Pure Kernels of grain grow immortal: Looking straight at Death

We must henceforth learn a new language and speech in talking of death and the grave when we die. It should not be called dying but being sown for the coming summer and that the churchyard or burial mound is not a mound of dead bodies but an acre full of grain, called God’s grain, which is to sprout again. . . . So then, when I see my father, mother, child or friend buried and lie under the ground, I, as a Christian, should not say ‘there lies a foul, decayed carcass or corpse, but: there lies my dear father, mother, child or friend; and today or tomorrow I shall lie there with them. What are they? Pure kernels of grain which will grow immortal and imperishable. - Martin Luther

🌾 Death as Sowing, Not Ending

Luther reframes death not as a final decay but as a planting—like seeds sown in a field. He draws from 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul writes:

“What you sow does not come to life unless it dies... What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.”

So when a Christian dies, Luther says we shouldn’t speak of them as lost or rotting, but as God’s grain—planted in the earth, waiting for the “coming summer,” which is the resurrection.

🕊️ A New Language of Hope

He urges believers to change their speech about death. Instead of saying “there lies a corpse,” we say, “there lies my beloved, a kernel of grain.” This isn’t denial—it’s a faithful reimagining of what death means in light of Christ’s victory.

🤝 Communal Resurrection

Luther also emphasizes solidarity: “Today or tomorrow I shall lie there with them.” Death is not a solitary exile but a shared waiting room. The image is not of separation, but of companionship in hope, all awaiting the day when God will raise His people.

✨ Immortal and Imperishable

The final line—“pure kernels of grain which will grow immortal and imperishable”—is a declaration of transformation. Just as seeds must die to become something greater, so too will our mortal bodies be raised in glory.