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1. Read verses 20-26. What kind of people are introduced here and why did they want to see Jesus? To whom did they come first? What words did Jesus give them? Think about this truth about a kernel of wheat. 2. Read verses 27-33. Why was Jesus’ heart troubled? What did he do? How did God respond to it? What did Jesus say about the time and his death? 3. Read verses 34-36. How did the crowd speak up? What did Jesus tell them? Why do we need time sense and battle to walk in the light? 4. Read verses 37-43. While people were still unbelieving despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, how did the author view their unbelieving? Why couldn’t believing people confess their faith? 5. Read verses 44-50. What did Jesus say about a man who believes in him? And about the person who does not accept his words? And about his words?

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Message

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Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey’s colt. He is the promised King and Messiah, anointed by God. He is our eternal King, mighty and humble. But he had to die first and then rise again. Today’s passage is the last of his public ministry on earth, and a reminder of his impending death. In this special hour of Jesus two kinds of people were present: some Greek newcomers, and the continually unbelieving Jews. Jesus looked very pleased with the coming of the Greeks and revealed himself to them, appealing to their philosophical nature. And Jesus helps the unbelieving Jews to the end giving them his words. May we listen to his words and learn the principle of a kernel of wheat. First, Jesus’ teaching about a kernel of wheat to the Greeks (20-26). Look at verse 20. “There were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast.” They were intellectuals of that time (Greek and non-Greek; the wise and the foolish according to St. Paul in Romans 1:14). Generally speaking, Greeks look for wisdom (1 Cor 1:22). In other words we can say that they were truth-seeking people. At the Feast they came to worship. They had an ardent desire to see Jesus. They must have found something different about Jesus. They came to Philip. To the eyes of the Greeks Philip probably looked the most attractive and intellectual out of all the disciples. Phillip served as a bridge for the intellectual Greeks to come to Jesus! Instead of going to Jesus directly, Philip went to tell Andrew. Philip must have not forgotten the event of Jesus’ feeding the 5,000 people with Andrew’s 5 loves and 2 fish. While he failed in Jesus’ test, Andrew passed it. It was certain that Philip had a great respect for Andrew, who did not look intellectual but had faith in Jesus. It is good to see that here their names are written together, side by side. Verse 22b says, “Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus.” In the world they would never have met to work together. But in Jesus these people of quite opposite characters were working together. Then how did Jesus reply to the Greeks who wanted to see him? Look at verses 23. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” It means the hour for Jesus to die on the cross has come. Humanly speaking, it would be the time for him to be sorrowed and humiliated and shamed! There was no way to be glorified. But Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” It was because his death on the cross meant his obedience to God, and thus glorifying God. Through his Son’s obedience God would reveal his unfathomable love to the world. Then God would glorify him by making him a source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. It was through his death and resurrection. What a glory given to the Son! When Jesus obeyed God unto death, God glorified him. So to Jesus, the hour of his death would be the hour of being glorified. Now Jesus explains the meaning of his death and glory to the Greeks in their philosophical terms. Look at verse 24. “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” Jesus disclosed and summarized his life in this one verse to these Greeks, who were interested in him. This is the principle of Jesus’ life as well as the life-principle in nature. A kernel of wheat is small and looks ugly. But it has life in itself and thus infinite potential. If it dies, it produces many seeds and a huge amount of wheat. This is a universal and self-evident truth. One envoy of a nation went to China and there found a seed of cotton, which was not in his own country. The envoy hid the seed in a brush case and came back to his home country. He planted the cotton seed. Then after several years all people of the nation could benefit warm clothes made out of cotton. We know that Jesus’ death is atoning death for our sins. However, we see that to Jesus also, to die was the only way to produce many seeds. Jesus too had to follow the fruit-bearing life-principle in nature. Even the Son of God was not an exception in this principle. Jesus compared himself to a kernel of wheat that falls to the ground and dies. