 ‘The Agony In The Garden’ by Andrea Mantegna John 12:20-26Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus. But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour. [John 12:20-26] certain Greeks among those who came up to worship… … and for ‘Greeks’ we read ‘Gentiles’, which tells us that Jesus is Lord over all peoples, not merely Jews, and Philip and Andrew passing on the message that these Greeks wished to see Jesus seemed to act as the catalyst for Him. He announces that the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies … … is a beautiful and complete encapsulation of the outworking of the Plan of God — and also a lesson and reminder to we who follow and have followed Him (His Church) of the pattern that we must embrace. This is one of those ‘hard sayings’, but said with such encouraging and life-affirming clarity. It is only through death to our earthly desires and looking to our heavenly life-giver that we can ever truly be alive … now and for eternity. We are reminded of those words oft-repeated in Genesis about bearing fruit after their kind. If we are of Jesus — so like Him that we bear fruit after His kind and not our natural kind, then we have an assurance of eternal life. where I am, there My servant will be also … Only a few hours before this meditation was written I read an uplifting message by John Sainsbury at Ellel Ministries, without any idea that it would be relevant now. Here is an extract … When we read about the death of Moses in Deuteronomy 34:5 it says, ‘And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab’. Similarly, in the account of the death of Joshua we read, ‘After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died’. When these giants of the faith died, they shared a similar honour, but one that we might not have used to summarise them. Instead of their courage, or their humility, or their wisdom being honoured, the greater tribute paid to them is that they had been ‘the servant of the LORD’. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour... … a life of service to Him is all it takes to give ‘my utmost for His highest’.  It is easier to rely on God in big things than in little things. There is an enormous power in little things to distract our attention from God; that is why our Lord said that ‘the cares of this world,’ ‘the lusts of other things,’ would choke the word and make it unfruitful. [from ‘The Highest Good’]  
‘Unless A Grain Of Wheat Shall Fall’ — Bernadette Farrell 
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