Gospel Jn 12:20-33
Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “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 fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me. “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 your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.” The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours. Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.
Homily
As I read the portion of the Gospel given to us this weekend for our meditation I was reminded of the little blue catechism and the second question which we find in it. After reminding us that it is God who made us, the second question is; why did God make you? And the answer given was; “to know him, love him and serve him in this life and to be happy together with him in the next.” According to this catechism our purpose in the world is to know love and serve God.
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I thought of this as I meditated on the Gospel reading because of the words of Jesus. “…it was for this purpose that I came into the world” This portion of St. John’s gospel comes from the farewell discourse of Jesus in which Jesus tells the disciples of his coming death and resurrection. The language that St. John uses is not the language of the synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. These Gospels speak of Jesus suffering, dying and rising. The Gospel of St. John uses highly symbolic language to communicate the same ideas. In it Jesus speaks of the grain of wheat falling to the ground and dying and producing much fruit. With this symbolic language put into the mouth of Jesus by St. John, the idea of Jesus’ death and the result of this death are communicated. Through this death sin is conquered and the Father’s love for humanity is manifested. This death is nothing else therefore but the glorification of the Father. It was for this glorification of the Father that Jesus came and therefore he would not run away from the death, evidently painful, through which the Father would be glorified. “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 your name.” This reminds us of the agony in the garden in which Jesus commits himself to the Father’s will, without counting the cost. The important thing was the Father’s glorification i.e. the conquering of sin and the manifestation of the Father’s love for humanity, not himself and so he would be faithful to the purpose. When the little blue catechism speaks to us of knowing, loving and serving God, it is in fact speaking to us, in slightly different words to those of St. John of the Father’s glorification. Like Jesus, the model for us, we must be faithful to our purpose of knowing, loving and serving God without counting the cost. It is in this fidelity that sin is conquered, that God’s love for humanity is manifested and God is glorified.
A look at the lives of the saints teaches us that this is our task on earth. Through us as it was through Jesus, the Father’s name must be glorified. The saints were all faithful to their vocations, loving and serving God who so often appears to us, as Mother Teresa of Calcutta says, “in distressing disguises.” She loved and served God in those living and dying on the streets in Calcutta. St. John Bosco, recognized and loved and served God in the street urchins whom he befriended. St. Francis jumped off his horse and kissed the leper. These three saints, as did all the saints, in their love of God whom they recognized in those on the margins, glorified the Father and so fulfilled their purpose in the world. You and I are also called to be saints and we will glorify the Father in the measure that we recognize, love and serve God here in this life and especially when God comes to us in distressing disguises. This will of course mean death to any selfish ways we may have but it is only by falling on the ground and dying that we will produce good fruit and give glory to the Father.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, we thank you for the witness of your saints who spent their lives giving glory to your name. They were like the grain of wheat which falls to the ground and dies and so produces much fruit. They died to self-aggrandisement, to comfort, to riches and pleasure and dedicated themselves to loving You Father in all those around them. Through them so many came to know and experience your love for them and they gave glory to your name. Give us that grace heavenly Father to recognize you and to love you in those with whom we interact so that through us other may experience your love and glorify your name. We ask this through the intercession of Mary our mother and Jesus your son. Amen
