John 12:24

Joh_12:24-26

Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die

A corn of wheat

The original word is not sperma, a seed, but kokkos, a berry, a fruit.

It shows the extreme, even scientific, accuracy of our Saviours language; for the corn of wheat, and other cereal grains, consist of seeds incorporated with seed vessels, and are in reality fruits, though they appear like seeds. It is not the bare seed that falls into the ground, and, by dying, yields much fruit, but the corn of wheat--the whole fruit with its husk-like coverings. A corn of wheat is beautiful and complete in itself. It is full of latent life; it contains the germ of boundless harvests. But it is hard and narrow and isolated. How then are its dormant capabilities to be quickened? Clearly not by keeping it as it is. In its present state it abideth alone. It can never be anything else but bare corn if kept out of the ground. But if sown in the field, and covered by the earth, and quickened by the sunshine and showers of heaven, it softens and expands. It seems to die. It surrenders itself to the forces of nature which take possession of it, and seem to put it altogether aside. But this apparent death is in reality more abundant life. Its burial place becomes the scene of a wonderful resurrection. The spark of vitality has been kindled by the very elements that seemed to work its destruction. The embryo grows at the expense of the decomposing perisperm. Lengthening downwards by the radicle and upwards by the plumule, the seed becomes a bright, green, beautiful plant which lays all nature under contribution for its sustenance, borrows the materials of growth from earth and sky, and at length becomes a luxuriant stalk of corn laden with its fruitful ear. Seed time in this country is in spring. The sower goes forth to sow when the day is lengthening and brightening, and a warmer feeling is in the air. The dark days and wild storms of winter are over; and before the seed sown there is an almost uninterrupted continuance of genial weather till the harvest. But in nature seed time is at the close of autumn, when the melancholy days have come, the saddest of the year. The important process of scattering the seed over the waste places of the earth is accomplished amid the fading and falling of leaves, and the destruction of natures strength and beauty. The chill air and feeble sunlight put a stop to all further growth; and the dreary rain and boisterous storms which prevail at this season are needed to shake down the ripe fruits from stem or bough, to scatter them over the face of the earth, and to rot them in the ground, so that the imprisoned seeds may escape and find a suitable soil in which to grow. Thus, the dark ungenial weather which so often proves disastrous to our cereal crops when they are about to be gathered into the barn, is a wise provision of nature to facilitate the dispersion of the ripened fruits and seeds of the earth. We step between nature and her purpose, snatch the corn from its appointed destiny as the seed of a future crop, and convert it into human food; and thus diverting a law of nature into a new channel, we cannot always expect that the weather which would be favourable to the natural process should be equally favourable to the artificial. Nature fulfils her designs perfectly; she is faithful to the law of her God. But when she comes into contact with man she does not harmonize with his designs. The primeval curse rests upon the toil of mans hands, and the earning of mans bread; and nature therefore will not give us her blessings without a stern struggle with hostile elements. How true is all this of the stormy end of our Saviours life; that dreary autumn seed time of which He said, Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say, Father, save me from this hour; but; for this cause came I unto this hour. And further, how true of His entombment is the natural fact that the seed thus sown in the decaying autumn, amid the wreck of life and beauty, and to the wailing dirge of the devastating storm, lies passive and inert in the soil all the winter, chilled with the frosts, drenched with the rains, and buried in its grave of darkness beneath a shroud of snow, waiting for its resurrection under the bright skies of spring. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)

The corn of wheat; or growth through death

We see the principle of propagation by self-surrender operating in the region of

I. INDIVIDUAL LIFE.

1. if a man will be an individual in the strict sense of the term he will be his own destroyer. If the seedling of a babe would grow physically he must

(1) give, by stretching forth the tendrils of its undeveloped faculties; and

(2) take, by the aliment which such exercise supplies. Thus the first condition of physical life is faith. The same law operates in

2. The acquisition of knowledge. A man must believe before he knows, and faith is the depositing of self in the ground of human testimony, a boy must work with self deposited in the ground of study under disciplinary influences, and convert his time, etc., into materials for developing the seeds of knowledge.

3. The formation of character. When we say that a man has character we mean he has acquired self-control. Self-control is the fruit of submission. Submission during the period of youth grows into those principles of conduct which are the polestar of manhood, through mortifying acts of obedience.

II. SOCIAL LIFE. A man is obliged to work for others if he would enlarge and propagate his life and influence. We see this illustrated in

1. Family relationships. The law of marriage enjoins the giving up of self to another, so as to become a larger, happier self. Parents who fulfil Gods idea, think, work, pray, live for and in their children. If the father does not thus lose himself and die he abides alone, and when he departs this life he has no one to propagate his likeness, and becomes extinct except in name.

2. Legislation. Law, to a certain extent, consists of those things which individuals have agreed to surrender for the maintenance of society and is the fruitage of seeds of individual knowledge put into the soil of public experience.

3. The extension of knowledge. Ideas and schemes in the mind are so many seeds having life in them which have to be cast into the ground of public opinion in order to bear fruit. They must get out of the mind if they are not to abide alone. The thinker communicates his scheme to another, or publishes it in the newspaper, and by and by, under the influence of the opinions and suggestions of others, the thought, once his, bears fruit. This holds true of apparently trivial thoughts. A casual remark made in the hearing of a thoughtful friend may yield a rich harvest of knowledge.

4. Historic influence. The good that men do lives after them. Men in advance of their age are never known till they die. This is true of poets, statesmen, etc., but of none so much as Christ. No one was ever so misunderstood--so little known; but every succeeding century carries a truer picture of His unique life.

III. CHRISTIAN LIFE.

1. Christ who was the Life had to surrender that life in order that He might be for and in the world. Had he spared Himself He would have abode alone, had He never been bruised He would not have been the Bread of life.

2. So in regard to the principle of Christian life. Self is given away in holy efforts for others, in order to produce in them, and so be found again in, the fruits of righteousness.

3. The mainspring which sets all going is love. Love is self-sacrifice, and by that principle we live unto God and are filled.

IV. THE RESURRECTION. Like the seed corn the body must be put into the ground if it would rise again and bear fruit. Conclusion: The subject teaches

1. The difficulties of selfishness and the terrible daring and force of sin.

(1) God has placed us under a system of laws which make it natural and imperative to serve others. To break through this system involves effort and secures self-destruction.

(2) Yet sin has the audacity to recommend this course, and is thus the grand antagonist of nature as well as grace.

2. The nature and functions of Christianity--that it is no afterthought suggested by the fall, but what agrees with principles already in operation.

3. The feelings of awe and hope with which we should regard death. (S. C. Gordon, B. D.)

The corn of wheat dying

1. A corn of wheat--how insignificant. A little child may hold it in its tiny hand; and yet not all the science of the world could produce it. That depends on the strict preservation of all the laws and influences of the universe; were one interfered with all life would perish.

2. Our Lords disciples were probably excited over the triumphal entry, and expectant that their Master would assume that throne they had imagined for Him. Hence He reminds them of His approaching death and its significance.

3. The great truth here declared is that life comes through death and exaltation through humiliation. Again and again had our Lord taught this, but the disciples failed to apprehend it. Nor can we wonder at that, for it is the great stumbling block of our day.

4. But of what use is a corn of wheat except it die? It would hardly supply a meal for the smallest bird. It is a thing of beauty perfectly shaped and you may put it in a casket worthy of it, but it is worthless while kept alone. But place it in the earth where showers and sunshine may reach it, and who can tell what may become of it? So it was with Him who compared Himself to one. The disciples would have kept that inestimably precious life all to themselves. Had they done so it would have stood alone, and been but an angels visit. It would have supplied man with a pattern, but one which would have filled the race with despair, and made it at best local and temporary. What man wanted was an adequate motive power which death only could supply.

5. Not only so, but except it died how could it multiply itself? Place a corn of wheat among the regalia of the realm, and it will remain alone, but place it in suitable soil and it will spring up thirty, sixty, etc. The Son of Man came to give His life a ransom for many. The preaching of a crucified Christ won three thousand on the Day of Pentecost; and it is this same truth which has ever since been the lifeblood of the Church.

6. Moreover, it is by the death of the corn of wheat that we have hope and promise of a more glorious body by and by. Turn up the earth in a month or so after the seed has been sown, and what do you find but a black, mouldy mass with death written on every particle of it? But go to the same spot on the reaping day, and can any contrast be greater? Sown in corruption, etc. (D. Howell.)

The seed corn

I. THE FACTS.

1. The symbolical corn of wheat has a real existence--Christ.

(1) Wheat! The Word of God is called by this name. It is not like chaff; it has nourishment in it, and is preeminent among all words, as wheat is among grain. Believers are called wheat. The wicked are chaff, tares, which have no value in them. Christ is the Word of God in a higher sense than scripture, and between Christ and believers there is union. The rank which wheat holds among cereals may remind us that Christ is chief among ten thousand; the delicate purity of it, that He is the Holy One of God; and the great purpose that it serves, that He is the bread of life.

(2) A corn of wheat. There is life in that, so there is in a blade or leaf; but these cannot propagate their life, whereas that has life to give away. Their life, too, is dependent and continually derived from the stem and root from which they must not be divided; but that has life that it carries with it wherever it goes. So the life that is in Christ comes not by transmission. He is the Life.

(3) Acorn of wheat keeps its life a long time. It has been found in the hand of a mummy after thousands of years. The Son of God became a corn of wheat, for the purpose expressed in our text, before the foundation of the world.

2. The corn of wheat, has fallen into the ground. This is a figurative expression of the fact of the incarnation. When the vital powers of wheat are to he called into action it is necessary to take it from the garner and sow it. One corn of wheat was taken from the Fathers bosom and put into this sinful world. How great an abasement! The Creator became a creature, and was subjected to a creatures duties and obligations.

3. When a corn of wheat falls into the ground it dies. One corn of wheat has died because it was sown. If the Eternal Son had not been sent down His death would not have taken place. He was made under the broken, offended law which slew Him with its curse.

4. When a corn of wheat dies its life-giving power is developed. One corn of wheat has not remained alone. Christs death has great results. It was to Him what the deep sleep was to Adam--it gave Him a spouse. His death is the root, the collective Church is the stem, and individual believers its fruit with which the stem is laden. When thou shalt make His soul, etc. He saw this seed at Pentecost and at many a Pentecost since, and will continue to see it till the Church is complete. And when He sees His seed He recognizes them, and that because of their likeness to Himself. When a corn of wheat produces seed, it is seed of its own nature. So the seed of Christ are like Him.

II. THE DEATH OF CHRIST.

1. Its character.

(1) Glorious. The shame was outward and transient, the glory essential and imperishable.

(2) Fruitful. In this its glory largely consists. The consequences are destined to cover the earth and outlive time.

