated Stripe was visited by Yellow butterfly. She had been also a caterpillar, and Stripe’s old friend. Led by Yellow, Stripe decided to walk the way to be a butterfly. But the journey was “deadly” scary, dark, and lonely. Stripe climbed up a tree, and hung down on a branch. And slowly he wrapped his body with silky thread. It grew darker. Leaving everything behind, Stripe buried himself inside the cocoon. And he waited there in darkness. He waited. Then, one day, he was born again as a butterfly with beautiful wings. He became an angel who was spreading hope for the flowers.

 

Today’s story begins with some Greeks’ visiting. They are believed to be Gentile converts to Judaism. They visited Jerusalem to worship God at the Passover Feast. They would like to see Jesus through Philip, one of Jesus’ disciples. The author doesn’t tell us why they would like to see Jesus, and whether they actually met Jesus and conversed with him. When Jesus heard about the Greeks’ visiting, Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” This word of Jesus doesn’t look much relevant to the Greeks’ visiting. What we can guess is that Jesus’ reputation had reached far beyond the Palestine area. In fact, the hero of this Passover Feast in Jerusalem was Jesus. John 12:12-19, the previous part of today’s text, is depicting Jesus riding on a young donkey and entering the City of Jerusalem. A large crowd of Jews welcome Jesus, waving palm branches and shouting “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the King of Israel!” Verse 18 explains why the Jews came to receive Jesus with such a great enthusiasm. “Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him.” Here, “this miraculous sign” means the miracle that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. With this miracle, Jesus’ popularity soared high above the cloud. Even Pharisees, who had been jealous and slanderous to Jesus, almost gave up their wicked scheme, saying, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!” (19) In 1Corinthians 1:22, St. Paul says, “Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom.” To the Jews who were demanding miraculous signs, Jesus who had raised Lazarus from the dead was already the best prophet in the history of Israel, far excelling Moses and Elijah. Having heard of Jesus’ reputation as such, the Greeks might visit Jesus in order to get words of wisdom from him. In terms of caterpillar Stripe’s journey as above, Jesus was the “best winner” who had reached the top of the caterpillar pile, high above the cloud. Now what was left to Jesus was the coronation ceremony, receiving the crown as the King of Israel, even, the King of the World. Jesus also said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified!” Hearing this, the disciples and many others might shout to themselves quietly, “Oh yeah!!!” and gulp out of great excitement.

 

But Jesus continued his word in a way quite contrary to their expectation. In verse 24, Jesus says, “Very truly I tell you, 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.” Jesus talked about death. However, this death is different from the death we know. This death is that a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and is buried. Falling to the ground and being buried is nothing but “death” in our eyes. The kernel is locked alone in deep darkness. But when the kernel is provided with adequate temperature and moisture, the hard grain of starch turns into soft and sweet milky substance (glucose), and this supplies nutrition for the budding of the germ in the seed. The germ of the wheat kernel is extremely small, but surprisingly it already contains the prototypes of the leaves and root. And the nourished germ wakes up, and stretches its arms and legs, starting a new life. The exactly same process happens in the transformation of caterpillar Stripe to a butterfly. In order for the caterpillar to be a butterfly, he must go through the stage of “death,” hanging on a tree and being locked inside the cocoon. When he waits in darkness, the hidden trait of butterfly wakes up, and beautiful wings grow out under his arms. Why is this stage of death required in order for a kernel of wheat to produce many seeds, in order for Stripe to be a butterfly, in order for Jesus to be Christ of all human beings? I believe this death is “revering God,” and “submitting myself to God completely.” It is giving up all of my desires and every means that I am holding to seek the desires, and putting myself in God’s hand and in God’s will. This is “aromatic death giving out the fragrance of life.” When a kernel is buried under the ground, its hard starch grain becomes mellow and turns into sweet milk. In this way, when we lock ourselves in God’s hand for God’s will, our stubborn heart becomes mellow, sweet, and fragrant. And then, the holy “image of God” hidden inside me wakes up and begins to grow. Death is revering God and submitting to God. Death is putting my life in God’s hand. Death is disarming myself completely and standing naked peacefully in front of God with no shame, no anxiety, and no fear.

 

Then, what is the fruit we produce through death? This fruit is “fruit of righteousness.” When a farmer plants a seed, he knows what fruit is hidden in the seed. And he expects to harvest the fruit. The fruit is the righteousness of the seed. Inside caterpillar Stripe is also hidden “a butterfly with beautiful stripe wings.” And this butterfly is the righteousness of the caterpillar. A caterpillar may live its entire life, just crawling and eating tree leaves. But that is not the ultimate purpose of God who created the caterpillar. A caterpillar must be transformed into a butterfly through the stage of “death,” in which it locks its body in the cocoon and lets God do his work on the body. This is God’s will. This is the purpose of its birth and existence. This is the fruit of righteousness that the caterpillar must produce through its entire life. The Bible says that Jesus is ”the righteousness of God” (Romans 3:21). How did Jesus become the righteousness of God? It is because God’s will was fully accomplished through Jesus’ obedience and commitment. God’s will is destroying the power of sin, and death, and the Devil through Jesus’ death and resurrection. And God’s will is justifying all the souls in the world, making them God’s children, and giving them eternal life. For this will of God, Jesus committed himself wholly. Then, Jesus, the seed that fell to the ground and died, burst into God’s glory. It was revealed brightly that Jesus is truly the Son of God, the Savior of the sinners, and the King of the world as actually he is.

 

Jesus is not only the righteousness of God, but also he is the seed of righteousness for us so that we may also produce the fruit of righteousness. In Philippians 1:11, St. Paul prays, “(May you be) filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.” Paul says that we may bear the fruit of righteousness “through Jesus Christ.” In today’s text, Jesus said, “Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.” Like Jesus came to the world as a kernel of wheat, each of us is a seed that has Jesus as its embryo. People who love their life in the world are like the caterpillars struggling to get higher in the pile for survival. They smell the smell of death from those who follow and serve Jesus. In their eyes, Jesus on the cross looks like a pale-dry cocoon hanging on a tree. And one who follows Jesus looks like another pale-dry cocoon hanging beside Jesus. They never imagine what is going on inside the cocoon. In the cocoon, the fruit of righteousness is ripening. This is possible only through the seed of God and the power of God. So, we should embrace Jesus in our heart, follow him, and serve him. This means that we should have a sweet milky heart toward Jesus, and pour the heart onto him so that Christ may grow in us. Then, we produce “the fruit of righteousness” in us through Jesus. We become God’s children who resemble Jesus, and this is the fruit pleasing God and glorifying his name. In Jesus, death is truly life. Only the Lord knows the way from death to righteousness and life, and only the Lord can lead us through the way. I pray that, following Jesus every day, we may walk the way of cross that leads us to righteousness and life.