John 12:24-26 Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it stays alone: but if it die… The blood of the martyrs has evermore "been the seed of the Church." Thus have the "corns of wheat" been again and again planted, to die and live again in great harvests. We are reminded of the saying of Cranmer to Ridley, as they were fastened to the stake and the fire was lighted under them: "Be of good courage, Master Ridley. We will kindle a fire this day that will be a light to all England." The life of Christ without and within: — I. In one point of view Christ's life was AN ENTIRE FAILURE. He did not get the things which men think to be most valuable; nor did He derive much gratification in those faculties which men live to gratify; nor, though endowed with a wondrous versatility of powers, did He employ those powers as to make it appear that He gained the object of life. Regarding our Saviour in His general relations — 1. He could scarcely have entered life at a worse door than at the portal of Jewish nationality. For in that age it was a misfortune to be born a Jew in the estimation of everybody except a Jew. So far as worldly opportunities were concerned He might better have been born a heathen. 2. He had but few opportunities in youth. Men are dependent for their standing on the fact that they began with the capital of their predecessors. Christ had nothing of the kind, and He never strove to repair these conditions of fortune. 3. He secured no wealth, not even enough to redeem Himself from dependence. 4. Though He had great power of exciting enthusiasm, He never gained or kept a steady influence over the people. Even His disciples failed to enter into His ideas or career. 5. He failed even more, if it were possible, to secure any personal or professional influence on the minds that ruled that age. There were political rulers of great sagacity whom He never seems to have fallen in with, and He never had a place among men of letters, nor was He a power in any philosophical circle. 6. Even more remarkable is it that He did not produce any immediate impression on the religion and feelings of His age. 7. Nor did He found a family, the object of most great men's ambition. All this being the case, what could His life produce that should remain? Nothing, apparently. It seemed to be like an arrow shot into the air. His trial and condemnation were more than ordinarily ignominious and fruitless, whereas there are many whose trial, etc., is the most glorious event in their history. He died leaving no trace behind. In His resurrection there was not much alleviation, for He never appeared in public; and His ascension closed His career. Was there ever a life that seemed to be thrown away more than Christ's? II. WHAT ARE THE FACTS ON THE OTHER SIDE? Did He not save His life by losing it. 1. Born a Jew, no man now ever thinks of Him as a Jew. There is victory in that what hung about Him as a cloud is utterly dissipated. 2. Born without opportunity in His social relations, there is not a household or community in Christendom that is not proud to call itself Christian. The very kings of the earth bring their glory and baptize it with His name. 3. Having no learning, when has there been a school or university, or philosophical system for a thousand years that has not been conscious of receiving its germ from Christ? 4. He was indifferent to the ordinary sources of wealth, yet from out His life there has issued an influence that is to control money making. 5. He never gained much influence with the masses, yet what name evokes so much enthusiasm among the common people as Christ's? 6. He made little impression on political and intellectual rulers, but He has now filled the channels of thought and poetic sentiment, and more and more do you find in treaties of law the principles of Christian justice. His life was thrown away, just as grain is thrown away, into the soil: it died to give growth to life. III. WHAT WAS THE SECRET OF IT ALL? If you had asked at that time, "What are the secrets of power in the world?" any Jew would have pointed to the temple. If, as he did so, you had seen some Greek smiling and asked him the same question, he would have said, "Have you been in Athens?" And if, while he yet spoke, a disdaining Roman had passed by, and you had asked him, "Wherefore that smile?" he would have said, "Jews and Greeks are full of superstitions and are blinded as to the true source of the world's power. That power is centred in Rome." And how would Jew and Greek and Roman joined in the derision if you had pointed to Jesus crucified as the secret of the world's power. And yet Jews, Greeks, and Romans have gone down while this shadow fills the world. It was His death, and the sacrifice involved by that death that was and is the secret of His unique power. But His life was a daily death — a constant self-surrender, and only in so far as we copy Him shall we share His power. (H. W. Beecher.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
    |