Psalms 72 * 119:73-96; Job 42:1-17; Acts 16:16-24; John 12:20-26Some Greeks come to see Jesus today, and they don't seem to make it through the gauntlet of folks surrounding Jesus. They ask Philip, Philip asks Andrew, both of them approach Jesus and tell him there are people looking to speak with him. Jesus goes in a different direction, alluding clearly to his coming death. He says 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.
How do we live into this metaphor Jesus utilizes today? How can we be like falling wheat and allow much fruit to grow around us? All of us can impact people we come into contact with in substantive ways. We can influence people by being honest, kind, helpful and vulnerable. These qualities can expose us to ridicule. They can make us targets to be taken advantage of by those who believe these qualities are weaknesses. They are anything but weak, they can change the world.
Perhaps we can allow those facades we guard ourselves with fall like a dying grain of wheat and allow people to really see us, know us. Imagine what fruit could be born all around us. Imagine how we can change and influence those who don't know about God's all embracing love, by introducing them to that love in this disarming manner.
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Copyright 2010, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. All Rights Reserved
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