(3) Not a natural death but a death of violence. There are various kinds of violent deaths.

(a) Martyrdom. This is glorious, and has fruits. Christ was a martyr.

(b) That of a soldier. A peculiar lustre attaches to Wolfe, Nelson, and the heroes at Thermopylae, who conquered while they died, as did Christ.

(c) The felons death, which answers useful ends. And Christ suffered the punishment sin deserved. The holy law was trampled underfoot; His death lifted it up and took away its reproach.

(d) The death of a substitute, such as David wished for when Absalom was slain, and Paul, in Romans

1. The ram substituted for Isaac and the sacrifices of Judaism were examples of the same thing. Christs death was vicarious. The Lord laid on Him, etc.

2. Its necessity.

(1) The simple fact proves this. Christ was not capable of throwing away His life, and God would never have given it had it not been necessary.

(2) Its character proves this--as that of a warrior, martyr, etc.

(3) But there was a special necessity for it. Except a corn of wheat, etc. Had He not died He had been a head without a body, a shepherd without a flock, a king without a kingdom, etc. (A. Gray.)

The seed corn

Two travellers, journeying together, tarried to rest by the way at an inn, when suddenly a cry reached their ears that there was a fire in the village. One of the travellers forthwith sprang up, and leaving his staff and his bundle behind him, hastened to afford assistance. But his companion strove to detain him, saying, Why should we waste our time here? Are there not hands enough to assist? Wherefore should we concern ourselves about strangers? The other, however, hearkened not to his words, but ran forth to the fire; when the other leisurely followed, and stood and looked on at a distance. Before the burning house there was a mother transfixed with horror, and screaming, My children! my children! When the stranger heard this, he rushed into the house among the falling timbers, and the flames raged around him. He must perish! exclaimed the spectators. But after they had waited a short time, behold, he came forth with scorched hair, bringing two young children in his arms, and carried them to their mother. She embraced the infants, and fell at the feet of the stranger; but he lifted her up, and spoke words of comfort to her. The house meanwhile fell with a dreadful crash. As they two, the stranger and his companion, were returning to the inn, the latter said, But who bade thee risk thy life in such a rash attempt? He, answered the former, who bids me put the seed corn into the ground, that it may decay and bring forth new fruit. But how, said the other, if thou hadst been buried beneath the ruins? His companion smiled, and said, Then should I have been the seed corn myself. (J. Krummacher.)

The corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying

I. The corn of wheat ABIDING ALONE. It is Christs humiliation which we are mainly called in these words to ponder. But in order, by contrast, to bring out the wonders of that humiliation, let us, as here suggested, go back to a past Eternity, and contemplate that corn of wheat abiding alone. Immensity a void. The mysterious Trinity in unity, pervading and filling all space: No need of worlds or angels to glorify them. There was the corn of wheat abiding alone: the Eternal Son with the Eternal Father, in the glory which He had with Him before the world was.

II. We are next called to consider the corn of wheat FALLING INTO THE GROUND, AND DYING. Impelled by nothing but His own free, sovereign, unmerited grace, Christ resolves not to abide alone. He is to come down to a ruined world in order to effect its ransom and salvation. But, how replace it? How, in other words, is this redemption from sin and death to be effected? There are two words in our text, on which we may for a moment instructively pause. The one suggesting the necessity, the other the voluntariness of the death of Jesus.

1. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground. Unless. There was no other possible way by which the world could be redeemed. Without the dying of corn seed--no life.

2. We have the voluntariness of Christs death here set forth. If it die!--If. This same monosyllable He Himself repeats with similar emphasis a few verses further on: And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto Me. This leads us

III. To the corn of wheat BRINGING FORTH MUCH FRUIT. It was prophesied regarding the Redeemer, that He should see His seed (Isa_53:10). This, says He, is the Fathers will who hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day (Joh_6:39). He--the Tree of Life--was to be felled to theground; the axe was already laid to the root. But as many a noble denizen of the forest, coming with a crash on the sward, scatters its seed all around, and in a few years there starts up a vast plantation, so Christ, by dying, scattered far and wide the grain of spiritual and immortal life. The seed and the leaves of this Tree are for the healing of the nations. The Divine corn seed drops into the ground; a golden harvest waves, and heaven is garnered with ransomed souls. Oh wondrous multitude which no man can number! A multitude growing ever since Abel bent, a solitary worshipper, in the heavenly Sanctuary, with his solitary song--the first solitary sheaf in these heavenly granaries. Yes! the song is deepening; the sheaves are multiplying. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)

The dying seed fruitful

The blood of the martyrs has evermore been the seed of the Church. Thus have the corns of wheat been again and again planted, to die and live again in great harvests. We are reminded of the saying of Cranmer to Ridley, as they were fastened to the stake and the fire was lighted under them: Be of good courage, Master Ridley. We will kindle a fire this day that will be a light to all England. The life of Christ without and within

I. In one point of view Christs life was AN ENTIRE FAILURE. He did not get the things which men think to be most valuable; nor did He derive much gratification in those faculties which men live to gratify; nor, though endowed with a wondrous versatility of powers, did He employ those powers as to make it appear that He gained the object of life. Regarding our Saviour in His general relations

1. He could scarcely have entered life at a worse door than at the portal of Jewish nationality. For in that age it was a misfortune to be born a Jew in the estimation of everybody except a Jew. So far as worldly opportunities were concerned He might better have been born a heathen.

2. He had but few opportunities in youth. Men are dependent for their standing on the fact that they began with the capital of their predecessors. Christ had nothing of the kind, and He never strove to repair these conditions of fortune.

3. He secured no wealth, not even enough to redeem Himself from dependence.

4. Though He had great power of exciting enthusiasm, He never gained or kept a steady influence over the people. Even His disciples failed to enter into His ideas or career.

5. He failed even more, if it were possible, to secure any personal or professional influence on the minds that ruled that age. There were political rulers of great sagacity whom He never seems to have fallen in with, and He never had a place among men of letters, nor was He a power in any philosophical circle.

6. Even more remarkable is it that He did not produce any immediate impression on the religion and feelings of His age.

7. Nor did He found a family, the object of most great mens ambition. All this being the case, what could His life produce that should remain? Nothing, apparently. It seemed to be like an arrow shot into the air. His trial and condemnation were more than ordinarily ignominious and fruitless, whereas there are many whose trial, etc., is the most glorious event in their history. He died leaving no trace behind. In His resurrection there was not much alleviation, for He never appeared in public; and His ascension closed His career. Was there ever a life that seemed to be thrown away more than Christs?

II. WHAT ARE THE FACTS ON THE OTHER SIDE? Did He not save His life by losing it.

1. Born a Jew, no man now ever thinks of Him as a Jew. There is victory in that what hung about Him as a cloud is utterly dissipated.

2. Born without opportunity in His social relations, there is not a household or community in Christendom that is not proud to call itself Christian. The very kings of the earth bring their glory and baptize it with His name.

3. Having no learning, when has there been a school or university, or philosophical system for a thousand years that has not been conscious of receiving its germ from Christ?

4. He was indifferent to the ordinary sources of wealth, yet from out His life there has issued an influence that is to control money making.

5. He never gained much influence with the masses, yet what name evokes so much enthusiasm among the common people as Christs?

6. He made little impression on political and intellectual rulers, but He has now filled the channels of thought and poetic sentiment, and more and more do you find in treaties of law the principles of Christian justice. His life was thrown away, just as grain is thrown away, into the soil: it died to give growth to life.

III. WHAT WAS THE SECRET OF IT ALL? If you had asked at that time, What are the secrets of power in the world? any Jew would have pointed to the temple. If, as he did so, you had seen some Greek smiling and asked him the same question, he would have said, Have you been in Athens? And if, while he yet spoke, a disdaining Roman had passed by, and you had asked him, Wherefore that smile? he would have said, Jews and Greeks are full of superstitions and are blinded as to the true source of the worlds power. That power is centred in Rome. And how would Jew and Greek and Roman joined in the derision if you had pointed to Jesus crucified as the secret of the worlds power. And yet Jews, Greeks, and Romans have gone down while this shadow fills the world. It was His death, and the sacrifice involved by that death that was and is the secret of His unique power. But His life was a daily death--a constant self-surrender, and only in so far as we copy Him shall we share His power. (H. W. Beecher.)

The death of Jesus

I. DEATH THE MOST DREADFUL OF EVENTS HAS OFTEN BEEN MADE A BLESSING.

1. The death of the believer has been the life of the sinner. After turning their backs on a sermon men have been convinced by a dying bed.

2. The death of a parent has proved the life of the child. The expiring change has never been forgotten.

3. The death of a minister has been the life of the hearer. Little regarded when living, his word has come with power when gone.

4. The death of a martyr has been the life of the beholder. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.

5. But where are we now? The death of Jesus is the life of the world.

II. THE DEATH OF JESUS CONFERS THE LARGEST BLESSING. By His death Christ fills heaven with praise, the Church with blessings, the world with followers.

1. A grain of corn multiplies by yielding other grains like itself. If barley is sown, barley comes up; if wheat, wheat; if Christ, Christians. He was not of the world--they are not of the world; He went about doing good--they serve their generation by the will of God; He was meek and lowly of heart--they are learning of Him.

2. A grain of corn is capable of yielding a large crop--one may stock a country. Christ was asked, Are there few that be saved? He told the questioner to strive himself to enter into the straight gate; a wiser course for us than speculation. But were the question asked properly we might reply, No, He is leading many sons to glory--a multitude which no man can number.

III. EVERYTHING THAT ENLIVENS US AND CONFORMS US TO HIM OWES ITS EFFICACY TO HIS DEATH.

1. The convincing and renewing influences of the Spirit.

2. Deliverance from spiritual enemies.

3. The lively hope by which we draw nigh to God.

4. Holiness. (W. Jay.)

The law of fruitfulness

The people were full of expectation of the temporal kingdom of the Messiah. Therefore our Lord lays down the principles on which His kingdom shall come. It is spiritual, but conforms to the law which says, No power comes into this world, or attains its end, but on the condition of suffering: only in death can life be achieved.

I. ILLUSTRATIONS OF THIS LAW. When we distinguish between the laws of Christian and the laws of ordinary life, we make a false distinction. The former are but the highest spiritual expression of the conditions which underlie and rule all nature.

1. Our Lord takes us to the lower side of life--that of physical nature.

2. So it is with every beautiful and joyous thing that exists. Not a little childs laughter makes home ring with gladness but it has found its life in the trembling agony that has gone before.

3. Take life on its commercial side. The spirit of enterprise does not mean the hugging of your savings, but reinvesting them. A man wins wealth by his readiness and wisdom in fulfilling the law of sacrifice.

