John 12:24 (NRSVCE)
“Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior is the grain in our verse parable. He tasted death for everyone, and after His resurrection, He produced much fruit. (Rev.7:9) All believers are His fruit.
Philippians 2:6-8 says,
6 Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.
His dying for Himself did not happen only on the Cross. He died on Himself when He obeyed the Father to suffer for us. He died to Himself when He emptied Himself as the Son of GOD with His splendor, was sown on earth to become flesh and lived as the Son of Man, taking the form of a slave, the son of a carpenter in the Sin City of Nazareth. As the Son of Man, He lived without anything concerning His flesh. He said to his ‘would be’ disciples, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (Matthew 8:20). While He is dead to Himself before His crucifixion, He had produced not only the ordinary fishermen and tax collectors to become good fruit, not only Jews but Gentiles as well.
In the story of the woman at Jacob’s well in Sychar, a Samaritan City, Jesus as the Living Water, asked the woman to give Him water to drink not because He is thirsty but to suffice the spiritual need of the Samaritan woman. Living not in His Being, He appeared to her, talked to her and blessed her. He transformed her, a sinner to become a fruitful evangelist to her fellowmen. Many Samaritans from that city come to Jesus because of the woman’s testimony. And at the end of the story, more fruits were produced as they saw and believed that Jesus is truly the Savior of the world.” (John 4:5-29, 39-42)
On the other side, we could even relate more to the sequel to that story: When Jesus told His disciples that He is not interested in eating the food they brought to Him at Jacob’s well, He said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.” (John 4:34-35). In simpler terms, Jesus meant it this way; ‘Hey, when you are focus on your hungry stomach, you missed this woman’s important need, ‘the others need’, the need to feed the hungry spirit. You are more concern of yourselves that is why you did not produce any fruit. Now look around you, see the fruit that she produced by not concerning of her physical needs. See, she left her water jar here and instead, she rather think of the ‘others needs’. Now, she had these people, her fruit, your harvest, though it’s way more before the harvest time.’
Galatians 5:17 says, “For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.” Furthermore illustrated in Romans 8:5, it directly says, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”
We are His fruit, and Jesus wanted as the Father wanted that His fruit, us, will not just bear a fruit but more fruit. He said in John 15:2, “He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.” He will prune us to the desires of our flesh by giving us the Spirit that will help us live and bear fruit in the Spirit.
Dying on ourselves means cutting our flesh desires, bounding us to be fruitful in Spirit. This flesh is temporal, while the Spirit is Eternal. That is the marvelous cause of Jesus dying of Himself not only on the cross but during His dwelling with us, teaching us to love others as He had loved us. He then expected us to die in flesh too and live in the Spirit like Him. He set us an example to follow. 1 Peter 2:21 instructs us, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.” Spiritual fruit will show out of us if we attend to others needs, suffering our own. To do this, with us must bear this fruit; love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; the fruit of the Spirit.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we need to spend time with Jesus and get to know Him better so that His thoughts will become our thoughts, His purpose will become our purpose; we will die on ourselves, we will become like Jesus bearing much fruit, the fruit that will last. AMEN.
(For your feedbacks, email to amomentofeternalnews@gmail.com )
Comments