A Devotional Life

John 12:20-26

²⁰Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. ²¹They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." ²²Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. ²³Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor." (John 12:20-26)

            As we walk through Holy Week, we spend time reflecting on our Lenten sacrifices and remembering the story of Jesus' death march to Jerusalem. This reading from John's gospel is an innocuous part of the Passion narrative, but remarkably interesting in what it reveals about Jesus' emotional state prior to His death. In this story, "some Greeks" had heard about this weird Jewish preacher or prophet or miracle worker or whatever He was. They weren't quite sure, but since He was in town and they were in town, they thought, "Hey, why not catch a show?" So they respectfully approached Jesus' entourage and requested a meeting. The request gets run up the ladder to Jesus Himself and this is where things get interesting. Again, let us remember that the question asked of Jesus is this: "We wish to see Jesus." And Jesus' response? "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." Non-sequitur much? But the crazy answer doesn't stop there. Jesus starts talking about agriculture and then more about death and then about following Him into death and, well, at this point we can assume that the Greek tourists just backed away slowly.

            There is something comedic in this passage, but there is also something heartbreaking. Jesus' response is so contrary the request that we can only assume He didn't hear it. And His response is clearly wrapped up in His future agonies. In other words, it appears that the disciples caught Jesus while He was sort of all up in His own head, pondering, rationalizing, trying to motivate Himself for what is to come. And don't let Jesus' very natural, human response to His future troubles worry you about His divinity. The Church has long recognized that Jesus did not go to His death without some fear and trembling. Shoot, in another gospel, He literally sweats blood! And so if this is Jesus more or less talking to Himself aloud so as to better prepare Himself for His death, then maybe we should spend time focusing on these words to help us prepare ourselves for His death. And when we do so, we find a man who knows the rigors that His obedience will demand of Him and we see the sort of refrain we all need to face such rigors. Consider this line, for example: "Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life." - We tend to think of these words as pertaining to us, but I think Jesus is just as much speaking to Himself. And what He speaks to Himself is true, as well, for us. This is the refrain all Christians need to repeat in order to walk faithfully through the roughest patches of life. This is the refrain we repeat while we wait for the test results our doctor order to come back. This is the refrain we repeat while a child lays sick in a hospital bed. It is not, to be clear, an advocating for death, but rather an appeal to an eternity that is greater than death. It doesn't avoid death; it puts it in its place.

As you walk through Holy Week, as you join Jesus on His death march to the cross, keep all of His words from this reading before you. Amen.