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Pro 9:10). Then Jesus’ teaching of a kernel of wheat that dies can be the highest wisdom of life. Jesus respected the Greeks and gave them this supreme wisdom of life. Last week I read Mother Barry’s biography anew. She was a princess of the Mississippi as the only daughter of a godly and rich family. The family even had their own airplane. At that time Korea was a hermit country, only known as a country devastated by the war. But she gave up all human glory and privilege and came to Korea as a missionary. Indeed she became a dying kernel in the land, even giving up her marriage. Once she had a chance to marry a man of God. He was also an American missionary in Korea. He was serving the gospel ministry wholeheartedly. However, his life-plan was to go back to America. Then Mother Barry refused to marry and stayed in her mission land as a kernel of wheat that fell in the land. In the book she confessed that she married Koreans and they were her lover. Then God blessed her life to be very fruitful in the land. There were times when God’s ministry was difficult. It was seen that in those times light was always turned on in her room even late night. When the gospel work became fruitful in Korea, God brought her to America against her will. On one occasion several woman missionaries lived together with her at Evanston House. One missionary saw that Mother Barry was the one who slept latest and got up earliest. She wanted to beat Mother Barry in this spiritual struggle. She tried several days sleeping later and getting up earlier than Mother Barry. Then she gave up. That was Mother Barry’s struggling, and she always believed that prayer is the solution of all problems. Missionary Peter Kim from Kiev had a great difficulty in his mission life that he wanted to commit suicide into Dnieper River in Kiev. But he could not do so, because he worried that the ungraceful news would be broadcasted: A Korean missionary came to Kiev and killed himself drowning in Dnieper River. He persisted through his own painful dying process and now became very fruitful. After speaking of the truth of a kernel of wheat, Jesus continued to say, “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” This teaching is written in all four gospels. This is a paradoxical truth of life. To be a dying kernel means to hate one’s life. We all like hear the word, “love,” but not “hate.” The Bible says we should love: “Love the Lord your God,” “Love your wife,” “Love your neighbour,” and “Love your enemies,” but “Hate your life.” Based on the Bible truth we should be very clear about what to love and what to hate. Our holy God loves sinners but hates sin. We should love everyone except our self. We should hate no one, but our self and our very life. How come? What does it mean to hate one’s life? It is to hate our sinful nature and sinful self. In our society the tendency is that people are encouraged to embrace and love themselves as they are, living naturally. They don’t care whether the nature is sinful. At best they compromise with their sinful nature. That’s deception. But the Bible clearly says, “If you live according to your sinful nature, you will die” (Ro 8:13). We must know what sinful nature is like. One college professor said at the beginning of his class, “There will be three assignments in this course and no extension for each assignment, absolutely no extension.” 250 students responded, “Yes, Sir.” However, at the first assignment 25 people could not keep the due date. They begged the professor’s mercy, saying, “We weren’t used to college life. Please, give us extension just this once.” The professor yielded to their plea. After one month the due date for the second assignment came. This time 50 students could not make it. They again pleaded with the professor, “We had to do other assignments too. Please, give us extension just one more time.” Again, the professor could not but accept their pleading, saying, “There will be absolutely no extension for the last assignment.” They responded, “Yes, Sir. You love you.” The professor became Mr. Popularity. The end of November was the due date for the final assignment. Do you know what happened this time? Around 100 students could not keep the date. But surprisingly, this time they did not plea. They resisted, “That’s unfair. You should give us extension.” This well shows the sinful nature of human beings: after getting what they wanted, they become unthankful and arrogant. They took the grace of the professor for granted and began to believe that they deserved an extension as their right. We know Jesus’ “parable of the Tenants,” that exposes the unthankful and proud sinful nature of men. This is the reason we should hate our sinful nature, ungrateful and proud, lazy and complacent. And to hate one’s life is to hate selfish and self-centred life. It is to live a life of self-denial and cross-taking for a specific mission. It is to learn the life of obedience based on the truth of God. Through self-hating comes true self-respect with true self-esteem. We can say that one’s spiritual growth depends largely on one’s degree of hating his life in this world. As for St. Paul, he said, “I have been crucified with Christ…” (Gal 2:20), “…the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14), and “I die every day” (1 Cor 15:31). May God help us to