Dear gardeners, what a holy time A Lenten Look at Bread has been, gathering together to seek our Savior and Bread Winner through the weeks leading up to the commemoration of His death and resurrection. We’re here! Let’s finish in reverent awe with one of the most endearing proclamations a gardener can make: Jesus is the Seed. See this adoration as a bread-praise by way of the Lord’s succinct storytelling in wheat.
Yes, indeed! I tell you that unless a grain of wheat that falls to the ground dies, it stays just a grain; but if it dies, it produces a big harvest. John 12:24 CJB
In an object lesson as basic as branches withering when cut away from the vine (John 15:6), Jesus tells the precise reality of His death, and hints in the horticulture to the momentous harvest coming through His act of sacrifice.
We are to understand His death in the simple dynamic of a grain of wheat going to the ground, figuratively implying Hes descent to the lowest place, the farthest extreme from His reign in heaven. His death forms the way for every soul to sprout in His life rising, patterned in a kernel of wheat (and every other seed) surrendering to the new seedling superseding. Jesus’ death-to-resurrection victory is revealed in the working knowledge of a field.
As agonizing and horrific as His death was, how monumental is His salvation harvest! That is, the victory of people who come to Jesus, receive His death as their own, embrace His life, and live out His love and forgiveness extends as an “amber waves of grain” expanse across the earth and over time. These Words relay Jesus’ impact in non-gardening terms:
Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man’s sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God’s gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do! There’s no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. Romans 5:15 The Message
And it was right and proper that God, who made everything for his own glory, should allow Jesus to suffer, for in doing this he was bringing vast multitudes of God’s people to heaven Hebrews 2:10 TLB
By the generosity of His Father the Gardener, Jesus’ torture is fruitful and His torment conquers with abounding life—let’s imagine that grainfields everywhere testify to the Pharisees’ scoffing yet prophetic cry:
But the Pharisees said to each other, “There is nothing we can do! Everyone in the world is following Jesus.” John 12:19 CEV
Growing Wheat
Wheat farmers, I applaud you! While it takes a field-full of kernels to yield enough grainheads to grind enough flour for a homemade bread life, wheat makes an elegant ornamental grass in the garden. Sow seeds in late fall and watch small tufts sprout in vivid green for winter vibrancy.
Wheat withstands snowfall and late season freezes to rise up in spring’s warmth, forming their fruits and retiring to fawny color before the first of summer, give or take a few weeks for your cold hardiness zone. This stand of grain was photographed at the U.S. Botanical Gardens in Washington, D.C. in mid-June a few years ago.
Of course, wheat kernels are edible through the processes of threshing and separating chaff, or simply hang cut wheat stalks upside down to dry and enjoy as decoration.
Learn more about growing wheat in the Garden in Delight Plant Guide/wheat
Jesus is the Seed
Let’s add another layer of garden wonder, remembering the prophecy of Jesus as the Seed, spoken in the Garden of Eden.
And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel. Genesis 3:15 NKJV
Pause and grasp this hard-won knowledge that Jesus’ excruciating demise and crushing death through crucifixion has been encased and portioned since the beginning, when God decreed that a “seed” or descendant would come. Jesus’ sacrifice bludgeons the head of evil as foretold; He died the cursed death to rescue us from its debt. “It is finished,” He proclaimed from the Cross (John 19:30), and by circling back to see this first mention, we can understand better how God works in a way that always succeeds.
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what pleases Me, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:10-11 LSB
We will fall short in our plans and garden to-do’s, but God always prevails in what He purposes.
Imperishable Seed
Let’s circle around again to Peter’s teaching, enhancing the Jesus is the Seed metaphor with another Word relaying the nature of our new, “sprouted” life in Christ:
…you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God 1 Peter 1:23 ESV
Who is the Word of God? Jesus. What sustains us, propelling us to live and grow throughout eternity? The Word, the Christ as an imperishable Seed. See! We have come back around to bread, where we began our Lenten Look with Bread & The Word.
that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. Deuteronomy 8:3 NKJV
Resilient, enduring, life-giving are the seeds—they can neither be destroyed nor overcome, in the ultimate sense, resounding God’s imperishable movement, “In him was life” (John 1:4). The life process we experience in garden sowing recycles the life-story of Christ.
“Imperishable Seed,” My Father is the Gardener, page 182
Seed Treasury
Our birthright as His followers is knowing and trusting that every dead-end is fertile with the soil-to-sprout will of God. His Word is the way to this victory; enjoy this Scripture collection resounding themes of this devotion.
