As we have been reading in John the past two weeks of Jesus\u2019s crucifixion,\u00a0I am struck once again by God\u2019s upside down math \u2014 the death of One that\u00a0brings life to many.
\nAs I mulled over it yesterday, I got to remembering. One a cool, drizzly morning a while back I felt a bit suffocated by concerns and heartbreak, so\u00a0I went out to my rather pathetic garden in hopes that fresh air and physical\u00a0work would soothe me.
\nIt did.
\nI decided to plant a row of corn and see what would happen. (Because\u00a0that\u2019s how I garden: Everything is an experiment.)
\nAs I dug a trench into the sandy soil, laid the seeds in, and buried them, I\u00a0remembered a video lesson from a Sunday School class I taught several\u00a0years ago. It was an interview of a sweet octogenarian farmer \u2014 so\u00a0adorable \u2014 explaining about how wheat grows.<\/p>\n
I pulled roots of weeds from my trench so they wouldn\u2019t re-sprout and compete\u00a0with my corn, and I remembered that elderly farmer describing the seed\u00a0that fell among the thorns in Jesus’s parable. Those strangled seeds\u00a0presented a picture of fragile faith being choked out by the cares of the\u00a0world. Written by Grace Oviedo member Mary Odell.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As we have been reading in John the past two weeks of Jesus\u2019s crucifixion,\u00a0I am struck once again by God\u2019s upside down math \u2014 the death of One that\u00a0brings life…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":14620,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14619","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-christian-life"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nHe then used his life’s work of wheat farming to explain the spiritual truths\u00a0of Jesus from two thousand years ago.
\nI dropped the hard dry kernels of corn into the trench, covered them with\u00a0soil, and marveled that if all went well, each single seed would produce\u00a0hundreds of kernels in return.
\nThe thought reminded me again of my darling Sunday School farmer as he\u00a0held up a stalk of wheat and demonstrated how in ideal conditions just one\u00a0tiny grain of wheat could produce a harvest a thousand-fold greater than\u00a0itself. I remember as I watched that video, the thought that pressed onto\u00a0my heart was this:
\nbut first it has to die.<\/em>
\nJesus himself explained it in John 12:
\n“unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains\u00a0only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”<\/em>
\nI admit, I have days it feels like I’m dying. However, I suspect those are the\u00a0days that I am in fact resisting the death that would bring greater life.\u00a0Jesus went willingly to the Cross, because He knew why the dying was\u00a0necessary \u2014 and that death wasn’t the final result.
\nHe does call some believers to physical death for His glory. Jesus calls us\u00a0all to be willing lay down our lives for Him.
\nHowever, before any physical death, Jesus calls us first to a spiritual death\u00a0that results in abundant spiritual life. Life for ourselves — and quite\u00a0possibly for others, too.
\nWhat does it look like to die like that?
\nWhen Christ breathed His last, the Word says He gave up His Spirit.\u00a0Maybe that’s it. I die by giving up my spirit and receiving His Spirit. I\u00a0release my hope of glory in order to reflect the Only Glory.
\nIn the past few months, my family has bid goodbye to two beautiful souls\u00a0who both understood keenly that earthly life and death are temporary\u00a0situations. Consequently their lives \u2014 and their deaths \u2014 were exquisite\u00a0reflections of God\u2019s glory.
\nI know this much from experience: Because my flesh has not yet died, the\u00a0spiritual one is not a death I can die once. Each day \u2014 and sometimes\u00a0several times a day \u2014 I must die to Mary so that I can live for Christ.\u00a0In this Lenten season, I have been especially awed by the sacrifice of the\u00a0One whose life, death, and resurrection make it possible for a selfish\u00a0creature like me to even consider dying to self.
\nThis has been my prayer:
\nOh, Father, even in seasons of sorrow and testing, I want to be a seed that\u00a0produces a multitude, not a hard and unproductive seed. I realize that\u00a0fruitfulness comes only with death. Show me how to die so that I can truly\u00a0live.<\/em><\/p>\n
\n