Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 247 · September 4
Except It Die
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”
In 1880 Fyodor Dostoevsky printed this verse at the front of his last novel, ahead of a single word of the story. Inside that book a holy man dies, and the first thing that happens is that his body decays in front of everybody and his best disciple's faith comes apart.
What triggers the line in John is a request from strangers. Certain Greeks at the feast come to Philip and say, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip tells Andrew, the two of them tell Jesus, and the answer is the hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified, and then the wheat. Foreigners asking to meet him is the first sign of the harvest, and his response is to talk about being buried.
He says it about himself, and the next sentence turns it on whoever is listening: he that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. Then, three lines later, with nothing resolved: now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. The one who taught the seed did not find the ground agreeable.
The grain in the ground sees none of the harvest. That is built into the picture and no verse in the paragraph takes it out. So the question to leave with is not whether the fruit comes. What would you be willing to put into the ground on a word you will not be above the surface to see kept?
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 247 is Precious Thoughts (Psalm 139:17-18).