害怕死去的麦子
到雅典生存下来吧
经文
约翰福音七25-39
25耶路撒冷人中有的说：这不是他们想要杀的人吗？
26你看他还明明的讲道，他们也不向他说甚么，难道官长真知道这是基督吗？
27然而，我们知道这个人从那里来；只是基督来的时候，没有人知道他从那里来。
28那时，耶稣在殿里教训人，大声说：你们也知道我，也知道我从那里来；我来并不是由于自己。但那差我来的是真的。你们不认识他，
29我却认识他；因为我是从他来的，他也是差了我来。
30他们就想要捉拿耶稣；只是没有人下手，因为他的时候还没有到。
31但众人中间有好些信他的，说：基督来的时候，他所行的神迹岂能比这人所行的更多吗？
32法利赛人听见众人为耶稣这样纷纷议论，祭司长和法利赛人就打发差役去捉拿他。
33于是耶稣说：我还有不多的时候和你们同在，以后就回到差我来的那里去。
34你们要找我，却找不着；我所在的地方你们不能到。
35犹太人就彼此对问说：这人要往那里去，叫我们找不着呢？难道他要往散住希利尼中的犹太人那里去教训希利尼人吗？
36他说：你们要找我，却找不着；我所在的地方，你们不能到，这话是甚么意思呢？
37节期的末日，就是最大之日，耶稣站着高声说：人若渴了，可以到我这里来喝。
38信我的人就如经上所说：从他腹中要流出活水的江河来。
39耶稣这话是指着信他之人要受圣灵说的。那时还没有赐下圣灵来，因为耶稣尚未得着荣耀。
信息分享
昨天结束时，我们提及希腊人可能想说服耶稣将祂的信息带到雅典，一个哲学和学问的中心去。他们是否想要对祂说：「将你关于神的国这个了不起的信息以希腊思想作为媒介，它就能迅速地传遍世界。不要留在耶路撒冷等死，到雅典来吧，起码你能生存下去」。
当然，我们无从肯定当时的情况是否这样，我只是提出他们心里可能有这么一个想法。如果我们思考今天的经文，那么这个想法就不会显得牵强：「难道他要去流散的人民那里……教导希腊人吗？」（35节，RSV译本）。以色列以外的其他国家对他那革命性的生命取向感兴趣吗？据说当年伊得撒（Edessa）的王曾经传信息给耶稣，邀请耶稣到他们那儿讲述关于上帝国度的信息。
无论这是否属实，有一件事情是肯定的──希腊人的到来，为耶稣的心灵带来了压力：「我现在心里忧愁，我说甚么才好呢？父啊，救我脱离这时候……父啊，愿你荣耀了你的名！」（约十二27-28）。虽然承受着压力，但耶稣不会找借口或妥协，他会面对他一直都委身的事情，不是雅典的哲学教席，而是耶路撒冷那可怕的十字架。耶稣会落入地里死去，并获得丰富的收成，超过世界所能提供的一切。
「耶稣的死带来难以想像的丰富收成」
进深研究
太十六24-28，二十七32；约十九17
1. 十字架象征甚么？
2. 「背起你的十字架」是甚么意思？
祈祷
主耶稣，求您帮助我在面对未来的挑战时能效发您的精神。我盼望我的生命能够淋漓尽致的发挥，求您告诉我如何与您同工。阿们。
The Corn of Wheat Afraid to Die
"Come to Athens and live"
Bible reading:
John 7:25-39
25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, "Isn't this the man they are trying to kill?
26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah?
27 But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from."
28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, "Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him,
29 but I know him because I am from him and he sent me."
30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.
31 Still, many in the crowd believed in him. They said, "When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?"
32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.
33 Jesus said, "I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the one who sent me.
34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come."
35 The Jews said to one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?
36 What did he mean when he said, 'You will look for me, but you will not find me,' and 'Where I am, you cannot come'?"
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.
38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them."[a]
39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
Message
We ended yesterday by suggesting that the issue which the Greeks might have wanted to talk over with Jesus was that of taking His message to Athens - the centre of philosophy and learning. Were they intent on saying to Him: "Put Your marvellous message of the kingdom of God into the medium of Greek thought, and in no time it will spread throughout the world. Don't stay in Jerusalem and die; come to Athens and live"?
We have no way, of course, of knowing for sure that this was the situation, and I am simply suggesting that this is what may have been in their minds. The idea is not as far-fetched as you might imagine when placed against the verse that is before us today: "Does he intend to go to the Dispersion... and teach the Greeks?" (v.35, RSV). Had other nations beyond Israel's boundaries showed interest in His revolutionary approach to life? Tradition says that the king of Edessa once sent a message to Jesus inviting Him to come to his country and present His message concerning the kingdom of God.
Whether or not this was so, one thing is certain - the coming of the Greeks precipitated a crisis in Jesus' soul: "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'?...Father, glorify your name!" (John 12:27-28). He would not rationalise or compromise; He would face the issue to which He had always been committed. It was not to be a philosopher's chair in Athens, but a grisly cross in Jerusalem. He would fall into the ground and die, and bear a harvest richer than anything the world could offer.
"Jesus' death would produce an unimaginably rich harvest"
Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me to catch something of Your spirit as I face the challenges that lie ahead of me in the coming days. I want to make my life count for the utmost show me how we can work things out together. Amen.
Further study
Matthew 16:24-28; 27:32
John 19:17
1. What does the cross signify?
2. What does it mean to "take up your cross"?
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