4. It is true also in the world of intellect. The power of genius and talent largely consists in the power of self-denial and industry. It is only when a man puts his whole will into the subject he is studying, denying himself pleasure, enduring physical pain and hardship, patiently proving the certainties of his discoveries, that he stands at last amongst his fellows as one who has something to teach.

5. So in all noble and high enterprise. Columbus has his dream, but he must first incur the ridicule and indifference of those who plume themselves on being the wise men of the day.

6. It is true in regard to social life. The same law has its illustration in the case, e.g., of Israel. Their position at first was that of a mere assemblage of tribes with individual preferences, needs, etc., surrounded by the determined hostility of the nations of Canaan. The duty of tribal suffering was the condition of the nations unity. The Song of Deborah teaches this. That was in its youth; but. Solomon taught that the same principle was at work. There is that scattereth and yet increaseth, etc. The real wealth of the nation depends on the peoples willingness to sacrifice themselves. When the spirit of selfishness came into the land it was easy for the prophets to predict its doom.

II. WHAT DO WE OWE TO CHRIST IN CONNECTION WITH THIS PRINCIPLE? Christ did for it that which makes it capable of operating throughout the whole length and breadth of human life.

1. Christ unfolded to the intellect and brought into the consciousness of life this law. This is His claim to originality. No man can claim originality in inventing new laws. Sir Isaac Newton only brought into human thought the law of gravity, which bad existed ever since the stars were made. The truest benefactor is not he that brings novelties, but who makes us acquainted with the laws which underlie our national existence.

2. But intellectual perception is not enough. Example is the potent agent of action, and therefore Christ brought the law home to the will. You teach a law by an example because you thus stir up the principles of admiration and emulation. Christ is no mere demonstrator; He stood to the yoke of the very laws He had made. He passes by all temptations to selfishness leading a life of self-consecration from Bethlehem to Calvary. And what is the harvest? His power is the kingdom which is the measure of the worlds empire today. Where is the power of Egypt and Assyria, the wisdom and genius of Greece? These, founded on mere selfishness, have passed away. But every land has worshippers of Him who died on the cross.

3. The work must be carried yet further. A man may clearly perceive a thing and most earnestly resolve it. You may gain his intellect and will, but you have not won the man until you have got hold of the affections. It is love which illuminates the actions and understanding, and lifts mens lives into courses which make the whole life obedient to them. Christ was not only the educator and the embodiment of the law; behind both there was the inspiration of His love. And so we love Him because He first loved us. (Bp. Boyd Carpenter.)

Alone

There are two conditions of being possible, either of which must constitute our character--rove and self. Love seeks its life outside itself: self seeks its life in itself. Love, in order to possess, sacrifices selfishness; while self, in order to possess, keeps itself and sacrifices love. An unloving soul is

I. WITHOUT GOD IN THE WORLD. Gods love toward us is certain; but of what avail is that if our hearts are closed against Him. He that loveth not knoweth not God. He may be, as He is, everywhere present; but unless the heart receives His love and returns it, it is the same to us as if God did not exist. The world is without the sun at noon-day to the blind man.

II. WITHOUT CHRIST. Jesus is one with the Father in Being and in love to man. He came not merely to atone for sin, but to impart His life of love. He represents Himself accordingly, as knocking, etc., the symbol of fellowship of brotherly love. But how can such fellowship be realized if self bars the door? Jesus may be as near to us as He was to Satan in the wilderness, and yet between us the same moral gulf. Judas was as far from Him when he sat by His side as when he went forth to his own place. So we may be near Christ when He saves others, but abide alone. He cannot dwell in the selfish heart.

III. WITHOUT THE SPIRIT. The Spirit sheds abroad the love of God. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, etc. The fruit of the Spirit is love. But if we quench Him, whatever His love may be, it may be said of us not having the Spirit.

IV. WITHOUT COMMUNION WITH SAINTS. There is but one family in heaven and earth, and one Spirit pervades the whole--love. Prisons, loss, and bereavement cannot shut Christians out from this. The unloving soul is not rejected: he is invited, Come thou with us and we will do thee good; but he responds, I desire only myself.

V. What is to become of such a man? He has rejected God, etc. As years advance the conviction steals over him that his companions are falling away. Old age comes, and the world becomes like a cell where he must suffer solitary confinement. The deathbed at last is reached, and he must go forth alone into the unknown. How sad and dreary. He has lived alone and now finds himself WITHOUT HEAVEN. (J. T. Pitcher.)

He that loveth his life shall lose it.--Suppose that Jesus, seeking only His personal safety, had now gone to the Greeks to play among them the part of a sage, or to organize the state like another Solon, He might indeed thus have saved His life, but would in reality have lost it. In having given it up to God, He could not have received it from Him glorified (Joh_12:23). Thus kept by Him, it would have remained doomed to sterility and earthly frailty. It was by renouncing the life of a sage that He became a Christ, and by renouncing the throne of a Solon he obtained that of God. This saying included the judgment of Hellenism; for what was Greek civilization but human life cultivated from the view point of enjoyment, and withdrawn from the law of sacrifice. (F. Godet, D. D.)

The bearing of the present on the future life

The text

I. APPLIES TO THE POSITION CHRIST OCCUPIED AT THE TIME. The gratification of a selfish desire in Christ at this time meant the worlds ruin--ruin intensified by the fact that the work of deliverance was so nearlycompleted. Christ was the exemplification of the text (chap. 10:17, 18; Gal_2:20).

II. THE GENERAL APPLICATION TO US. It points to two subjects on which we propose to dwell.

1. Selfishness indulged--the cause of irreparable loss. He that loveth His life shall lose it. See how selfishness operates on and affects the life.

(1) It isolates. Man is intended to be a social being. Selfishness shuts out society and turns a man in upon himself.

(2) It debases. Man is intended to benefit his race. While getting good he is to do good. Selfishness obstructs the work of charity and usefulness. The life that should find loving room for all is reduced to its own enjoyment and gratification.

(3) It destroys. Shall lose it. An irreparable loss, which cannot be fully understood, but of which some conception may be formed when you consider

(a) The excellence of its nature--God-bestowed.

(b) The duration of its existence--eternal.

(c) The price of its redemption--the sacrificial death of Jesus.

This leads us to ask, What is meant by loving life? Not the pure enjoyment of life by a healthy vigorous person, but the love bestowed without restraint on the purely animal life, indulging appetite, fulfilling sensual lusts and delights, following fashion, craving for fame, a passion for riches and pleasures--loving these more than Christ. The worldling who gives his soul for the world.

2. Self-denial practised--the security of eternal life. He that hateth, etc. Self-denial is not a gift, but a cultivation developed by exercise and practice. It is the resurrection of our personality buried in the grave of deception. In self-denial we find our true selves. Mans choice lies between temporary gain and eternal loss. The false says the present; the true part of our nature says the future. Hatred of life is not misanthropy. It is this life loved less than the life to come; everything here treated as being incompetent to give true joy, preferring Gods favour to all below. Crucifying the flesh, keeping the body under, enduring persecution for Christs sake--the seed of much fruit. Shall keep it, etc. Selfishness enervates, loosens the grasp, and allows the treasure to slip away. Self-denial tightens the hold and retains possession. Life eternal--deliverance from trial, the enjoyment of rest and reward. (J. E.Hargreaves.)

Life loved and lost

Richard Denton, a blacksmith, residing (in Cambridgeshire, was a professor of religion, and the means of converting the martyr, William Woolsey. When told by that holy man that he wondered be had not followed him to prison, Denton replied that he could not burn in the cause of Christ. Not long after, his house being on fire, he ran in to save some of his goods, and was burnt to death.

If any man serve Me, let him follow Me

Following Christ

I. LET WHOM?

II. FOLLOW WHOM?

III. FOLLOW WHENCE?

IV. FOLLOW WHITHER?

V. FOLLOW HOW. (S. S. Times.)

I. THE LEADER.

II. THE FOLLOWER.

III. THE JOURNEY.

IV. THE DESTINATION. (S. S. Times.)

Following Christ

When Amurah II died, which was very suddenly, his son and destined successor, Mohammed, was about a days journey distant in Asia Minor. Every day of interregnum in that fierce and turbulent monarchy is attended with peril. The death of the deceased Sultan was therefore concealed, and a secret message despatched to the prince to hasten at once to the capital. On receiving the message he leaped on a powerful Arab charger, and, turning to his attendants, said, Let him who loves me follow! This prince afterwards became one of the most powerful sovereigns of the Ottoman line. Those who approved their courage and loyalty by following him in this critical moment of his fortunes were magnificently rewarded. There is another Prince--the Prince of Peace--who says to those around him, Let him who loves Me follow.

Christs servant: his duties and rewards

The motto of the Prince of Wales is Ich dien--I serve; it should be the motto of every prince of the blood royal of heaven.

I. PLAIN DIRECTIONS FOR A VERY HONOURABLE OFFICE.

1. We should all like to minister to Christ. If He were here now there would be nothing which we would not do for Him, so we say. But much of this is mere sentiment. If Christ were to come now as He came at first, probably we should treat Him as He was treated. This sentimentalism has at the bottom of it the idea that we should be honouring ourselves by it. But if you really would serve Christ, you can, by following, i.e., imitating Him.

(1) One says, I should like to do something to prove that I really would obey my Lord. I would show that I am not a servant in name only. Imitate Christ, and you then show your obedience.

(2) Another says, I would joyfully assist Him in His wants. Imitate Him, then, and go about doing good. Behold His wants in the poor saints.

(3) I would do something to cheer Him. The solace of His sorrow is the obedience of His people. When He sees that He sees of the travail of His soul, etc.

(4) I would honour Him. Christ is most honoured when His saints are most sanctified. Follow Him thus, and you will honour Him more than by strewing palm branches in His way and shouting Hosannah!

2. Let me mark out Christs way, and then, if you would serve Him, follow Him. The proud flesh wants to follow Christ by striking out new paths, to he an original thinker. It is not for us to be originals, but humble copies of Christ.

(1) He went to Jordan to be baptized. If you would serve Him dont say this is not essential; it is not a servants business to determine that.

(2) The Spirit led Him to be tempted of the devil; dont think that temptation is a mark of being out of Christ.

(3) Now He comes forth to work. So you must follow Him in labour. If you cannot preach to thousands you can to tens, or to one, as He did by Jacobs well.

(4) He bears bold witness before His adversaries. Let there not be a foe before whose face you would fear to plead His cause.

(5) He comes into the black cloud of reproach; they say He has a devil and is mad. Follow Him there.

(6) He comes to die. Be ready to yield thy life if called upon, and if not, devote every moment of it to Him.

II. GENEROUS STIPULATIONS FROM A NOBLE MASTER. Where I am, etc. Whoever heard of such conditions. The master is in the drawing room, the servant in the kitchen; the master presides at the table, the servant waits at the table. Not so here.

