I was born on a bitterly cold Canadian winter night in January. The snow lay deep across the landscape. Nobody was thinking about gardening.
Well, that may not be exactly true. The diehard gardeners, at the very moment of my birth, might have been sitting by the fire, turning the pages of their Stokes Seeds catalog with a dreamy look in their eyes.
Speaking of Stokes Seeds, the company had its beginning in New Jersey in 1881. During the Great Depression, it fell on hard times, and was bought by a cauliflower grower named Harry Gale from my hometown.
With the Second World War on the horizon, seed growers from Japan and Europe sent their valuable vegetable stock seeds to Stokes for safe keeping. After the war, they returned them to their owners.
Harry Gale was a personal friend of our family. His wife and daughter attended our local church. But Harry was not a believer. One day I was visiting his beautiful home, perched on a promontory overlooking the water, with gardens cascading down the hillside. “I can’t believe the Bible,” he told me. “It says, ‘unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.’”
He was quoting the words of Jesus from John 12:24. It’s one of those places where Jesus begins with “Most assuredly,” or “Verily, verily,” underlining the fact that what He was saying was both important and trustworthy.
But Mr. Gale continued, “If my seeds die, I just throw them away.” He thought he was showing me what he knew about seeds, but he was really showing me what he thought about death.
Death is not annihilation—it’s separation. Jesus was saying that the grain of wheat must die AS A SEED in order to become a seed-producing plant. Harry Gale died in 1975. His body, like the seed’s husk, was left behind. The person goes on existing. But where?
In the verse already mentioned (John 12:24), Jesus was primarily talking about Himself. He was born to die, and the purpose of His death was to provide life to a whole harvest of souls who would receive eternal life through Him. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.” (1 Peter 3:18)
Once we place our trust in Christ, He invites us to join Him in tending the gardens of our hearts. The seeds of grace can produce the fruit of righteousness, and what sweet fruit it is!
It’s possible to be “filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:11) Imagine that!
It’s also possible to share your produce with neighbors! “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.” (Proverbs 11:30)
How much our world needs this kind of fruit today: “The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.” (Isaiah 32:17, NIV)
Of course, you can’t have the crop if you don’t sow the seed: “Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” (James 3:18)
Happy gardening!
Article by Jabe Nicholson first published in the Commercial Dispatch, Saturday, June 1, 2024.