John 12:20-24 NLT‬
[20] “Some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration [21] paid a visit to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee. They said, “Sir, we want to meet Jesus.” [22] Philip told Andrew about it, and they went together to ask Jesus.
[23] Jesus replied, “Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory. [24] I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives…. “

A request from some Greeks to see Jesus triggered in Him a forceful reminder that His presence on earth meant one thing – dying to live.

The Old Testament prophets predicted that God’s Messiah would come for Gentiles as well as Jews. When Greeks began to seek Him, their interest probably sparked by His reputation in Israel, it was time to move into the final drama of His human life.

Why did Jesus come? As a unique man, He could have lived a cushy life, to a ripe old age, and died a peaceful death in the presence of a loving family and friends. Of course, this reasoning is faulty since, as a sinless human, Jesus was not subject to death.

However, Jesus did not come to live a cushy life. He came to die. Dying was His purpose and goal, however, not just dying but dying to live.

How often in Scripture, the Holy Spirit applied the law of the harvest to the issues of life. Sowing and reaping is not only written into the work of a farmer. People are constantly sowing seeds and reaping the harvest from what they have sown. In fact, life in all its facets begins with a seed.

Take for example, the harvest we reap from the words we speak.

‭Proverbs 18:21 NLT‬
[21] “The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.”

What about the way we use our money?

‭2 Corinthians 9:6 NLT‬
[6] Remember this—a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop….
[10] For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.”

Generosity to others will always bring a harvest in return.

‭Galatians 6:7-9 NLT‬
[7] “Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. [8] Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. [9] So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”

So, Jesus saw, not just His words and deeds as seed but far more than that, His own body, His life as a seed to be sown in the ground.

And the harvest He anticipated? He spoke of “many seeds”. A seed always reproducss itself. The seed of one plant cannot produce a plant of a different species. So, the Jesus seed, planted in the ground, would reproduce many seeds in its own likeness, in at least two ways.

First, Jesus’ death would reproduce many seeds like Himself in His nature. In this life, the Holy Spirit is transforming everyone who believes in Jesus into His likeness.

‭Colossians 3:10 NLT‬
[10] “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.”

Becoming like Jesus requires a dying to self and identity with Jesus in His death, symbolised by our baptism in water.

‭Romans 6:3-4 NLT‬
[3] “Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? [4] For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”

We then in turn, are also seeds that must die, through identity with Jesus, to produce new life.

Second, the body of Jesus buried in the ground, becomes the firstfruits of a harvest of millions just like Him.

‭1 Corinthians 15:20 NLT‬
[20] But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died….
[22] Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. [23] But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.”

There was no way Jesus could wriggle out of His destiny by dodging the death He would die. Death was not only His purpose to produce a harvest. Death, first and foremost was, for Him, the most powerful way in which He could draw attention to the Father.

[27]“Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But this is the very reason I came! [28] Father, bring glory to your name.” Then a voice spoke from heaven, saying, “I have already brought glory to my name, and I will do so again.”

‭1 John 4:10 NLT‬
[10] “This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”

There was no greater way for Jesus to reveal the extent of God’s love for fallen humans than to give Himself as a sacrifice for the sin of the world. Death was not Jesus’ good idea. Death was the ultimate will of the Father, and Jesus submitted to that will.

Many centuries before, Isaiah accurately predicted the nature and purpose of Jesus’ death,

‭Isaiah 53:4-5,10 NLT‬
[4] “Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! [5] But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed….
[10] But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.”

And Jesus submitted to that will.

‭Mark 14:35-36 NLT‬
[35]”He went on a little farther and fell to the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. [36] “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”

And the outcome?

‭Hebrews 5:7-9 NLT‬
[7] “While Jesus was here on earth, he offered prayers and pleadings, with a loud cry and tears, to the one who could rescue him from death. And God heard his prayers because of his deep reverence for God. [8] Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered. [9] In this way, God qualified him as a perfect High Priest, and he became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey him.”

Mission accomplished!