1. This was Christs role all His life long.

(1) He went to a wedding, to the house of Lazarus, to the Pharisees house, and had He been an ordinary man He would have said, I cannot take these poor fishermen with Me; but they were always with Him: with Him too in His triumphal entry and His last great feast. With desire, etc.

(2) But if He thus shared His comforts among His disciples, He expected them to share His discomforts. He was in a ship in a great storm, and they must be with Him though they were sore afraid. He goes to Gethsemane, and they must be with Him there; and though He had to tread the winepress alone, yet they were with Him in death, for they suffered martyrdom.

2. This stands true to us. Where Christ was we must be. He is gone to heaven now, and where He is we shall be also. Fare ill or well we are to have joint stock with Christ.

III. A GLORIOUS REWARD FOR IMPERFECT SERVICES. Him will my Father honour.

1. In his own soul. He shall have such peace and fellowship that this honour shall be apparent. How greatly God honoured Knox, who never feared the face of man, with unruffled serenity of heart!

2. By success in whatever he may attempt. Why is it that little success rests on some who labour for God? Because they do not serve Christ by imitating Him. Ecclesiastical courts and rubrics confine too many.

3. At the last, before the angels. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Service and its reward

I. THE COURSE OF CHRISTIAN SERVICE. What are mens ideas of life? The gratification of animal appetites, the desire for social pleasures, the love of distinction. Is it any wonder that these ideas should prompt the question, Is life worth living? These are ends which life itself will ultimately disdain. Turn, then, to Christs idea--service true and lasting.

1. Christs life was one of full consecration to God. This consecration was

(1) Active--I come to do Thy will.

(2) Entire--My meat is to do the will, etc.

(3) Realized in the largest degree--Into Thy hands I commit My Spirit.

(4) Triumphant, It is finished.

(5) Was maintained by prayer.

2. Christs life was inspired with one aim--the elevation of mankind. Archimedes said that if he could find a fulcrum he would make a lever that would lift the world. The fulcrum in our redemption was Gods eternal purpose, and the lever Christs own life--His teaching and example. This is the Churchs mission today.

3. Jesus never made present success the ground of His life. After 1800 years there is more power in it than when He saved the dying thief.

II. THIS SERVICE LEANS WHERE JESUS IS. There is elevation in the very nature of Christian service. Men wearing titles and honours which they have never deserved are looked upon with contempt. To bear Christs name and to wear His livery without serving Him is despicable. But that service is calculated to destroy one of our most debasing passions--selfishness; and the moment that that is dead at the feet of Jesus we begin to rise. We are not Mind to other elevating influences--knowledge, taste, industry, uprightness, but a heart consecrated to Christ is higher than all. It has higher conceptions of life, sweeter sentiments of duty, aims at higher ends.

III. THIS LIFE OF SERVICE WILL BE CROWNED WITH DIVINE HONOURS.

1. A place in heaven.

2. Distinguished signs of approbation.

3. Association with Jesus. (Weekly Pulpit.)

Self-denial

I. THE SELF-DENIAL IN WHICH WE SHOULD FOLLOW JESUS.

1. It was free. Voluntariness is the essence of this virtue. For others to deny us a benefit or to constrain us to hardship we would avoid is not self-denial. Christ emptied Himself, etc.

2. It was wise. It was not placed in trifles. If He restrained innocent desires or endured what was painful it was for noble and generous ends.

3. It was extensive, reaching from the humble stable to the malefactors cross, and all was foreseen.

4. It was disinterested. Many deny to serve themselves; but ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, etc. Would we be Christs followers? Our self-denial must be like His--free, wise, etc.

II. THIS SELF-DENIAL IS THE PATH TO TRUE HONOUR AND GREATNESS, because

1. It is great and honourable in itself. These qualities arise from character and conduct, and are independent of the judgments of men. They are not derived from noble descent, magnificence, dominion, etc. To rise above self-love requires a vigour in which there will always be found true greatness of mind.

2. It conducts to true greatness. Voluptuousness rusts the best talents, blunts the most undaunted courage, perverts the soundest judgment, and corrupts the purest heart. All these qualities a habit of self-denial improves. That which the world counts greatness can only be achieved by self-denial--learning, statesmanship, war. But Christian self-denial makes man trulygreat.

3. It is honoured by God. This is seen in the case of Christ. For His self-denial God gave Him a name above every name. (J. Erskine, D. D.)

Where I am there shall also My servant he. I have heard that a noted Methodist preacher, who commenced his ministry very early in life, suffered not a little at first because of his humble origin and unpromising exterior. Being sent on the circuit plan to a certain house on a Saturday night, to be in readiness for preaching on the Sunday, the good woman, who did not like the look of him, sent him round to the kitchen. The serving man was surprised to see the minister in the kitchen when he came from labour. John, rough as he was, welcomed the despised preacher, and tried to cheer him. The minister shared Johns meal of porridge, Johns bed in the cockloft, and Johns humble breakfast, and walked to the House of God with John in the morning. Now, the preacher had not long opened his mouth before the congregation perceived that there was somewhat in him, and the good hostess, who had so badly entertained him, began to feel a little uneasy. When the sermon was over there were many invitations for the minister to come home, and the hostess, fearful of losing her now honoured guest, begged he would walk home with her, when, to her surprise, he said, I supped with John, I slept with John, I breakfasted with John, I walked here with John, and Ill walk home with John. So when dinner came he was, of course, entreated to come into the chief room, for many friends wished to dine with this young minister, but no, he would dine in the kitchen; he had supped with John, he had breakfasted with John, and he would dine with John. They begged him to come into the parlour, and at last he consented on the condition that John should sit at the same table. For, he said, very properly, John was with me in my humiliation, and I will not sit down to dine unless he be with me in my exaltation. So on they went till the Monday morning, for John was with me at the beginning, and he shall be with me to the end. This story may be turned to account thus: our Master came into this world once, and they sent Him into the servants place, where the poor and despised ones were. Now the name of Christ is honoured, and kings and cardinals, popes and bishops, say, Master, come and dine with us. Yes, the proud emperor and philosopher would have Him sup with them, but still He says, No, I was with the poor and afflicted when I was on earth, and I will be with them to the end, and when the great feast is made in heaven the humble shall sit with Me, and the poor and despised who were not ashamed of Me, of them will I not be ashamed when I come into the glory of My Father, and all My holy angels with Me. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

If any man serve Me, him will My Father honour

Christian service and its honours

I. THE SERVICE OF CHRIST.

1. It is not a condition of serfdom. It is perfect freedom.

2. It is not a condition of menialism. In a modified sense it gives equality with Christ (Joh_15:15). The relation between the Saviour and His servants is tender, intimate, mysterious. Christ in you the hope of glory.

3. It involves a complete renunciation of every other service and our entire dedication to Christ. Hand and head and heart, time and influence and wealth must be laid on His altar.

4. It is a voluntary service. The Bible, the history of each saint of God, and our own inward consciousness unite in attesting that we possess the power to discern moral distinctions, to recognize the character, and to appreciate the claims of God; the power to render implicit obedience or proudly to defy our Maker.

II. ITS ACCOMPANYING HONOURS.

1. The service of Christ is the only path of real honour; but it is the sure way to certain and glorious distinction.

2. This service elevates the physical, gives majesty to the intellectual, and arrays in robes of richest glory the moral and spiritual. It inspires an unwavering purpose. It raises to all the privileges of an adopted sonship.

3. It is emphatically royal. Those engaged in it are a royal priesthood. Already they have in possession the highest good, and in prospect an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. They are kings, albeit as yet uncrowned, but awaiting patiently their coronation. (J. W. Jones.)

The Christian service and honour

Few men love service. Man prefers to be his own master, to do as he pleases, But he who spurns the counsel of God commits an act of suicide on his liberty. He is the free man who serves God. But he who refuses is a slave to Satan or self.

I. WHAT IS IT TO SERVE JESUS? We may serve Him

1. In the faith we hold. Studying it, mastering it, loving it, practising it.

2. In suffering for His sake. Bearing meekly persecution, calumny, Divine discipline, and poverty.

3. In the outward acts we perform. Some may serve God in ecclesiastical duties, others in the private duties of religion, and those of daily life. If you cannot serve Christ in one way you can in another--the servant in the household, the nurse in the hospital, the merchant in the rectitude of his dealings. It is not necessary to be a clergyman; you may serve Christ behind the counter or at the plough.

II. THE HONOUR GOD CONFERS ON CHRISTS SERVANTS.

1. In this world.

(1) In the midst of the Church. Whatever a mans rank may be, the most useful are after all the most honoured. Let a man deserve position, and his fellow Christians will not be backward in giving it.

(2) In the world. You may not know it, but the conscience of the wicked respects the righteous, however scornful the tongue. And for whom does the sinner send on his death bed? His boon companions? No; the man of prayer.

(3) After he is dead. The servant of Christ has honour at the hands of his family, his business connections, his neighbourhood, after he is gone.

2. In the world to come.

(1) At the judgment--from persecutors, the wicked, the devil himself.

(2) Throughout eternity. Well done, etc.

Christian service and its reward

I. THE SERVICE.

1. The master who is served. Jesus--Divine and human--One in whom are associated the might of omnipotence and the tenderness of love, who strengthens the weakness of His servants and uniformly leads them to victory and reward. And what else can it be but a service of honour to follow one so preeminently glorious? The subject may be proud of the sovereign, the scholar of the teacher, etc., but what sovereign, etc., can be compared with Christ. The conclusion is irresistible. There is no one who ought to be so trusted, loved, and obeyed.

2. The men who serve. Not men of any description, but fit men, chosen, justified, sanctified. How animating to be associated with such--men at the head of their species, whatever the world may say. The soldier congratulates himself on belonging to a profession which includes a Wellington; the student that he traverses a path trodden by Plato and Newton; the artist that he follows in the wake of Raphael and Reynolds; but we follow in the footsteps of Paul, Augustine, Luther, etc. Wherefore seeing we are encompassed, etc.

3. The object contemplated--the loftiest at which man can aim--the evangelization of the world. The politician may alleviate the burdens of many, the merchant increase the comfort of thousands, the physician and inventor minister to multitudes, but the Christian carries light to the benighted and life to the dead, deposes Satan and enthrones God.

4. Its motive. The love of Christ. Think of that in the constancy of its exercise, the depth of its intensity, the fulness of its abundance, the felicity of its influence, and the munificence of its bestowment, and you will feel with Paul, the love of Christ constraineth, etc.

II. THE REWARD. God honours those who serve His Son

1. By crowning their labours with success. Admiration and advantages are nothing with success, but that compensates all sacrifices and exertions; and Christians always have it, although in a different way and of a different sort to what they expect.

