Gospel Note
This passage, in which John signals the "beginning of the end" in Christ's path toward crucifixion, encapsulates the running paradox in the fourth Gospel, namely, that the humiliating death of Jesus on the cross is actually an exaltation or glorification, and that for the followers of Jesus, preservation of (earthly) life would entail loss of (eternal) life, which comes only through self-sacrifice and death. The imagery here of new fruit that comes from dead seed that falls to the ground alread…