John 12: 20-33
Dear Friends, This passage from John is extraordinary in many ways. First, by itself, it contains a great amount of Jesus’ message. Secondly, for a liturgical selection, it is much more far-reaching than usual.It will help us if we read it from the context of our Lenten journey. We are trying to purify ourselves and to free ourselves to enter into the great mystery of our faith, the death and resurrection of Jesus.
In the previous chapters of John, Jesus had denied several times that his “hour” had come. Now he says the “hour” is at hand. The “hour” is his glorification in death. John’s Gospel is emphatic that the sufferings of Jesus on the cross are the means to our salvation. This connection to our salvation is captured in the term, “hour”. The sufferings of the passion and cross are central to Jesus’ “hour” as was the resurrection.
Jesus explains what is about to happen in three steps. The first is the necessity of his death. Secondly, there is the presentation of Jesus’ interior struggle. Finally, the consequences of his death and the need for our proper response to this final act of glory are set out for us.
Jesus lays it out in a simple and direct form. His death will give life. The seed seemingly dies when it is placed in the ground. However, it proceeds to produce life in the new wheat. So too with Jesus, his death, an apparent total defeat, is a source of life for every human being in the ultimate victory in the resurrection.
In a sharp break for the usual pattern for Jesus in John, there is a display of fear and confusion. This is a very human and tender moment. The text then returns to the norm of Jesus’ single-mindedness. “I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? Father save me from this hour. But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. Father glorify you name.” (Jn 12:27-28)
Jesus’ “hour” places the burden of decision on the faithful in their time of trial. Many other decisions will follow in the course of one’s life as the trials will never be wanting. Those who accept the suffering Messiah will be free from the domination of the ruler of this world, Satan, and his legacy of sin and death. Jesus’ “hour”, which is the glory of God, provides the gift of eternal life. Jesus, “lifted up” on the cross, will offer the gift of life and love to all.
When John uses the term “lifted up”, there is a more profound message for us. The exaltation of the crucified Christ will attract all humanity to the freedom and love of this action of saving grace. This is the highest point of revelation of God’s love for humanity and for each of us personally. Our Lenten journey, more than anything, is an invitation into that love. To accept this call to renewal, we need to abandon the relentless pull of our selfishness. The more we we place our eyes on the crucified Christ, the easier will our conversion be.
Today’s gospel, leading into the sufferings of Jesus, invites us into a new awareness. We need to see in the suffering Christ a pathway to new life. This should lead us to see in our many human struggles an opportunity. Jesus has opened the door to freedom from all the darkness in our life. A new hope and new life is always available to us in the footsteps of Jesus.