2. By bestowing upon them His friendship and presence. This atones for worldly neglect and contempt.

3. By making them the almoners of His grace. All right-minded men esteem it an honour to dispense blessings, but Christians are channels of the living waters of salvation.

4. By raising them to the blessedness and glory of heaven. (J. Fleming.)

The Christian a follower of Christ

I. EVERY TRUE CHRISTIAN IS A SERVANT OF CHRIST. This is a very frequent description of His people, My servants. In one sense all men and all creatures are the servants of Christ: they are subject to the control of His power, the direction of His wisdom, the accomplishment of His purposes, and the manifestation of His glory. But it may be more properly said He serves Himself by them, than that they serve Him. We are not to confine this relationship to those who serve Christ in the ministry of the word, either at home or amidst the moral wilds of pagan superstition. They, indeed, are His servants in an eminent, but not in an exclusive sense. To be a servant might seem to imply no very lofty eminence of distinction, no very rich honour. This, however, depends upon the dignity of the person we serve. When the queen of Sheba saw the glory, and heard the wisdom of Solomon, she poured forth her raptures in congratulations to his servants, who stood continually in his presence, and ministered before his throne.

II. IT IS ESSENTIAL TO THE CHARACTER AND CONDUCT OF A SERVANT OF CHRIST TO FOLLOW HIM. This, in fact, is the service; the follower is the servant, and no other. The servant keeps his eye upon his master, and avoiding all other persons, and all other streets, treads in his footsteps, and presses as closely as possible to him. Just observe for a moment whom a Christian does not follow. He does not follow the teachers of false opinions in religion, in philosophy, or in morals, with whatever specious sophisms, or seductive eloquence, their notions may be advanced and supported. He does not follow the votaries of pleasure or of fashion, in their epicurean revels, with whatever elegance or refinement they may endeavour to recommend their habits.

1. In what views of Christ do His servants follow him? As their Teacher.

2. We are to follow Him as our Saviour. He came not only to instruct us, but to redeem us.

3. We are to follow Christ as a Master. Ye call me Master and Lord, said Jesus to His disciples, and ye say well, for so I am (Joh_13:13). Here it may be proper to consider the rule of our service to Christ. This is the word of God. If I were asked to describe the character of a servant of Christ, not such as His professing people are too generally found, but such as they ought to be, I should say, they are His willing servants; they choose His service with their whole heart, and would not quit it for any consideration of wealth, rank, station, or fame. They are His servants without terms or conditions as to the kind, quantity, time or place of service. If it be not degrading the subject to apply to it a common phrase in domestic use, I would say they are servants of all work: willing to do the work of God in any place, in any condition, in any circumstances; so that if they can serve Him better by suffering than by active duties, in adversity than in prosperity, they are willing to do it. They are His inquisitive servants, searching the Scriptures as the rule of conduct, to know His will. They are His loving servants; loving their Master and His work too. They are His diligent servants, satisfied with no measure of duty, wrestling against a slothful and indolent disposition, and forgetting the things that are behind, in going on unto perfection. They are His faithful servants, taking account of all the gifts, graces, opportunities of usefulness, and means of doing the will of God and serving their generation. They are His waiting servants, looking for the coming of their Master.

4. We are to follow Him as an example. We are to imitate His holy life. Christ must be followed in humble dependence on Divine grace; and with a fixed resolution and dauntless courage in the face of danger, and at the risk of suffering.

III. ALL WHO FOLLOW CHRIST ON EARTH WILL DWELL WITH HIM IN HEAVEN. HE SAITH, WHERE I AM THERE SHALL MY SERVANT BE. (J. A. James.)

Christian service

Labour is not necessarily service. A good worker may be a poor server. A cook who lets the dinner spoil because she persists in scrubbing the floor when she should be watching the pot, is laborious, but not faithful. Service rather than labour is the measure of usefulness everywhere. Gods service is not merely in the church meeting, nor in the home closet, but in every legitimate undertaking of life. Whatever distracts us in our proper business distracts from our proper service. The bookkeeper who makes a wrong entry because he is dreaming of the pleasures of last nights prayer meeting, is practically forgetting God, because he forgets present duty. The paymaster who makes an overpayment because he is framing his next Sunday school lesson, may think more about God than he thinks of Him. He is a religious worker more than a godly server. And one may serve the Church to the neglect of the Master. He may forget God in thinking about God. (H. C.Trumbull, D. D.)

The honour God confers upon those who serve Christ

We will suppose that the Prince of Wales is wrecked on a certain voyage, and is cast on shore with only one companion. The Prince falls into the hands of barbarians, and there is an opportunity for his companion to escape; but he says, No, my Prince, I will stay with you to the last, and if we die, we will die together. The Prince is thrown into a dungeon; his companion is in the prison with him, and serves him and waits upon him. He is sick--it is a contagious fever--his companion nurses him--puts the cooling liquid to his mouth--and waits on him with a mothers care. He recovers a little: the fond attendant carries the young Prince, as he is getting better, into the open air, and tends him as a mother would her child. They are subject to deep poverty--they share their last crust together; they are hooted at as they go through the streets, and they are hooted at together. At last, by some turn in Providence, it is discovered where the Prince is, and he is brought home. Who is the man that the Queen will delight to honour? I fancy she would look with greater affection upon the poor servant than upon the greatest statesman; and I think that as long as she lived she would remember him above all the rest, I will honour him above all the mighty ones in the land. And now, if we shall be with Christ, the Kings Son, if we shall suffer with Him, and be reproached with Him, if we shall follow Him anywhere and everywhere, making no choice about the way, whether it shall be rough or smooth--if we can go with Him to prison and to death, then we shall be the men whom heavens King delighteth to honour. Make room for Him, ye angels! Stand back ye peers of heavens realm Here comes the man; he was poor, mean, and afflicted; but he was with My Son, and was like My Son. Come hither, man! There, take thy crown, and sit with My Son in His glory, for thou wast with My Son in His shame. (C. H.Spurgeon.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12:24 The central event of Jesus’ glorification (12:23) was the cross. As with a kernel . . . planted in the soil, Jesus’ death would bring abundant life.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Joh 12:24. Πεσών) when it hath fallen.—αὐτὸς μόνος, by itself alone) Christ, even though He had not died for us, yet could have been by [in] Himself the same that He now is.—ἀποθάνῃ—καρπόν, it shall have died—fruit) This passage contains a previous specimen of both [His death-sufferings—and the fruit], Joh 12:27; Joh 12:32. The many ages since portray and exhibit the much fruit. [So also, even among those who live in our time, there are some little grains of this kind. It is happy for him, who can with truth reckon himself among the number.—V. g.]

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh_12:24. My death, however, is necessary to the successful and victorious development of my work, as the wheat-corn must fall into the earth and die, in order to bring forth much fruit. The solemn assurance (ἀμὴν, ἀμὴν, κ.τ.λ.) is in keeping with the difficulty of getting the disciples to accept the idea of His death.

ἀποθάνῃ] For the vital principle in the corn, the germ, forces itself out; thus the corn is dead, and become a prey to dissolution, comp. 1Co_15:36

αὐτὸς μόνος] by itself alone, Joh_6:15. Ast, Lex. Plat. I. p. 314. The life of the corn which has not fallen into the earth remains limited and bound to itself, without the possibility of a communication and unfolding of life outwards issuing from it, such as only follows in the case of that corn which dies in the earth through the bursting forth of the living germ, and in this way of death produces much fruit. Thus, also, with Christ; it is through His death that there first comes upon all peoples and times the rich blessing which is destined for the world. Comp. Joh_12:32.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 12:24 . But second to the thought of His enthronement as Messiah comes the thought of the way to it: ἀμὴν … φέρει , “except the grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides itself alone; but if it die, it bears much fruit”. The seed reaches its full and proper development by being sown in the ground and dying. It is this process, apparently destructive, and which calls for faith in the sower, which disengages the forces of the seed and allows it to multiply itself. To preserve the seed from this burial in the ground is to prevent it from attaining its best development and use. The law of the seed is the law of human life.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A wheat corn dieth when it is changed by virtue of the ground, and becometh a root of a fruitful blade.

The death of Christ is as it were a sowing, which seemeth to be a dying to the corn, but indeed is the cause of a far greater harvest: and such as is the condition of the head, so shall it be of the members.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit--The necessity of His death is here brightly expressed, and its proper operation and fruit--life springing forth out of death--imaged forth by a beautiful and deeply significant law of the vegetable kingdom. For a double reason, no doubt, this was uttered--to explain what he had said of His death, as the hour of His own glorification, and to sustain His own Spirit under the agitation which was mysteriously coming over it in the view of that death.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 24. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die] Our Lord compares himself to a grain of wheat; his death, to a grain sown and decomposed in the ground; his resurrection, to the blade which springs up from the dead grain; which grain, thus dying, brings forth an abundance of fruit. I must die to be glorified; and, unless I am glorified, I can not establish a glorious Church of Jews and Gentiles upon earth. In comparing himself thus to a grain of wheat, our Lord shows us: -

1. The cause of his death - the order of God, who had rated the redemption of the world at this price; as in nature he had attached the multiplication of the corn to the death or decomposition of the grain.

2. The end of his death - the redemption of a lost world; the justification, sanctification, and glorification of men: as the multiplication of the corn is the end for which the grain is sown and dies.

3. The mystery of his death, which we must credit without being able fully to comprehend, as we believe the dead grain multiplies itself, and we are nourished by that multiplication, without being able to comprehend how it is done.

The greatest philosopher that ever existed could not tell how one grain became thirty, sixty, a hundred, or a thousand - how it vegetated in the earth - how earth, air, and water, its component parts, could assume such a form and consistence, emit such odours, or produce such tastes. Nor can the wisest man on earth tell how the bodies of animals are nourished by this produce of the ground; how wheat, for instance, is assimilated to the very nature of the bodies that receive it, and how it becomes flesh and blood, nerves, sinews, bones, c. All we can say is, the thing is so and it has pleased God that is should be so, and not otherwise. So there are many things in the person, death, and sacrifice of Christ, which we can neither explain nor comprehend. All we should say here is, It is by this means that the world was redeemed - through this sacrifice men are saved: it has pleased God that it should be so, and not otherwise. Some say: "Our Lord spoke this according to the philosophy of those days, which was by no means correct." But, I would ask, has ever a more correct philosophy on this point appeared? Is it not a physical truth that the whole body of the grain dies, is converted into fine earth, which forms the first nourishment of the embryo plant, and prepares it to receive a grosser support from the surrounding soil; and that nothing lives but the germ, which was included in this body, and which must die also, if it did not receive, from the death or putrefaction of the body of the grain, nourishment, so as to enable it to unfold itself? Though the body of our Lord died, there was still the germ, the quickening power of the Divinity, which re-animated that body, and stamped the atonement with infinite merit. Thus the merit was multiplied; and, through the death of that one person, the man Christ Jesus united to the eternal WORD, salvation was procured for the whole world. Never was a simile more appropriate, nor an illustration more happy or successful.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

24. Unless a grain of wheat having fallen into the ground, die, it remaineth alone. If a grain of wheat do not die or putrefy, it continues to be dry and unfruitful; but the death of the seed has the beneficial effect of quickening it, that it may yield fruit. In short, Christ compares his death to sowing, which appears to tend to the destruction of the wheat, but yet is the cause of far more abundant increase. Though this admonition was especially necessary at that time, yet it is of continual use in the Church. And, first, we ought to begin with the Head. That dreadful appearance of disgrace and cursing, which appears in the death of Christ, not only obscures his glory, but removes it altogether from our view. We must not, therefore, confine our attention to his death alone, but must likewise consider the fruit which has been yielded by his glorious resurrection. Thus there will be nothing to prevent his glory from being every where displayed. From him we must next come to the members; for not only do we think that we perish in death, but our life also is a sort of continual death, (Colossians 3:3.) We shall therefore be undone, unless we be supported by that consolation which Paul holds out:

if our outward man decays, the inward man is renewed from day to day, (2 Corinthians 4:16.)

