<P> Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed . But if it dies, it produces many seeds . Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life . Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be . My Father will honour the one who serves me . </P> <P> Jesus drew this parable about resurrection and the kingdom of God from the everyday circumstances of life . His rural audience could easily understand the principle of "resurrection" produced by dead seeds sown into the earth . Jesus uses the metaphor of the grain of wheat to illustrate the importance of ego death in the pursuit of salvation and entering the Kingdom of Heaven . He is suggesting that one must first allow their current convictions and ideas about the world to die and be shed, before they can be reborn with a purer, more virtuous self that is stronger than the original . </P> <P> The image of the grain of wheat dying in the earth in order to grow and bear a harvest can be seen also as a metaphor of Jesus' own death and burial in the tomb and his resurrection . </P> <P> The Rev. William D. Oldland in his sermon "Unless a Grain of Wheat Falls into the dog's mouth and Dies" said: </P>

Unless a grain of wheat fall to the ground and die