A Single Grain of Wheat

A Meditation for Tuesday in Holy Week
March 30, 2021

Text: John 12:20-36

I speak to you in the name of our loving, liberating, and life-giving God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. 

The Gospel lesson appointed for Holy Tuesday takes place soon after Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. His presence in the city poses a threat to the chief priests and religious leaders, who’ve already begun to plot Jesus’ death. Jesus knows that his time on earth is running short, but rather than hiding from what’s about to happen or trying to change the outcome, he spends his final days and hours doing what he’s always done—teaching others and showing them what it truly means to love.

In our lesson today from John’s Gospel, Jesus says to his disciples, Andrew and Philip, “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.”

It’s a paradox of the Christian faith that, in order to gain the abundant life that God desires for us, in order to bear good fruit for God’s Kingdom, we have to be willing to give up our selves. We have to be willing to go to the cross with Jesus, to be buried with Christ in his death and raised to new life in his resurrection. This is why Holy Week is such an important time in the life of the Church. These sacred days invite us to walk with Christ in his final hours and to be active participants in the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Holy Week isn’t just something we do once a year to remind ourselves about what happens to Jesus. We already know the story. No, Holy Week is something we experience in a very personal and meaningful way, and if we allow it, the experience will transform us and breathe new life into our relationship with God.

But, in order for that to happen, we have to be willing to let go of the tight grip we have on our own lives and our constant need for control. We have to put our trust in God, knowing that God has the power to take a single grain of wheat and transform it into good fruit. Self-giving, sacrificial love is the way of Jesus and the path to eternal life with God.

So, my question for you today—the question I invite you to consider as our journey through Holy Week continues—is this: How is God calling you to give up your life in order to bear good fruit for God’s Kingdom? What needs to die in order for you to truly live? Amen.