but if it dies

But if it dies.
Resist the temptation
to scurry to more comfortable parables.
They will not help you to understand this one.
The grain of wheat must die.
It is not about a sower and soil that is stony
or full of weeds; or even about good soil
which produces an hundredfold crop.
The death is real.
It is not about the tiny seed which grows
to become a home for the birds,
or even the seed which grows mysteriously by night
to produce the required fruit.
Life must be surrendered.
The story is about blood and brutality,
thorns, whips and betrayal.
It is about trumped-up charges, trials late at night
and a cross.
Before the grain of wheat can be reborn, fruitful,
it must submit to earth's dark embrace.
The story is about defiance and submission.
It is about courage, generous and true;
and love, deep and tearful. It is about death.
Real death.
It is about a man who will be buried;
a seed planted in the ground
who will bring a harvest of hope and life,
luminous and full.
There is no other way.
"Come," the man says; "Journey with me.
Share my joy, and my death.
Together we shall live."

Rev Ken Rookes