When, therefore, the godly are distressed by various afflictions, when they are pressed hard by the difficulties of their situation, when they suffer hunger, or nakedness, or disease, when they are assailed by reproaches, when it appears as if they would every hour be almost overwhelmed by death, let them unceasingly consider that this is a sowing which, in due time, will yield fruit.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(24) Verily, verily, I say unto you.—He is passing to the deeper truth which underlies His words, and calls attention to what He is about to say by the usual and solemn “Verily, verily.” (Comp. Note on Joh_1:51.)

Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die.—The truth is one of those of the spirit-world, lying beyond the ordinary language of men. He prepares them for it by what we call the analogy of a physical law, but what is really an instance of the working of the great law of life, which God has given to the moral and physical worlds alike. All knew that a grain of wheat, though containing in itself the germs of life, would remain alone, and not really live unless it fell to the earth. Then the life-germs would burst forth, and the single grain, in its own death, would give life to blade, and stalk, and ear of corn. Its death then was the true life, for it released the inner life-power which the husk before held captive; and this life-power multiplying itself in successive grains would clothe the whole field with a harvest of much fruit.

This law Christ now teaches to be a law also of the moral world, and one to which His own life is subject. Here too life issues from death. The moral power which is the life of the world finds its source in the death of the Son of man. “He is life.” “In Him is life.” “He quickens whom He will.” “Whosoever believeth in Him hath eternal life.” These truths this Gospel has told us again and again: but Christ now tells that while He is still on earth this life exists, but in its germs; and that in His death it will burst forth, and grow up, and multiply itself in the great spiritual harvest of the world. Such was the prophecy. The history of all that is best, and truest, and noblest in the life of eighteen centuries comes to us as the fulfilment. Hearts hardened, sinful, dead, that have been led to think of His death, and in thoughts of it have felt germs of life springing up and bursting the husks of their former prison, and growing up into living powers which have changed their whole being; this is the individual fulfilment that has come to many and may come to all.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. Verily, verily] Strange as it may seem to you that the Messiah should die, yet this is but the course of nature: a seed cannot be glorified unless it dies. A higher form of existence is obtained only through the extinction of the lower form that preceded it. See on Joh_1:51.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He that loveth his life shall lose it,.... The sense is, that whoever is so in love with this present temporal life, as to be anxiously careful of it, and takes all precautions to secure it; and rather than to expose it to any danger, chooses to deny the faith of Christ, and desert his cause and interest; as such an one shall not long enjoy this life, so he shall come short of an eternal one:

and he that hateth his life in this world: on the other hand, whoever seems careless about it, and not to consult the safety of it, but is unconcerned about it; yea, as if he was throwing it away, as of no great moment and significancy, rather than do anything to preserve it, which would be scandalous to himself, and be dishonourable to his Lord and master; he

shall keep it unto life eternal: he shall be preserved in his temporal life, in a remarkable manner, until he has done the will and work of God, notwithstanding all attempts upon it; and he shall appear to have that spiritual life, which is the beginning and pledge of, and which springs up unto, and issues in eternal life; and that he shall enjoy in the world to come. This Christ said to let his disciples and followers know, that they must suffer and die, as well as he, though not on the same account, and for the self-same reasons; and that their sufferings and death in his cause, and for his Gospel, would turn to their advantage.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

Ver. 24. Except a corn of wheat, &c.] The apostles thought Christ should have been presently glorified. He lets them here know that he must first suffer, before he enter into his glory; bear the cross, before he wear the crown; pass the stroke of death’s flaming sword, before he come into paradise. Ne Iesum quidem audias gloriosum, nisi videris prius crucifixum. You may not hear even Jesus glory unless you have seen first the crucifixion. (Luth. epist, ad Melanct.)

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verily, verily - An expression denoting the great importance of what he was about to say. We cannot but admire the wisdom by which he introduces the subject of his death. They had seen his triumph. They supposed that he was about to establish his kingdom. He told them that the time had come in which he was to be glorified, but not in the manner in which they expected. It was to be by his death. But as they would not at once see how this could be, as it would appear to dash their hopes, he takes occasion to illustrate it by a beautiful comparison. All the beauty and richness of the harvest results from the fact that the grain had died. If it had not died it would never have germinated or produced the glory of the yellow harvest. So with him. By this he still keeps before them the truth that he was to be glorified, but he delicately and beautifully introduces the idea still that he must die.

A corn - A grain.

Of wheat - Any kind of grain - wheat, barley; etc. The word includes all grain of this kind.

Into the ground - Be buried in the earth, so as to be accessible by the proper moisture.

And die - The whole body or substance of the grain, except the germ, dies in the earth or is decomposed, and this decomposed substance constitutes the first nourishment of the tender germ a nutriment wonderfully adapted to it, and fitted to nourish it until it becomes vigorous enough to derive its support entirely from the ground. In this God has shown his wisdom and goodness. No one thing could be more evidently fitted for another than this provision made in the grain itself for the future wants of the tender germ.

Abideth alone - Produces no fruit. It remains without producing the rich and beautiful harvest. So Jesus intimates that it was only by his death that he would be glorified in the salvation of men, and in the honors and rewards of heaven, Heb 2:9; “We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.” Phi 2:8-9; “he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; wherefore God also hath highly exalted him,” etc. Heb 12:2; “who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” See also Eph 1:20-23.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Unless the grain of wheat. The comparison is this, that as the seed must be changed, and corrupted in the ground, before it fructify, so the world would not be converted but by Christ’s death. (Witham) --- By this grain of corn our Saviour means himself, who was to die by the infidelity of the Jews, and be multiplied by the faith of the Gentiles. (St. Augustine, tract. 51. in Joan.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Look as you see in your ordinary husbandry, the grains of wheat are first buried in the earth, and lose their form, before they spring and shoot up again, and bring forth fruit; so it must be with me; I must be first lifted up, before I shall draw men after me; I must first be crucified, before my gospel shall be preached to all nations, and the fulness of the Gentiles shall come: but if I have once died, and risen again from the dead, then you shall see this abundant fruit.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

24. Except… wheat… die—In the natural creation death is the prelude and source of life. In the vegetable world the seed expires by giving its life, and more than its life, to the germ. So Christ, the seed of all humanity, expires to give life to humanity. Let not, then, these philosophic Greeks who have come to see Jesus, despise that shameful death they are soon to see, which is to be the life of the race. Nor let them contemn the dying Victim who even in death is to conquer the world.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The oracle is introduced with a solemn Amhgw umin : Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except the corn (or, grain) of wheat, having fallen to the ground, die, it abideth by itself alone: but if it die, it beareth much fruit. The simple illustration of life through death, life triumphing over death. "Even nature protests against the Hellenic fear of death" (Lange). As long as the corn of wheat is scrupulously kept from decomposition and death in the granary, the hidden germ is dormant; let it be sown as "bare grain", (1Co_15:36, etc.) then the strange force within it puts forth its hidden faculty, the outer covering of this point of energy falls away, and the new thing appears. God gives it a body, and much fruit is brought forth. Thoma suggests that the Johannist here is putting into the lips of Jesus the thoughts of Paul. How much more probable is it that Paul grasped the thought of Jesus, and applied a part of it to the grand argument for the resurrection, both of Christ and Christians! Compare with this the teaching of John 6., where the Bread of life is given for the food of men. Even the "bread-making" for man involves, in another way, the temporary destruction of the living germ in the grain of which it is composed, that it may become the life of men. Christ is himself the "Son of God," the "Logos incarnate," the "Son of man." By becoming, in his death, the food of man"s soul, he created thus a new life in the hearts of men. Over and over again our Lord has declared himself to be "the Life," and "the Source of life," for men; but he here lays down the principle that this life-giving power of his is conditioned by his death. The great harvest will be reaped only when he shall have sacrificed his life and put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. It is, too, only as every believing man dies to himself, is crucified with Christ, is dead with him to the world, that he rises again in the newness of life.

Death and fruitfulness.

The principle here stated, and applied by Christ to himself, is one ordained by the Creator of the moral universe. The only true enrich-merit is through giving, the only true gain is through loss, the only true victory is through suffering-and humiliation, the only true life is through death. The earth yields a harvest when the grain is entrusted to its keeping, even when the Egyptian husbandman casts his bread upon the waters. And the Son of God saw clearly that he must die and be buried, in order that he might become to mankind the source of spiritual and eternal life.

I THE LIFE OF THE WORLD"S SPIRITUAL SEED. Imagination can see in an acorn all which may arise from it an oak, a ship, a navy; for the acorn has a life-germ which is capable of increase and multiplication. Imagination can see in a handful of seed-corn carried to a distant isle, a nation"s food. So in one Person, the speaker of these words, there lay though only Omniscience could clearly foresee this the spiritual hopes of a whole race. Jesus himself knew that this was so, and foresaw and foretold the results of his obedience unto death. In the coming of these Greeks he discerned the earnest of a glorious future; and the prospect of approaching suffering and of future victory stirred and troubled his soul with a mighty emotion. The explanation of this marvelous potency is to be found in the fact that Christ was Life the Life of men. His Divine nature, his great vocation, his faultless character, his gracious ministry, his spiritual power, his unrivalled love, his incomparable sacrifice, are all signs of the possession by him of a wonderful life. Only a divinely commissioned and qualified Being could become the world"s Life. Because he was the Son of God, it was possible for him to bring to this human race what none other could confer spiritual vitality and fruitfulness. The claim which Jesus made may have seemed to an observer of his ministry incredible or even presumptuous. Yet as a tiny seed- may produce a majestic tree, because in the seed is a germ of life, so in the lowly Nazarene was the promise of a new and blessed life for this humanity. "I am come," said he, "that they may have life, and may have it abundantly." Such sayings, from his lips, were the simple, literal truth.

