Read: John 12:20-26
20 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.21 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, 
unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
A pastor tells the story of two men who had grains of wheat. One man he loved his very much. He spent the majority of his time and energies on securing the best possible container for his wheat. He made sure his grain of wheat stayed out of harm’s way; if wheat gets wet you know then it will quickly spoil. He was very careful to always do what the wheat experts told him to do in order to see his grain of wheat stay strong even to old age. This man was sold out for his wheat and it showed. Then the man died.
The other man also had a grain of wheat but what he did was very different. He went out into the backyard, dug a hole, threw his wheat in to it, covered it with dirt, and poured water all over it thus completely ruining the wheat. Then that man died.
Sometime after both men were dead and buried a news reporter decided to do investigate. The first man’s grain of wheat in a protective container. When the lid was removed, the sight was saddening; that grain of wheat though prized and protected had ruined. Stuck away in dark selfishness that wheat had spoiled.
The reporter went to see the second grain of wheat. As she drove closer she noticed tall green plants along the side of the road – very strange. As she pulled into the driveway the entire yard of the second man was covered in three-foot-tall green grass. Now filled with curiosity the reporter asked the neighbor, “What are all these plants.” He responded, “It’s this man’s wheat.”
One man protected his wheat and lost it all. The other man threw his wheat into the ground, it died, and it produced much fruit.
After Jesus had entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, some Greeks came and wanted to see him. Philip and Andrew take the message to Jesus. Throughout John’s gospel, Jesus has said his hour had not yet come. From the turning of water to wine in John 2 to John 7 and 8, Jesus hour had not come. But when the Greeks come to speak to him, Jesus says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” It is time for Jesus to go to the cross, to die, and to be raised from the dead.
But he says more than that. His path to glory is through the cross. When a kernel of grain falls to the ground and dies, it bears fruit. Jesus died for us. Are we willing to “die” for him? Do we consider him to be so valuable that our lives are secondary to knowing Jesus? We can gain our lives in this world, to lose them in the next. Or we can give up our lives in this world and follow and serve Jesus and find that God will honor us even to eternal life.
Is there something God is calling me to die to that I might experience more fully my position in Christ; that I might see Christ more clearly and show him more compellingly?
Am I working against my very nature as a Christian by trying to keep alive something God sentenced to death when I became a Christian?
Are the weaknesses in my life because there is something that needs to die in me — some old habit, some secret sin, some root of pride, some fear of looking silly, some desperate need for approval, some desire for wealth?
What kind of grain of wheat will I be? Am I ready to say with Paul, “To live is Christ, to die is gain?” (Philippians 1:21)