In our Gospel reading today from John 12, Jesus teaches us about wheat. “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” So, what does a grain of wheat falling to the ground and dying have to do with us?
Dying to produce fruit? At face value, it makes no sense. I mean, don’t we have to live and grow and flourish to produce fruit? Well, yes. But like a grain of wheat, there is a process that we must go through. And, as Christians, the first part of the process is dying. No, not physical death. That will be the beginning of another process. Jesus is talking about dying to self. About “killing off” our own selfish passions and desires and living for Christ, living for others.
Death is a very difficult thing. It is hard for us to let go of those we love. It can be equally as hard, if not sometimes harder, to let go of our selfishness. But let go we must. By ourselves, this is impossible. But as Jesus teaches us, with God all things are possible. Even willfully dying.
Father, we want to produce fruit for the Kingdom. Help us to die to ourselves, that we might serve you by serving our brothers and sisters here. Amen.
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