Daily Scripture

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. (John 12:24)

Daily Reflection

What a very simple farming image to understand: the grain of wheat needs to be planted in order to produce more grain. (If it’s left in a sack, it stays as just one grain.) Metaphorically, the seed of grain dies; it is then transformed, grows, and produces much more than one grain of wheat. Easy to understand.

Jesus used these words as he was speaking to his disciples, trying to get them to understand why he must die. Suddenly this moves from a farming story to thinking about life and death…..and life once more! This is the kernel (if you’ll forgive the pun!) of what we are thinking about in Lent; of what we are preparing ourselves for in Holy Week, before celebrating the joy or the resurrection on Easter Sunday. Will Jesus’ death bear much fruit in you?

Revd David