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Greetings, SBT Readers:
Lent seems rushed this year -- too close to Christmas, with Ash Wednesday strangely juxtaposed with St. Valentine's Day and the Fifth Sunday falling on St. Patrick's Day. Ashes and roses, shamrocks and penitence, days of indulgence and attempts to be more disciplined... It is hard to believe that next week we will be celebrating Palm Sunday and heading into the Triduum. For some, it will be a relief to leave behind the austerities of Lent; for others, there will be moments of regret as we reflect on the "more" we could have done. But the measure of Lent is not a list of accomplishments, a weighing of successes and failures; rather, there is one criterion that matters -- have we drawn closer to God? Or,
put another way, have we allowed God to draw closer to us?
Lenten Blessings!
Elizabeth
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SUNDAY REFLECTION
Link to Scrutiny Readings, YEAR A
Link to Sunday Readings, YEAR B
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much grain.
Anyone who loves their life will lose it,
and anyone who hates their life in this world
will preserve it for eternity.
Whoever serves me must follow me,
and where I am, there also will my servant be."
Jn 12:20-33
Some Textual Questions
"Sir, we would like to see Jesus."
There is a seeming disconnect between these words and Jesus' response. This Sunday's Gospel begins with a group of "Greeks" (Greek-speaking Jews?) wanting access to Jesus; in a rather awkward succession of events, they first approached Philip --who had a Greek name but was from Bethsaida, the same village as Peter and Andrew-- who then approached Andrew. The two apostles informed Jesus of the Greeks' request, and, in response, Jesus predicted his death, using the analogy of a grain of wheat; he also spoke of being "lifted up," a reference to the manner of his death.
As I try to reconstruct the scene, a few questions come to mind. First of all, did the Greeks represent Greek-speaking Jews or did they represent non Jews, the Gentiles? John tells us that the group
had gone to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, so it is possible they were converts to Judaism or that they were bi-lingual, as Philip might have been. Secondly, what did they mean by "see"? Jesus was surrounded by a crowd (Jn 12:29), so perhaps they merely wanted to draw closer, just as Zacchaeus, the tax collector, did when he clambered up the sycamore tree (Lk 19:4). Or, and this is more likely, perhaps the word "see" really meant "meet" or "meet in private." Or -- and here is yet another possibility-- they wanted to "check him out" to see if Jesus' claims matched their experience of him. Regardless of the group's hopes and intentions, however, the text suggests that Jesus did not speak to them directly, but to Philip and Andrew who could then relay his response.
1 Cor 1:23 comes to mind: St Paul writes that Christ Crucified is "to Jews a stumblingblock and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God." Since for both Jews and Greeks, the cross was an abomination, it is possible that Jesus did not want to be deterred from his path towards the cross, or distracted by debates.Then again, if the "Greeks" were Gentiles, he may have meant that only after his death would salvation extend to all the world. Or did he assume that these speakers of Greek were merely curious and that his message of having to "die" to self would be unpalatable to them?
Spiritual Considerations
"Sir, we would like to see Jesus."
The very request posed by the Greeks or Greek-speaking Jews is one that we can identify with. Had we been standing on the edges of that crowd, we, too, would have wanted to draw closer to Jesus, to see what he was all about, perhaps to take a Selfie that we could share on social media. From a distance, it would have been difficult to hear much of what he was saying and we would have been painfully aware that we were missing the heart of his message. Whether we were merely curious, or whether we wanted to be able to share details of our experience with friends and neighbors, or whether our hearts were inexplicably burning within, we would have wanted to be upfront, center stage. Yes, we wanted to see Jesus-- and if Philip and Andrew couldn't help, we would have turned to Peter, James and John, Nathaniel, Matthew, Thomas or any other disciple in sight.
"Sir, we would like to see Jesus."
The historical Jesus is no longer with us and yet we long to see the face of Christ right now, in our own time -- a radiant Christ who, though marked with the signs of his Passion, is glorious to behold. But suppose he were to say to us what he said that day when, as the Pharisees declared, "the whole world" went after him? (Jn 12:19). Suppose he looked straight at us and told us to let go of all our material attachments and to follow him? Would we meet his gaze or would we turn away? We may say we want to see Jesus, but do we really want him to see us? Are we ready to be that grain of wheat that falls to the ground and dies, before bearing much fruit?
Perhaps there is something to be said for standing at the edges of the crowd; perhaps that Selfie can wait...
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