A grain of wheat
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).
I live in Lincolnshire. It is the second largest English county after Yorkshire and known for growing vast amounts of wheat and other cereals, as well as all kinds of vegetables. In my car I often pass fields of wheat swaying in the breeze. It would be difficult to count all the stalks of wheat, let alone the grains. Each grain is under 10mm long. You can easily sift one in your hands, as the disciples did when they were hungry while walking with the Lord.
The pictures we are given of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, are remarkable. Abraham sacrificed a ram in the place of Isaac his son, families sacrificed the Passover lambs for generations. Samuel sacrificed a suckling lamb for a nation. All these occasions looked forward to the time when John the Baptist would announce Jesus as the Lamb of God in the opening chapter of John’s Gospel. In the same Gospel the Lord Jesus speaks of Himself as the Bread of Life (John 6:35), the Light of the world (John 8:12), the Door (John 10:7), the Good Shepherd (10:11), the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25), the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6) and as the true Vine (John 15:1). Each of these beautiful and powerful illustrations gives us an understanding of the majesty of the Person and of the work of the Lord Jesus, and bows our hearts in worship.
In John 12, six days before the Passover, those who loved Jesus at Bethany made him a supper, a reminder of what we do when we break bread. Mary worshipped Jesus by anointing His feet with precious oil, a lovely illustration of true worship from the hearts of those who form the Church of Christ. Shortly afterwards at Jerusalem, a large crowd took branches of palm trees and praised Jesus crying out,
“Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The King of Israel!” ( John 12:13)
The Jewish people briefly worshipped their King. Then, a little later, a group of Greeks, who were in Jerusalem to worship at the feast, came to Philip and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” (John 12:21), an illustration of Gentiles coming to Jesus at the end of His ministry, as the wise men did when Jesus was born.
Philip and Andrew told Jesus about the Greeks’ request. And this was the moment when Jesus described Himself in the most incredible way – as a grain of wheat. Worship fills our hearts as we listen to the Lord Jesus describe His death and resurrection and all that it would bring about for the glory of God, using the analogy of a grain of wheat. Of all the pictures there is none so small, so simple in character or so isolated, when sown, as the grain of wheat. But none so vivid in its fruitfulness. The Lord of Glory felt in His soul both the weight and isolation of Calvary and His complete devotion to His Father. The Father responds from heaven and speaks of His glory in the Person of His Eternal Son throughout His peerless life and ultimately in His death and resurrection: “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again” (John 12:28).
As we remember the Lord Jesus, may worship continue to fill our hearts afresh as we consider John’s record of how the Person who brought everything into being became like a grain of wheat in love for us.
