“Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 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.”
John 12:20-24 NIV
What was it the triggered this insightful declaration of Jesus? What was He saying? A seed has only one purpose…to die and be buried in the ground. Unless it dies, a seed will never fulfil its purpose.
Of course, this is logical, but what does it imply if we follow the logic of Jesus’ statement to its conclusion? Jesus did not just make a random observation out of the blue about a law of nature. He made a serious, but veiled declaration about His own role in a new order that was about to come into being.
Any new life has to be born of a seed. Some Greeks, known as “God-fearers” because they worshiped the God of Israel, in the crowd at that moment, purposely asked to see Jesus. This was the clue that something new was about to happen. The Gentiles who, up to this point in history, were “outsiders”, despised, hated, and ostracised by the Jews, and outside of God’s realm, were on the threshold of a new identity. Through the “seed” that would die and be buried in the ground, a new dispensation of unity between Jew and Gentile and a new species as God’s family would grow and bloom, reproducing seeds of this new identity.
“Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.”
Ephesians 2:11-16 NIV
Isaiah’s prophecy, written centuries before this event, was on the verge of fulfilment,
“I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles,”
Isaiah 42:6 NIV
God’s purpose, a mystery up to this point, was about to change the entire direction of history.
“This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 3:6 NIV
Everything that flowed from the fulfilment of this declaration depended on one thing…the death of the seed. What if the “seed” chose not to die? What if Jesus, confronted by the reality, the horror of what was about to happen to Him, chose His will over the Father’s will?
“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
John 12:27-28 NIV
That voice again! Seldom did the Father speak to His Son in an audible voice. Only at those times when Jesus made crucial decisions that directed the course of His life, did the Father affirm His choices, not to tell Him what to do but to assure Him that He was on track.
So, the die was cast, the choice was confirmed…the seed would die, as planned from before the universe came into existence.
“Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.”
Isaiah 50:7 NIV
Jerusalem would be the place of His execution.
“In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!”
Luke 13:33 NIV
So…
“As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.”
Luke 9:51 NIV
Now, in this situation, already in Jerusalem, according to the Father’s timetable, Jesus touched base with heaven. He ensured that His every move, guided by the Father through earthly events, was in harmony with the Father’s will.
So, He could say, with assurance, despite the emotions accompanying His resolution, despite His revulsion at the thought of impending suffering, real as it was, that He was ready to face the next step in this unfolding plan of redemption.
To be continued…