II THE DISSOLUTION OF THE WORLD"S SPIRITUAL SEED. To one unacquainted with the mystery of growth, it must seem that the strangest use to which a seed could be put is to bury it in the ground. Death is the unlikeliest road to life. Yet experience teaches us that dissolution is necessary to reproduction. The substance of the grain dissolves, and nourishes and protects the living germ, which by means of warmth and moisture puts forth the signs of life, grows and develops into a corn-plant or a tree. Had not the seed been planted, it would have remained by itself alone and unfruitful. The law obtains in the moral realm. Our race gains its best of knowledge, experience, progress, happiness, virtue, not from the prosperous and the peaceful, but from those whose life is a life of toil, endurance, patience in suffering, and sacrifice. The world is infinitely indebted to its confessors, its martyrs, its much-enduring heroes. The highest exemplification of this law is to be found in the sacrifice of the world"s Redeemer. His life of labor and weariness was closed by a death of shame and anguish. He gave up his body to the cross and to the tomb. His whole life was a death unto self, unto the world; and he did not shrink from that mortality which is the common lot of man. This death did not come upon him by accident; he several times distinctly foretold it it was part of his plan. He is not to be numbered among the many who might have been spiritual forces for highest good, but who remained fruitless because they dared not die. The ignominious cross has ever been a stumbling-block to many; but to multitudes, spiritually enlightened, and touched in the heart by his Spirit, it has been the supreme revelation of God. The cross and the grave are to the unspiritual an offence; but to Christians they are a glory and a joy, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Via crucis, via lucia. Christ"s body did not indeed see corruption; yet his life"s close was an exact correspondence to the dissolution of the seed. A bystander might naturally have said, "Here is the end of the professions and the work of Jesus! But God"s ways are not our ways.

III THE FERTILITY OF THE WORLD"S SPIRITUAL SEED. One grain of wheat, if sown, and its produce resown, may in time produce a vast, all but incalculable crop. One grain seems thrown away, but millions are gathered and garnered. Much fruit rewards the faith of the husbandman. Our Lord teaches us that, in the spiritual realm, a similar result follows a similar process. He knew that he was about to die; but he knew also that his death should be rich in spiritual fruit. The immediate results verified his prediction. In a short space of time after our Lord"s death, the number of his disciples was not merely increased, it was multiplied. The fruit borne upon the day of Pentecost was the firstfruit of a rich, abundant harvest. Not only in the Jewish world, but among the Gentiles also, it was speedily manifest that Jesus had not died in vain. Israel had conspired to kill him; but he became the Savior of the true Israel the Israel of God. The Romans had put him to death; but in a few generations the Roman empire acknowledged his supremacy. The world had cast him out; but the world was saved by him. The history of Christendom is the story of one long harvest a harvest yielded by the spiritual seed which was sown on Calvary. The future has yet to reveal the vastness of the work which Christ has wrought. He shall draw all men unto himself. "Many shall come from the East and from the West." A great multitude, whom no man can number, shall join in the grateful praise and reverent adoration of heaven.

PRACTICAL LESSONS.

1. Our indebtedness to Christ.

2. Our identification with Christ.

3. Our hope in Christ. T.

Mors janua vitro.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone," etc. These words belong to the day of Christ"s triumphant entry into Jerusalem the day of palms. Amidst the general enthusiasm, certain Greeks, who had come up to worship at the feast, asked the Apostle Philip to obtain for them a private interview with Jesus. Philip consulted with Andrew, and the two together laid the request before their Master. Our Lord was deeply moved his reply even thrills with emotion; and why was this? Here were representatives of the great Gentile world waiting for him, seeking after him, ready, it would appear, to enter his kingdom. But not till he had been rejected by his own, not till he had been glorified by his death and resurrection, could he open his arms to receive them. Hence he regarded the request of the Greeks as a sign that the crisis of his course was at hand; not that he needed such a sign, but he hailed it and welcomed it as it came, even while his "soul was troubled" as he looked through the vista which opened up between him and the joy set before him. "The hour is come," etc. (ver. 23). For Christ"s way to glory was through death. Yet a few days, and his own disciples and the inquiring Greeks, and all who loved and admired him, would be appalled by the dread spectacle on Calvary. How, then, was our Lord to speak of what was coming in the presence of the people who surrounded him? How should he foreshadow the glory of his cross and the everlasting fruitfulness of his precious death and burial? He chose to do so in words dark indeed and mysterious at the moment they were uttered, but which would cling to the memories of those who loved him, and which were soon to be explained for them and for all mankind.

I Our Lord"s first saying is this, that HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION HAVE A PERPETUAL EMBLEM IN THE KINGDOM OF NATURE. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die," etc. This language is, of course, popular and familiar (for it takes no notice of the invisible germ in such a seed that does not die). But plainly a grain Of wheat must cease to be a grain, it must undergo a death-like change, a death-like transformation, before it springs up and bears its appointed fruit. Suppose one such seed carried to some region of the earth, if such there be, where wheat is still unknown; let it be kept and treasured up as a precious thing, and year after year it abides alone, perfect in itself but fruitless for mankind. But let the same seed fall into the ground" taste cold and darkness and oblivion there," and ere long it will enter on a higher life and bear fruit and multiply itself, and in after years it may be said that all the harvests of the land sprang from that single seed. With the words, "Verily, verily!" with a twice-repeated "Amen!" our Lord applies to himself this mystery of nature. In him was treasured up the life of the world bread of God that cometh down from heaven." But only by the sacrifice of himself could he impart this life to others. Without death his ministry would have remained unfulfilled for its highest ends. His bright and beautiful example taken by itself would have founded no kingdom. Had he abode on earth on some mount of transfiguration, and then been translated like Enoch, so that he should not see death, then, like a golden grain of wheat, he would have remained alone, without a ransomed Church on earth or a triumphant Church in heaven. But such was not the object of his mission. His heart was set on bearing much fruit, and even now he foresaw the harvest. Looking down the stream of time and abroad on the great world, he saw the Churches of the Gentiles, each with its company of believers springing into life through his death and resurrection, and spreading in wider and still wider circles in the regions beyond. In crowded cities and in quiet villages, in far-off lands and in the islands of the sea, they should be found. And as in nature the fruit ever resembles the seed, so it is in the kingdom of grace. Christ"s spiritual offspring must needs bear his image and likeness. This was the harvest that filled our Lord"s field of vision a great multitude, which no man can number, each one of them washed by his blood and sanctified by his Spirit. This was the joy that he set before him when he endured the cross and despised the shame. Dying, he should rise again, and bear much fruit.

II Our Lord"s second saying is this, that HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION HAVE A PERPETUAL LESSON IN THE KINGDOM OF GRACE. (Ver. 25) "He that loveth his life shall lose it; but he that hateth his life," etc. Now, no doubt when we read these words, we naturally think first of all of the noble army of martyrs, each of whom added his dying "Amen!" to them. We cannot forget that in many ages and in many lands certain of Christ"s disciples have been called literally to drink his cup and to be baptized with his baptism, sealing with their own blood their testimony to his cause. This they did on the faith of his promise, believing that where Christ is there shall also his servants be. And we may well remember, too, how fruitful their example has been. The blood of the martyrs has been called, from early times, the seed of the Church. Not in vain did they lay down their lives. "Fear not, brother Ridley," said Latimer, on the way to the stake; "we shall this day light a candle in England which will never be put out." But this sharp paradox is not merely a watchword for the forlorn hope of the army of the faith. In one form or another it was repeatedly on Jesus" lips, addressed too, as it is here, to all his disciples. Its meaning is this life that is hoarded up for selfish ends must needs be a lost and barren one; and it is only hating such a life that we can bring forth fruit for God and eternity." But even thus explained this is a hard saying. For what is the kind of life which Christ"s disciples are forbidden to love? Surely our Lord does more than condemn a life of vicious indulgence and wild extravagance, or of grasping greed and oppression. It needs no paradox to impress on us that such a career is self-ruined and thrown away. No] he is speaking more widely and sweepingly of a life of self-seeking and self-pleasing such a life, in fact, as is natural to us all. We need no one to teach us how to lead it. The spirit of the present world fosters it and feeds it, and even natural conscience offers all too feeble a protest against it. The self-centered enjoyment of an earthly portion seems to the multitude the one thing needful, and their posterity approve their sayings. You all know the parable which describes this favorite type of happiness and success the busy prosperous worldling who heaped up treasure for himself, and was not rich towards God; and many of you may remember Tennyson"s poem founded on the parable"I built my soul a lordly pleasure-house, Wherein at ease for aye to dwell; I said, "O soul, make merry and carouse, Dear soul, for all is well.

Ah! such a life may be stained by no crimes; it may be enriched by intellectual culture and adorned with the spoils of art, but yet, weighed in the balances of Heaven, it is found wanting. He that loveth such a life as this is losing it; and when it is all spent and gone an awful voice will say to him who made it his portion and idol, "Thou fool!" But this is not the life of Christ"s disciples. In coming to him they renounce it at the first; in following him they learn to mortify it day by day. They must hate it as a soldier would hate the life purchased by cowardice before the enemy, or as a patriot would hate the life bought by treason to his country; and lest they should forget this, our Lord puts it more sternly before them in those words of his. And where shall we find the motive the deep secret of this "great renunciation"? I reply In the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. For while that accepted sacrifice of his stands sublimely alone as an atonement for the sins of the world, it has at the same time a wondrous transforming influence on all who come to him by faith. The "mind of Christ" is given to them by God"s Holy Spirit. The love of Christ constrains them. In view of him who died for their sins, their old self-seeking life loses its attraction; in view of him who rose again and lives forevermore, they see before them what is far better a life which has God for its Center, and love for its ruling principle, and eternity for its boundless horizon. Ah! this is the true life of man, the chief end of his creation; and while it was partly revealed under the old covenant, when there was a cloud on the mercy-seat and a veil on the holy of holies, we may say with the highest truth that it was manifested in Christ Jesus, and brought to light in the gospel. "The life was manifested, and we have seen it.

APPLICATION. Now, this great lesson of Christ"s appearance among us is one which Christians are never done with in this world.

