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JESUS, THE KERNEL OF WHEAT
A Beautiful Love Story

John 12:1-36
Key verse: 12:24

“I tell you the truth, 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.”

We are picking up chapter 12. Verse 1 says that this story happened 6 days before the Passover. There are 21 chapters in John’s gospel. So, about Half of John’s gospel describes the last six days of Jesus’ life on this world. How can I summarize chapter 1-11? I find out that in almost every chapter Jesus teaches about life.

• 1:4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
• 3:16 says For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
• 4:13 Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
• 5:21 “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them the life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.”
• 5:24 “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my world and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”
• 5:39-40 “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”
• 6:40 My Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
• 6:47-48 “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life.
• 6:53-54 “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
• 6:63 “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.”
• 8:12 “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
• 8:51. “I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
• 10:10 “I have come that they have may have life, and have it to the full.”
• 11:25 “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and however live and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Don’t you want to have a life that is full of life? I do. Jesus is almost begging to people. “Please believe me. I can, and I will give you life only if you believe in me. If you don’t believe you will die in your sins.” But many people rejected him and were even determined to kill him. (chapter 5) Despite of the numerous miracles that showed who Jesus was, they didn’t want to accept him as their promised messiah. Many disciples left Him after Jesus fed the five thousands people with ‘five small barley loaves and two small fish’ because He refused to give them any more bread. (chapter 6) The conflict between the Jews and Jesus reached its apex when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. They were waiting for Jesus to come to the Passover feast to arrest him and to kill him. It is in this circumstance that the story began.

Jesus knew perfectly well that he would be arrested and killed when He came to this Passover Feast. But he didn’t avoid this “would-be” the final trip. His love compelled Him to do so. The only way for Him to give life to people is to give His own life. That is why “this chapter is a love story. It is the story of love and sacrifice. It begins with the love and sacrifice of one woman who poured out her treasure for Jesus. It is the story of love that triumphs over sin and Satan. But the real love story is the story of Jesus’ love and sacrifice for the sins of the world. It is the story of love that falls to the ground and dies and produces many seeds.”1

Look at verse 20. Just at this time, the world came to him (as the Pharisees said in verse 19). It came in the person of some Greeks who had come to Jerusalem to worship.1 They spoke to Philip, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” Philip, not sure what to do, told Andrew. In turn, Philip and Andrew told Jesus. Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Very soon, he would be glorified on the cross, for his love would be poured out on the ground there. His obedience to death glorified God. His resurrection would glorify God. And God would glorify him through raise him from the dead. He would be glorified as he ascended to the take his place on the throne at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Jesus gave his disciples and the Greeks and all of us the principle of the life. Let’s read verse 24 together. “I tell you the truth, 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.” The kernel of wheat is a seed. It has life in it. When it is planted, it dies as a seed and sprouts up to new life and produces many seeds or fruits. If it is not planted, it remains as a single seed. If it does not loose his ID as a seed, it can not produce many fruits. It’s a simple truth of nature.

What are the spiritual implications of this truth? I think of the implications in three ways.
(1) The response of Jesus is first applied directly to Himself. It was His time to be glorified to die on the cross of Calvary. Look at verse 32. “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. This is not first time that he mentioned the way of his death. In John 4:14-15, He says, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of man must be lifted up that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” Again in 8:28, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.” “Lifted up” means His death on the cross. And it is the ultimate sign that He is the promised Messiah who will drive out the prince of this world (which is the devil himself) and give us the true life. Having said that, Jesus is telling us that He will produce much life by means of His death. He cannot be the Savior of the world without first dying. He cannot give the eternal life to men without first dying. At the “triumphal entry,” those who heralded Jesus as the “King of Israel” expected Him to “save now” (this is what “Hosanna” means). What the people failed to understand was that He could only save men by giving up His life, by experiencing the death penalty for sin in the sinner’s place. It was not His immediate inauguration as the King that would save many, but His death. It was not His acceptance by Israel, but His rejection, that would produce “much fruit.” Our God cannot let us go without punishment for our sins because of His righteousness. Only punishment would be the death of our soul and spirit. The Satan claims our death. Here, God gave His own life through His One and Only Son, Jesus.

It is the message of the cross. “The cross of Jesus is a principle of love and sacrifice. Selfishness is excluded.”1 Did he like to follow His own principle? Apparently not! He said, “My heart is troubled, 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.” He wanted to avoid the cross if possible – like many of us. But he wanted to obey the will of Father because He loves His Father so much. “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” (4:34) “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too am working. ….. the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because what ever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.” (5:17, 19-20) He freely gave his life because he knew that his Father God loved him. He could surrender to God’s will because he loved God. The Gospel story is indeed a love story. Sacrifice is love. Love is sacrifice. Because of His obedience, the door of salvation has opened to all mankind – both to the Jews and the Gentiles. So, he did answer to the questions that the Greek might want to ask Him.

