The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 171

not eome who have nearer, dearer clo.imB on you than all others? H may be an nged pnrent, o. brother or a sister, or one closer to you still. Providence marks out that person for your special sympathy, for a tenderness to which the rest of the world haR no clo.im. Do what you can for that friend. The tie ma.y any da.y be broken, and only the momory of it remain. See that no negligence or impatience on your part ma.y yet tinge that memory with self-reproach. "The poor ye have always with you," but no kindness to the outside world will a.tone for the neglect of persona.I claims. Thero o.re those who will not be with you o.Jways. Christ seems to say to you, "Remember them."-G. B. Vers. 24, 25.-Mors Janua vitre. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground o.nd die, it abideth alone," etc. These words belong tu the day of Christ's triumphant entry into Jerusalem-the day of palms. Amidst the general enthusiasm, certain Greeks, who ha.d come up to worship at the feast, asked the Apostlo Philip to obtain for them a private interview with Jesus. Philip con- sulted with Andrew, o.nd the two together la.id the request before their Master. Our Lord was deeply moved-his reply even thrills with emotion; a.nd why was this? llere were representatives of the great Gentile world waiting for him, seeking a[ter him, ready, it would appear, to enter his kingdom. But not till he hao. been rejected by his own, not till he had been glorified by his death and resurrection, could he open bis arms to receive them. Hence he regarded the request of the Greeks a.s a. sign that the crisis of his course was a.t hand; not that he needed such a. sign, but he hailed it and welcomed it as it came, even while his "soul wa.s troubled" as he looked through the vista which opened up between him and the joy set before him. " The hour is come," etc. (ver. 1!3). For Christ's way to glory was through death. Yet a few days, a.nd his own disciples and the inquiring Greeks, and all who loved and admired him, would be appalled by the dread spectacle on Calvary. How, then, was onr Lord to speak of what was coming in the presence of the people who snrronnded him? How should he fore- shadow the glory of his cross o.nd the everlasting fruitfulness of his precious death and burial? He chose to do so in words dark indeed and mysterious at the moment they were uttered, but which would cling to the memories of those who loved him, and which were soon to be explained for them and for all mankind. L Our Lord's first saying is this, that ms DEATH AND BESURBECTION HA VE A PER- PETUAL EMBLEM IN THE KINGDOM OF NATURE. "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die," etc. This language is, of course, popular and familiar (for it takes no notice of the invisible germ in such a seed that does not die). .But plainly a. grain of wheat must cease to be a grain, it must 11,ndergo a death-like change, a death-like traniformation, before it springs up and bears its appointed fruit. Suppose one such seed carried to some region of the earth, if such there be, where wheat is still unknown ; let it be kept and treasured up as a precious thing, and year after year it abides alone, perfect in itself but fruitless for mankind. But let the same seed fall into the ground- " taste cold and darkness and oblivion there," and ere long it will enter on a. higher life and b~ar fruit and multiply itself, and in after years it may be said that all the harvests of the land sprang from that single seed. With the words, "Verily, verily ! " with a twice-repeated "Amen!" our Lord applies to himself this mystery of nature. In him was treasured up the life of the world-" the bread of God that cometh down from heaven." But only by the sacrifice of himself could he impart this life to others. Without death his ministry would have remained unfulfilled for its highest ends. His bright and beautiful example taken by itself would have founded no kingdom. Had he abode on earth on some mount of transfiguration, and then been translated like Enoch, so that he should not see death, then, like a golden grain of wheat, he would have remained alone, without a ransomed Church on earth or a triumphant Church in heaven. But such was not the object of his mission. His heart was set on bearing much fruit, and even now he foresaw the harvest. Looking down the stream of time and abroad on the great world, he saw the Churches of the Gentiles, each with its company of believers springing into life through his death and resurrection, and spreading in wider o.nd still wider circles in the regions beyond. In crowded cities and in quiet villages, in far-off lands and in the islands of the sea, they should be found. And as in nature the fruit ever resembles the seed• so it is i~ the kingdom of ~race. Christ's spiritual ,l'Q,nl',-JJ. I(  178 THE GOSPEL AOCORntN"G TO ST. JOHN. [en. xn. 1-60,