1. Beware of forgetting it in the day of prosperity. When projects succeed, and riches increase, "and men are praising thee because thou doest well unto thyself," remember that your true life consists not in the abundance of the things that you possess, but in receiving Christ"s fullness and being inspired by his Spirit. How shall you be preserved from abusing the kindness of Providence, and from wasting and spoiling God"s common gifts and mercies? Where shall you find a perpetual motive to being rich in good works, patient in service, unwearied in well-doing? Think of your Master and of what he has done for you. No doubt you are softened into gratitude and love when you meet with others at his table, and take into your hands the memorials of his body and blood. But these emotions, if they are true, will ripen into deep principles within you. Think what an example he has left, that you should follow in his steps. He was certainly no ascetic like John the Baptist, dwelling in a lone wilderness estranged from social life and the companionship of friends. But "even Christ pleased not himself." Wherever he went some blessing fell. The aim he kept in view was not his own ease nor his own glory, but the will of him that sent him. Oh! put on the Lord Jesus Christ if you would spend and be spent in the service of God and man.

2. Remember this lesson in the day of sifting trial. You are by no means called to invent crosses for yourselves, or perversely overstep God"s providential path in quest of them. But there are times in the life of every disciple when the plain path of obedience is hard. Christ may call you to forego for his sake some friendship, some advantageous opening, and you may think this a cruel sacrifice. His voice may summon you to leave your quiet nest of coveted repose, and spend time and sympathy on ungrateful people and amidst uncongenial scenes. Unbelief whispers that you will only labor in vain, and spend your strength for naught. Why impoverish your life for such uncertain returns? Why scatter precious seed in such unpromising soil? Yet think again what a world it was to which he came, and how poor you would be without him; and listen to his own words, "If any man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am there also shall my servant be. G.B.

The fruitfulness of the dying Jesus.

These words come very abruptly into the narrative. But looking carefully into all the circumstances, the fitness of the words is soon seen. If these Greeks had come earlier, and come into Galilee in the thick of the Galilaean ministry, Jesus would have said, "Let them come and welcome. They shall see the works of the Christ in great abundance." But they have come just too late. Jesus has done his last great work in the body according to the flesh he has raised Lazarus from the dead. These Greeks have come a little too late for one set of experiences, and a little too soon for another. Any day up to the time of sowing the seed you may see it; but when sown, you must wait to see the seed in the glory of the fruit that comes from it.

I SEASONS WHEN THE WORDS ARE SPECIALLY SUGGESTIVE.

1. Sowing-time.

2. Reaping-time.

There might be an ecclesiastical calendar according to the order of nature. Jesus would have us think specially of his death at the sowing-time, when the corns of wheat are being scattered abroad over so much of the surface of God"s earth. What an immense quantity of grain finds its way into the soil the wide world over! And every one sowing, and every one who sees the sowing, is invited to consider that most wondrous of all seed-corns laid away in the soil when Jesus breathed his last natural breath. And as to natural emblems and reminders of the resurrection, there is a long time in which to study them. The moment we see the delicate blades timidly peeping above the surface, then the word comes to our hearts that Jesus also rose from the dead; and then at last, when, instead of the seed that was sown, we behold the stalk with its hundredfold, why, we are helped to feel what a difference there is between Jesus in the days of his flesh and Jesus according to his resurrection from the dead.

II WE MUST LOOK AS CLOSELY AS POSSIBLE AT THE WORDS. The more closely, the more encouraging and inspiring they will be. Put a corn of wheat away in a drawer. Leave it for twelve months, and then look. It is there still, abiding alone. But put that corn of wheat into a flower-pot. Let it grow till it is ripe, and then you have a great company of grains of wheat exactly similar to the one you sowed. This indicates just what Jesus wants as the greatest result of his presence among men. He wanted to see countless multitudes with a spirit and a character like his own holy as he was holy, loving as he was loving, and becoming fit for the glory to which he himself was going. During the days of his flesh, he remained like the unsown corn of wheat, alone. He produced nothing like himself. People would not say of his disciples when they met them, What good, holy, lovable men these are!" How could anybody say that of them, seeing that not long before their Master"s death they were wrangling which should be the greatest? But what a difference when Jesus has died and risen again! Jesus no longer abides alone. He is truly the Firstborn among many brethren. If we be true Christians at all, we are more like Christ than we are to those of our fellow-men who are not Christians. Jesus sees great differences where we see great resemblances, and vice versa. It is demanded of all the children of the heavenly Father that they should be fruitful, and to this end they are to be as branches in the vine. And he who is peculiarly the Son of the Father sets the example that makes our fruitfulness possible. The risen Savior himself brings forth much fruit. A handful of corn has been sown in the earth on the top of the mountains, and the fruit thereof shakes like Lebanon. There is a double resurrection.

Not only did Jesus rise again in his own proper personality; he has also risen again in that great multitude concerning every one of whom this is true, "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." There is no way of making Christians except through the Spirit of the living Christ working in them. A stalk of wheat cannot be got save by sowing the seed from which it is to spring. And so, too, Jesus himself must be the principle in us of a new, a holy, and an eternal life. Y.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Unless a grain of wheat die - The late resurrection of Lazarus gave our Lord a natural occasion of speaking on this subject. And agreeable to his infinite knowledge, he singles out, from among so many thousands of seeds, almost the only one that dies in the earth: and which therefore was an exceeding proper similitude, peculiarly adapted to the purpose for which he uses it. The like is not to be found in any other grain, except millet, and the large bean.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Except

John 12-17 are a progression according to the order of approach to God in the tabernacle types: John 12, in which Christ speaks of His death, answers to the brazen altar of burnt-offering, type of the cross. Passing from the altar toward the holy of holies, the laver is next reached Exo 30:17-21, answering to John 13. With His associate priests, now purified, the High Priest approaches and enters the holy place, in the high communion of John 14-16. Entering alone the holy of holies Joh 17:1, the High Priest intercedes. (Cf) Heb 7:24-28. That intercession is not for the salvation, but the keeping and blessing of those for whom He prays. His death (assumed as accomplished), Joh 17:4 has saved them.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone. This statement, prefaced by the verily, verily, that gives solemn emphasis, enforces a great truth. The grain of wheat may remain in the granary for a thousand years and be preserved, but it is useless there. It neither reproduces, nor is food. It is when it falls into the ground and undergoes dissolution, that it brings forth fruit. It is fruitful by giving itself up. So, too, Christ must give himself up. His death was needful in order that he might impart life to the nation. There is a lesson here for disciples who would “bear much fruit.”

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

24.] Meyer thinks, that our Lord begins His declaration with the double asseveration ἀμὴν ἀμήν, on account of the unreceptivity of the mind of the disciples for the announcements of His Death. But St. John always uses ἀμὴν ἀμήν. The grain of wheat perishes, and is not apparent (as the seeds of dicotyledonous plants are) in the new plant: see 1Co 15:36. The saying is more than a mere parabolic similitude: the divine Will, which has fixed the law of the springing up of the wheat-corn, has also determined the law of the glorification of the Son of Man, and the one in analogy with the other: i.e. both through Death. The symbolism here lies at the root of that in ch. 6, where Christ is ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς.

αὐτὸς μόνος, by itself alone, with its life uncommunicated, lived only within its own limits, and not passing on.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24. ἀμὴν ἀμήν κτλ. See on 1:51 for this formula introducing a saying of special solemnity. Here it is prefixed to the first illustration of the paradox that Life comes through Death, viz. the law that the grain of wheat (ὁ κόκκος. any grain) must die before it can bear fruit. To this law Paul appeals in his statement of the resurrection of man (1Co 15:36). It has, perhaps, a special applicability here, in reference to what precedes; for Christ, who is about to be glorified in Death, claimed to be, Himself, the Bread of Life.

Hippolytus (Ref. vi. 16) quotes from the Apophasis of Simon Magus (a work written about a.d. 100) a passage that Schmiedel1 thinks is behind this verse. Simon says that a tree abiding alone and bearing no fruit is destroyed (ἐὰν δὲ μείνῃ δένδρον μόνον, καρπὸν μὴ ποιοῦν, ‹μὴ› ἐξεικονισμένον ἀφανίζεται), but he goes on to cite Mat 3:10. There is a verbal similarity with Jn., but the thought is quite different.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verily, verily. See on Joh 1:51; Joh 10:1.

A corn [ο κοκκος] . Properly, the corn or grain. The article should be inserted in the translation, because Jesus is citing the wheat - grain as a familiar type of that which contains in itself the germ of life. So wheat has the article : the corn of the wheat. The selection of the corn of wheat as an illustration acquires a peculiar interest from the fact of its being addressed to Greeks, familiar with the Eleusinian mysteries celebrated in their own country. These mysteries were based on the legend of Dionysus (Bacchus). According to the legend his original name was Zagreus. He was the son of Zeus (Jupiter) by his own daughter Persephone [προσερπινα] , and was destined to succeed to supreme dominion and to the wielding of the thunderbolt. The jealousy of Here (Juno), the wife of Zeus, incited the Titans against him, who killed him while he was contemplating his face in a mirror, cut up his body, and boiled it in a caldron, leaving only the heart. Zeus, in his wrath, hurled the Titans to Tartarus, and Apollo collected the remains of Zagreus and buried them. The heart was given to Semele, and Zagreus was born again from her under the form of Dionysus. The mysteries represented the original birth from the serpent, the murder and dismemberment of the child, and the revenge inflicted by Zeus; and the symbols exhibited - the dice, ball, top, mirror, and apple - signified the toys with which the Titans allured the child into their power. Then followed the restoration to life; Demeter (Ceres) the goddess of agriculture, the mother of food, putting the limbs together, and giving her maternal breasts to the child. All this was preparatory to the great Eleusinia, in which the risen Dionysus in the freshness of his second life was conducted from Athens to Eleusis in joyful procession. An ear of corn, plucked in solemn silence, was exhibited to the initiated as the object of mystical contemplation, as the symbol of the God, prematurely killed, but, like the ear enclosing the seed - corn, bearing within himself the germ of a second life.

With this mingled the legend of Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, who was carried off by Pluto to the infernal world. The mother wandered over the earth seeking her daughter, and having found her, applied to Zeus, through whose intervention Persephone, while condemned to Hades for a part of the year, was allowed to remain upon earth during the other part. Thus the story became the symbol of vegetation, which shoots forth in spring, and the power of which withdraws into the earth at other seasons of the year. These features of the mysteries set forth, and with the same symbol as that employed by Christ here, the crude pagan conception of life rising out of death.

Alone [αυτος μονος] . Literally, itself alone. Rev., by itself alone.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 24. “Verily, verily, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat dies after having fallen into the ground, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

Before He can answer to the need of salvation for the heathen world, the first symptom of which has just reached Him, something of serious moment must happen in Himself. So long as the grain of wheat remains in the granary, it is preserved, but without acquiring the power of reproducing itself; it is necessary that it should be cast into the earth, that its covering should be decomposed, that it should perish as a seed, in order that it may live again with a new existence, and may have a new birth in a multitude of beings like itself. We know the considerable part which is played by the grain of wheat in the Greek mysteries. The emphatic affirmation, amen, amen, refers to the contrast which Jesus knows to exist between this painful necessity of His death and His disciples’ dreams of glory.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.