We don’t have to wait until Easter to talk about resurrection
One of my favorite verses of Scripture is John 12:24, “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
The context for this verse is that Jesus has just entered Jerusalem during the last week of His life and He is at the temple. Some Greeks desire to meet Him and He tells the disciples that His hour has come to be glorified. Jesus’ purpose was for Jews and Greeks to desire to see Him and He accomplished just that. But His death and resurrection would be the ultimate fulfillment of His purpose God’s promise to Abraham that all nations on earth would be blessed through him. This verse reminds me that the possibility of new life is birthed out of death. Clinging to something too tightly can hinder the potential it has to become something better. Death serves as a part of life; it is the passing away of something old into something new. We experience micro deaths throughout life—the ending of friendships and relationships, retirement, and other transitions that call for endings. It amazes me that the death of a single grain produces so much fruit.
This is a great segway into the celebration of Black History; the sacrifices the people before us made, their suffering and for some, even their deaths produced opportunities for future generations to live a life foreign to them. Nothing comes to us for free; even our salvation cost Jesus His life. There was a sacrifice made for us to benefit from the job opportunities, choices in education, the chance to add as many suffixes to our name as we want, it all came at a steep price. Resurrection for me is about remembering. It’s about remembering the life that once was and rejoicing in the new one to come. Resurrection is the ultimate power of God—what power can raise the dead? Who can reverse death when death is final? God can. And He has. And what I like about it most is that He will again. Death is the ultimate impossible and at times life brings us to that point where we’re facing death, but the hope for those who follow Jesus is that death is not the end of our story. Death is a comma. God’s not done, even when things die.
The last two years of our lives we’ve seen mortality rates skyrocket across the world. Death is common to us. Some of us personally know at least one person who has died within the first thirty days of 2022. One of the scariest facts about life is that we’ll unfortunately know more by the time 2023 rolls around. But what I pray gives us solace as we continue to get through this thing called Life is that there is hope for newness in Jesus. Whatever comes to an end for us this year doesn’t mean it’s the end of our story. Some things are short lived because God wanted to get a message across to us. When it is time to let things pass away, pray for the strength of God, mourn, and continue to live. The hope of resurrection is too great to give up now. The death of a single grain of wheat produces a life beneficial for many. Whatever dies this year is making room for the plenty that God will bless you with. Death is real. but so is resurrection.
Until next time, continue to stay guided by grace,
Tra
Guided by Grace 