(2) The second implication of the principle is to the sinners. Until the sinner dies to his own work and to his own efforts, merit, and righteousness, he cannot know life and be saved. This is what we have learned from Galatians. “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.” (Gal 6:14-15)

(3) The seed must first die before it can produce new life, before it can produce much fruit. The third implication of this principle is to Christians. Now, Jesus extended the principle to the followers of Him in verses 25 and 26. Let us read verses 25 and 26. “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his 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.” What does he mean by “love his life” and “hate his life”? Let’s look at St. Paul’s understanding of this teaching. St. Paul says in Roman 6:4 “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father, we too many live a new life.” According to him, we too have been planted in the likeness of Jesus’ death, when we believe in His love on the cross. And as God glorified Jesus we will be also glorified through the resurrection. He continued to explain what it means that we are planted in the likeness of his death in Roman 6:6. It means that our “old” self is crucified with Jesus. To become fruitful, we need to crucify our “old” self so that we can have new life. We must put to death our flesh (our sinful nature). We must die if there is to be the fruitful victory of resurrection.

Those who would follow Jesus must follow the same principle and practice as their Master. If they would serve Him, they must follow Him. To follow Him, they must do as He does. If they do so, they will not only enter into His suffering and death, they will enter into God’s favor, for the Father will honor them as He does His Son. What a wonderful promise we have in Jesus!

This is His last public teaching before his death on the cross. He has said everything that he had to say. He has shown everything that he had to show. He had fulfilled all the things that the Scripture promised. Now, He urged people to make a decision by saying. Look at verse 36. “Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light.” Even though Jesus had done various miraculous signs to show that He is the way, the truth, and the life; even though He would give everything that He had even His own life, the responses by the people to the love of Jesus were not the same. I noticed four different types of responses in the gospel of John.

(1) The response of Judas Iscariot: Judas was a disciple; he was especially trusted. He was the treasurer of the disciples. But Judas loved money. John tells us that he was a thief. He saw Mary’s act of love as a great waste. “This should have been sold and given to the poor.” His words sound so right and reasonable–like high level altruism.1 Judas didn’t love Jesus. He loved money. He tried to save something for himself. He found bitterness and failure and death.1 We may say “I am not like Judas.” Are you sure? I ask myself. Do I really love Jesus more than anything else in this world – including my wife, my children, my hobby, etc? He served Jesus as long as his ego was satisfied. We all have this ego-centric tendency. Often we are asking, “how far do we have to go?” In our book club, when we discuss the forgiveness, our blood pressure goes up – how can we forgive such a terrible person! When we discuss the Christian marriage, our blood pressure goes up again – how can you ask a wife to love her husband who is physically harassing her repeatedly! (It’s better to divorce than to maintain the marriage!) I don’t know how far we need to go. But I will say we need to remember the love of Jesus. Jesus died on the cross for everyone, even for Judas. When I try to save something for myself in this world, I will meet the limitation. I pray that I may remember how far Jesus went to save me when I meet my limitation. And I pray that I may go one step further through the love of Jesus.

(2) The Response of the Confused Crowd: Look at verse 34. “We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man’?” These were the people who shouted “Hosanna” when Jesus entered Jerusalem (v. 13). We can see their attitude has changed. They didn’t say, “We read the Law that the Christ will remain forever.” Instead, they said, “We have heard that the Christ will remain forever.” Nowadays, we are hearing many different things about Jesus and His gospel that make us confused. I have heard that the Holy Spirit is not with Churches any longer; that the Bible that we are using is not the complete one; that the Bible we are using is different from the original copy (It’s not authentic!). I have also heard that there is no judgment what so ever. So, we are facing two choices; should we believe what Jesus tells us or should we believe what we have heard? Jesus says, “Put your trust in the light”. Accepting the love of Jesus is very personal matter. Each one of us makes careful decision what we ought to believe not what we want to believe.

(3) The response of Greeks: Who were these people? Most likely, they were Greeks who worshiped God in synagogues scattered throughout the Roman Empire. (Acts 15:17; 18:7) They have come to worship in Jerusalem. These Greeks do not merely wish to look at (i.e. “see”) Jesus; they wish to speak with Him. They hear about all that Jesus had been doing in recent days. They probably heard about the healing of the man born blind (chapter 9). They most certainly heard that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. Some may even have seen Lazarus himself. They must have wondered if Jesus was the Messiah they had been seeking. If so, what would be their relationship with Him, since they were Greeks. To obtain the answers to their questions, they would have to arrange to talk privately with Jesus. They came to Philip. Philip and Andrew led them to Jesus. Andrew mentioned in 3 times in John’s gospel. In each time, he brought people to Jesus. Sometimes, we can be confused; we become doubtful; sometime we don’t understand. But we must try to see Jesus. If we don’t know what to do, we need a bible teacher who can lead us to Jesus. But point is we need to see Jesus, nothing else – not the crowd of people.