And I am sure of this: that the One who began a good work among you will keep it growing until it is completed on the Day of the Messiah Yeshua. Philippians 1:6 CJB
You came to my rescue and broke open the way, into a beautiful and broad place. Psalm 118:5 TPT
The wreath that crowned our head has slipped and fallen; now it’s crushed. O how we’ve sinned! Pity us for the punishment we brought on ourselves. Lamentations 5:16 VOICE
All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like a flower of the field. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever. 1 Peter 2:24-25 quoting Isaiah 40:6-8 EHV
For God so loves the world that he has given his only Son, so that none who believe in him should perish, but should have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world through him could be saved. John 3:16-17 NMB
They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. Deuteronomy 32:47 NIV
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 NIV
thanks be to God, who always gives us the victory in Christ, and opens the savour of the knowledge of him by us in every place. 2 Corinthians 2:14 NMB
but we do see Jesus—who for a while was a little lower than the angels—crowned now by God with glory and honor because he suffered death for us. Yes, because of God’s great kindness, Jesus tasted death for everyone in all the world. Hebrews 2:9 TLB
God will always be proven faithful and true to his Word. Romans 3:4 TPT
When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 1 Corinthians 15:54 NIV
Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. Galatians 3:16 KJV
But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57 NIV
With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies. Psalm 60:12 NIV
Christ is the exact likeness of the unseen God. He existed before God made anything at all, and, in fact, Christ himself is the Creator who made everything in heaven and earth, the things we can see and the things we can’t; the spirit world with its kings and kingdoms, its rulers and authorities; all were made by Christ for his own use and glory. He was before all else began and it is his power that holds everything together. Colossians 1:15-6-17 TLB
Worship with a Weekly Loaf
O gardeners, we need a bread to express the full-circle-ness revealed in Jesus is the Seed, and I know just the recipe. This loaf is made with pistachios—after all, the nuts are the tree’s seeds! Ingredients also include milk and honey, iconic Words from another great Biblical seed story for another day, Abraham’s seed.
Closing Prayer
O dearest Father, we would not be having this conversation with Your Jesus. Thank You, Jesus – O willing kernel of wheat! Thank You for laboring through death; thank You for Your faithfulness and endurance to see Your sacrifice through to the finish. I praise You that IT IS FINISHED, even as I keep working out Your salvation in my life. Thank You for growing me, Lord, while at the same time whorling around me with Your Word. O Father, thank You for this Lenten season and for the ways You teach me in bread and garden metaphor so that everything I do—working, cooking, caretaking, weeding—joins me to You. The more I get to know You, the more Your Word astounds me and connects back to itself and enlarges my understanding, even if I’m left spinning in delightful or dizzying bewilderment. Still, I feel endeared to You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.
My new life is empowered by the faith of the Son of God who loves me so much that he gave himself for me, dispensing his life into mine. Galatians 3:20 TPT
Wheat Bread Wreath with Pistachios Recipe is inspired by James Beard’s recipe for “Pistachio Bread,” from Beard on Bread, a 1970’s cookbook discovered in my mother-in-law’s kitchen. Thank you, Grammie Kay!
A Lenten Look at Bread is a 7-part series at the crossroads of bread and garden plants in God’s Word. Slicing into bread analogies draws us closer to Lord of the Sabbath, the Word, more life-sustaining than bread, and the Bread of heaven, for starters (yes, there will be sourdough!)—against a background of wheat, barley, coriander, and Israel’s best produce. Taste and see my goodness, the Lord beckons (Psalm 34:8), so we’ll be worshiping with a weekly loaf for hands-on help in grasping who Jesus is and what he has done for us, growing our hearts for a deep embrace of the ultimate metaphor, He is Risen!
Find more devotions on seeds in My Father is the Gardener, Devotions in Botany and Gardening of the Bible, chapter 13
God’s Word for Gardeners Bible includes seed devotions in the Garden Work section, beginning on page a-29
Read Seed Story Catalog from the Devotions Blog for an in-depth overview of seeds in the Bible
Learn more about growing wheat in your garden in the Garden in Delight Plant Guide/wheat
Wheat is a mainstay in the Bible and can grow gloriously in your garden! Enjoy and learn more from these Devotions Blogs: The Wheat Prayers, Blue Wheat in Time for Feast of Weeks, Preparing for Pentecost, and The 7 Species: A Garden-to-Table Guide, Seedtime and Harvest, and Pentecost Poetry
Photo Credits: ©2018 Davidbena Ripening grain in the Elah valley (Israel); all other photos ©Shelley S. Cramm
CEV notes Scripture quotations taken from the Contemporary English Version Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
CJB notes Scripture quotations taken from the Complete Jewish Bible by David H. Stern. Copyright © 1998. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Messianic Jewish Publishers, 6120 Day Long Lane, Clarksville, MD 21029. www.messianicjewish.net.
EHV notes Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version® , EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
ESV denotes Scripture quotations taken from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®). ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.
KJV denotes Scriptures taken from The Holy Bible, King James Version published in 1611, authorized by King James I of England, which is public domain in the United States.
LSB denotes Scripture quotations taken from the Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org
The Message denotes Scripture quotations taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries.
NIV denotes Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®
NKJV denotes Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
NMB designates Scripture quotations from the New Matthew Bible, of which only the New Testament is published at the date of this publication, © 2016 under the title “The October Testament.” Used by permission of Ruth Magnusson Davis, Founder and Chief Editor of Baruch House Publishing.
TLB denotes Scripture quotations taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. The Living Bible, TLB, and the The Living Bible logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers.
TPT denotes Scripture quotations taken from The Passion Translation®. Copyright © 2017, 2018, 2020 by Passion & Fire Ministries, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ThePassionTranslation.com
TPT denotes Scripture quotations taken from The Passion Translation®. Copyright © 2017, 2018, 2020 by Passion & Fire Ministries, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ThePassionTranslation.com
