'If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall
also My servant be.'—John xii. 26.
Our Lord was strangely moved by the apparently trivial incident of
certain Greeks desiring to see Him. He recognised and hailed in them
the first-fruits of the Gentiles. The Eastern sages at His cradle, and
these representatives of Western culture within a few hours of the
Cross, were alike prophets. So, in His answer to their request, our
Lord passes beyond the immediate bearing of the request, and
contemplates it in its relation to the future developments of His work.
And the thought that the Son of Man is now about to begin to be
glorified, at once brings Him face to face with the fact which must
precede the glory, viz., His death.
That great law that a higher life can only be reached by the decay of
the lower, of which the Cross is the great instance, He illustrates,
first, by an example from Nature, the corn of wheat which must die ere
it brings forth fruit. Then He declares that this is a universal law,
'He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in
this world shall keep it unto life eternal.' And then He declares that
this universal law, which has its adumbration in Nature, and applies to
all mankind, and is manifested in its highest form on the Cross, is the
law of the Christian discipleship. 'If any man serve Me, let him follow
Me,' and, as a consequence, 'where I am, there shall also My servant
be.'
In two clauses He covers the whole ground of the present and the
future. Many thinkers and teachers have tried to crystallise their
systems into some brief formula which may stick in the memory and be
capable of a handy application. 'Follow Nature,' said ancient sages,
attaching a nobler meaning to the condensed commandment than its modern
repeaters often do; 'Follow duty,' say others; 'Follow _Me_' says
Christ. That is enough for life. And for all the dim regions beyond,
this prospect is sufficient, 'Where I am, there shall also My servant
be.' One Form towers above the present and the future, and they both
derive their colouring and their worth from Him and our relation to
Him. 'To follow'—that is the condensed summary of life's duty. 'To be
with'—that is the crystallising of all our hopes.