Biblion Bible Commentary
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Unless a Grain of Wheat Falls
John 12:20-26
20 Now there were certain Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast. · WEB
Greeks ask to see him, and the answer is that the hour has come — and that it looks like a burial.
Now there were certain Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast John 12:20.
They are Gentiles who had attached themselves to Israel's God — worshipers at the feast, allowed only into the outer court. And they approach Philip, who has a Greek name and comes from a mixed region, which is exactly who a foreigner would ask.
"Sir, we want to see Jesus" John 12:21.
Five words, and they are one of the hinges of the book. Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn, Andrew came with Philip, and they told Jesus John 12:22 — nobody is confident enough to handle it alone, and Andrew is once again bringing somebody John 1:41 John 6:8.
"The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified" John 12:23.
The answer does not appear to be an answer, and it is the largest one in the Gospel. Since the wedding at Cana the refrain has been my hour has not yet come John 2:4 John 7:30 John 8:20. Here it changes, and what triggers it is a request from Gentiles.
The world coming to look for him is the signal that the hour has arrived — because the other sheep which are not of this fold John 10:16 can only be gathered by what happens next.
And the Greeks are never mentioned again. The account does not say whether they got their interview, which is its own answer: what they asked to see is the thing he is about to describe.
"Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit" John 12:24.
The law being stated is agricultural and universal. A seed kept safe stays exactly what it is — by itself alone is the price of preservation, and it is a description of sterile solitude. The only way for one grain to become many is for it to be buried and cease to be a grain.
So the glorifying announced in the previous verse is a burial, and the fruit is the Greeks and everyone after them.
"He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life" John 12:25.
The principle is then turned on the hearer, which is what keeps the seed from being a description of his death alone. The verbs are deliberately violent — hates is comparative in this idiom, as when Jacob is said to have hated Leah while loving her less than Rachel Genesis 29:30–31.
What is described is not self-hatred but the seed's arithmetic applied to a person: gripping a life keeps it and wastes it.
"If anyone serves me, let him follow me. Where I am, there my servant will also be" John 12:26.
The promise is a place, and the location is not specified because it does not need to be. Where he is going, within a week, is a cross and then a Father; and the servant is promised both halves.
"If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him." The chapter that has just described men who loved men's praise more than God's praise John 12:43 offers the alternative here: honor from the only source that is not a closed circle.
settled What this mark means