(4) The response of Mary: Look at v. 3. “Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”

She loved Jesus so much. She loved to listen to His teaching. Once, her sister Martha was so mad because she only listened to Jesus, not doing any work. But she didn’t care. She loved him purely. She trusted his love absolutely. But her love was tested. Their – Mary and Martha’s – only brother was very sick. In fact, he was dying. He was their older brother and was like a father to the girls. It was hard to imagine what their house would be without their brother. So they sent word to their best friend: “The one you love is sick.” They trusted him. They believed that he loved them. But he didn’t come. Their brother died. Their friends came; their rich neighbor from Jerusalem came to console them. Others came, but he didn’t come. They were disappointed in Jesus. “Does he really love us?” Then, he came. He had waited so that he could give them something better than a healing miracle. He raised their brother to life and planted in them resurrection faith. Mary was so ashamed for having doubted his love, even for a moment. She was so thankful to him for saving her brother. She was so thankful for the restoration of her faith in Jesus’ love and in his life-giving power. Now, just before Passover time he had come back to Bethany. They had a dinner party in Jesus’ honor. Lazarus was there. Martha served. Mary wanted to express her gratitude to Jesus. She wanted him to know how much she loved him. She took the pint jar of the special perfume that she had saved (probably) for her wedding and poured it out–the whole pint on his feet–not on his head, but on his feet. Then, she loosed her hair, her beautiful long hair, a woman’s crowning glory, and used it like an old rag, to wipe his feet. She loved Jesus. She did not hold back anything. She poured out her precious perfume, her pure, expensive nard, all of it–no reserves. She gave her heart to Jesus; she gave her future to Jesus. People didn’t understand what she was doing. But Jesus understood her heart and accepted her expression of love, for he would also pour out everything, his life blood, in love for her and for all of us.

This story is about Mary’s love and sacrifice. The gospel is about Jesus’ love and sacrifice. He held back nothing. Jesus would soon pour out his precious life blood to deliver the world from slavery to sin and the devil. This was his act of love. It proclaimed his Father God’s love. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…,” Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (Jn 15:12-13) and that is what he did. Mary’s love and sacrifice also produced much fruit. She did a beautiful thing. Wherever the gospel is preached the story of Mary’s love and sacrifice is told.

“God wants us to love him without reservation. If we love ourselves and cling to the material or human things of the world in order to enhance and protect ourselves, we lose the life that is life indeed. If Mary had taken Judas’ advice and saved her perfume, she would never know the real meaning of love and life. She poured out her most precious possession and held back nothing and she found love and eternal life. The secret of love and life is sacrifice and giving.”1

William Borden was the heir of the Borden millionaires. He met Jesus in high school. His family gave him a trip around the world for a graduation present. He felt the pain in Jesus’ heart for the world’s hurting people who were living without Christ, so he made a decision to give his life to Jesus for world mission. He loved Jesus and he wrote in his Bible, “No Reserves.” He would hold back nothing. He went to Yale, studied hard, and challenged fellow students to answer God’s call for world mission. After gradation, he turned down lucrative job offers and set out for China. He wrote in his Bible, “no retreats.” He wanted to preach the gospel to the Muslim people of north China. He stopped in Egypt to study Arabic and while he was there he contracted spinal meningitis and in a month, at the age of 25, he was dead. Was his short life wasted? Not from God’s perspective. Before he died he wrote in his Bible, “No regrets.” He had followed Jesus to become a kernel of wheat which was planted and died to produce many seeds. Many students were moved by his love and sacrifice for Jesus, and a great student missionary movement was born.

I have presented 4 spiritual conditions that I can find in John chapter 12. What is your condition at this moment? How should I know where I am? Think of the following verses. (1) “Look how the whole world has gone after Him.” (v19) Whom are you going after at this moment? (2) “Sir, we would like to see Jesus” (v21). What do you like to see at this moment? (3) “The man who loves his life will lose it”. (v25) Do love or hate your “old” self? (4) “Whoever serves me must follow me”. (v26) Do you serve Jesus or yourself?

Jesus became a kernel of wheat to give us life. He wants us to have true life and live it to the fullest. He wants us to live a fruitful life. Some of us may be like the people who hesitate to put their trust in Jesus – like a seed folding their arms, saying “I am not going to die.” Some of us may still struggle to bear the fruits. Let us ask in prayer: what do I need to lay down at the cross; what do I need to give up; what do I need to crucify? Before that, let us pray that the Spirit of God help us to remember the love of Jesus and to know that we are in the unfailing and unconditional love of Jesus. It is the time for each of us, in one’s own situation, to remember Jesus’ love and sacrifice with thanksgiving. It is time for each of us to put our trust in His love. It is time for each one of to renew our love for Jesus and our commitment to him and to the work he has given us.

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