Life's Paradoxes!

John 12:24-26

“Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal.

“If any of you wants to serve me, then follow me. Then you’ll be where I am, ready to serve at a moment’s notice. The Father will honor and reward anyone who serves me.

Food for thought!

Jesus is talking of the paradox of life. And Jesus is the first paradox. His death is his glorification. And he explains: "Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you'll have it forever, real and eternal."

What is this amazing paradox which Jesus is teaching us? He is saying two things, which are all variations of one central truth.

(i) He is saying that only by death comes life. The grain of wheat is ineffective and unfruitful so long as it is preserved, as it were, in safety and security. It is when it is thrown into the cold ground, and buried there as if in a tomb, that it bears fruit.

It is always because some people have been prepared to die that other people have lived. It is when mothers accept to risk their lives that we are born; it is when mothers embrace the possibility of their own death that the possibility of new life comes. By death comes life. That is the rule, the universal rule. It is sometimes only when a man buries his personal aims and ambitions that he begins to be of real use to others. By death comes life.

(i) Jesus is saying that only by spending life do we retain it. The man who loves his life is moved by two aims, by selfishness and by the desire for security. Not once or twice but many times Jesus insisted that the man who hoarded his life must in the end lose it, and the man who spent his life must in the end gain it.

We have only to think of what this world would have been if there were no people living out this rule. What would this world be if there had not been men and women prepared to forget their personal safety, security, selfish gain and selfish advancement? The world owes everything to people who recklessly spend their strength and give themselves for others' sake.

(ii) Jesus is saying that only by service comes greatness. The people whom the world remembers with love are the people who served others with love. People like mother Theresa of Calcuta. People like our mothers.

And that is what many of us are missing out. So many people are in business only for what they can get out of it. They may well become rich, but they will never be loved, and love is the true wealth of life.