deeply understand that to be a dying kernel is to hate one’s life in this world. This life is the way to produce many seeds in this world and keep it for eternal life. Jesus speaks more: “Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.” With noble desire people can try to serve Jesus. But they soon reach their limitation, if they do not have a clear direction to follow Jesus, who became a kernel of wheat that died. As someone says, “serving and following Jesus go together.” And what a glory it is that the one who serves Jesus will be where Jesus is, the most glorious place. And the one who serves Jesus will be honoured by God. Second, Jesus’ agony and vision (27-33). Look at verses 27,28. “Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” At the thought of his imminent suffering and death, Jesus’ heart was troubled. But we see how he could overcome his troubled heart and agony of death in great suffering. He came to God in prayer and poured out all his trouble and heart agony before him. And his final prayer was, “Father, glorify your name!” This prayer topic enabled him to overcome his troubled heart and agony of death and have strength to obey the will of God to the end. Here we really learn how to beat all the troubles and hardships in life. It is to come to God and talk with him until our hearts are cleared up with the prayer topic, “Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd thought that it was the sound of thunder or angel’s speaking. They did not know what was going on. Then Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” When Jesus overcame his inner trouble and great agony, God filled him with a sense of victory and vision. The prince of this world, Satan, annoyed Jesus so much from the beginning of his messianic ministry. One of his disciples would even betray and sell him. Satan did his best to get rid of him from this world, taking his very life through the religious leaders. But Jesus could see that now was the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world would be driven out. What a victory it would be! At that time the cross was the symbol of disgrace and shame and no one liked it. But after Jesus’ death on the cross, the cross became the symbol of God’s love for sinners and the grace of forgiveness of sins. On the cross Jesus prayed in his excruciating pain, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Jesus bore all our sins on the cross. Now the cross of Jesus draws people’s attraction, for there is a mysterious beauty and power. In this way Jesus fully revealed himself to the Greeks, truth-seeking people. Third, Jesus’ urging the Jews to walk in the light. The crowd of the Jews did not accept the life-giving words of Jesus. They insisted on their idea, saying, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ would remain forever. So they rejected the words that the Son of Man had to be lifted up. How did Jesus help them? Look at verse 35. “…You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before the darkness overtakes you…” Here Jesus challenged them to have time sense and battle sense and walk in the light. The battle between light and darkness is ongoing. This is also one of themes of John’s gospel. In the spiritual world there is no neutral ground. When one rejects light, darkness comes and overtakes him. It is true that one must walk in the light while there is the light. When the time of light is not taken, the time of darkness comes and overtakes. Jesus said, “Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light.” This was Jesus’ earnest heart that God’s chosen people might become sons of light, not sons of darkness. In verses 37-41, the author John probes into the deeper reason of the Jews’ unbelief. Despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done in their presence, they would not believe in him. Humanly no one could understand it. John found the reason in the words of Isaiah. Their unbelief was their sight and heart problem: their eyes were blinded and their hearts were deadened. This is the tragic situation of persistently unbelieving people. In light of this we must struggle hard that our eyes may not be blinded and our hearts, not deadened (not calloused). It is truly Jesus’ glory that Jesus died for all sinners. The cross of Jesus gives hope. Some leaders believed in Jesus. But they would not confess their faith because they feared people rather than God and they loved praise from men more than praise from God. Look at verse 48. “There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.” God’s word is the word of life. But when it is rejected, the same word of God becomes a judge. The word of Jesus, that is the word of God, is the standard of judgment for all people in the world. We should not be ashamed of Jesus’ words. The words of Jesus will stand forever, as the words of salvation and eternal life or the words of judgment and condemnation, however the generation changes. Though the environment in our society is hostile toward the words of Jesus, we can courageously live as Bible teachers. May God bless each of you to be a dying kernel, hating your life in this world, and consequently produce many seeds.

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