John 12:20-26 – Living a Christ-honoring life

In John 12:20 we are told of some Greeks who came to the feast of the Passover. It was not unusual to have Greeks present at the Passover. The introduction of these Greeks here was John’s intention to tell us that Gentiles were included in the event of Jesus’ sacrifice. Like Matthew’s Gospel that included magi from the East, John here introduced us to the Greeks, who came from the West. They came to Philip and requested to see Jesus. Philip told Andrew about it. Both of them then came to Jesus and relayed the request to Him.  See how Jesus responded: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” What He said must have brought about a deafening silence. What was Jesus saying? In those words Jesus was indicating that His Kingship was of a different kind. He would be a King that rule through death and not through conquest. A seed, though has great potential for millions of lives, would mean nothing, if it is not first sown to the ground and dies. Only when it is planted and buried, then can a plant break forth to bear fruit. Here Jesus was indicating that by laying down His life, He would be bringing forth life in others. This was how He would be ruling as King. It would not be by aggression or compulsion but by love.  

In verse 25, Jesus went on to expand the principle. He said, “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.” How paradoxical! We gain not by grabbing, we gain by giving. Jesus was not promoting self-hate, but self-denial. Don’t misunderstand Him to mean that we should hate life. He is saying that when our focus is not on ourselves, we will find true life. Our potential can never be reached if we do not die to sin and self. Isn’t this a true principle in many ways? There is always something we must give in order to get something we deem more precious. For example, to be a great concert pianist, we have to give up spending time on things in order to give our time to practice on the piano. The hours we could have spent on things we may like must be sacrificed to spend on scaling the keys on the keyboard.  

Christian life is full of paradoxes. Jesus tells us that it is in losing our life that we will find true life. Paul tells us that our strength can only be made perfect only in our weakness. Peter tells us that only when we humble ourselves then we shall be exalted. The list can go on. Want to know more? Read “the Beattitudes” in Matthew 5-7. Simply put: if we want to rule we have to serve; if we want to live we have to die. In verse 26, the Lord went on to say that if we want to be of service to Him we must follow in His footsteps. We must do what He had done. We become like Him only when we do what He had done. It is such people that He and His Father will honor.

So let’s recap: on that Palm Sunday, the Lord marched into Jerusalem riding on a donkey. The crowd waved palm leaves and branches shouting “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord even the King of Israel!” Just imagine the King coming humbly and peacefully on a donkey, to finally die in our place. He came to sow His life like a grain of wheat into the ground so that others may have life. Similarly, if we are to impact the life of others, we must also die to ourselves. Here’s a call to live our life sacrificially. It is only then can we be truly leading a fruit bearing life. Isn’t this what Paul meant in Romans 12:1, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”