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.
John 12:20-33
The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
We are about to start Holy Week, which is the pinnacle of Jesus’s earthly ministry. It is the hour for him to be glorified. He explains to his disciples that he must die in order for us to live.
In our lives we also have to die in order to live. All of us will experience earthly death before we experience supernatural birth. In order for that supernatural birthday to be the beginning of our journey home to heaven, we need to be willing to die a small death every day and often many times in each day.
We need to die to our pride; we need to die to our attachments; we need to die to other people’s accolades; we need to die to our laziness and our willingness to do just good enough. We need to die to our own self-centeredness.
The Easter Triduum is the establishment of the New Covenant that brings life through death. The Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross at Calvary is how an instrument of torture and death becomes the Tree of Life. It is how Death itself is defeated. Jesus shows us from the Cross what self-denial looks like in the extreme form. Even a clumsy fool like me can do a little self-denial. God never asks me to pick up a cross that’s too big for me; he never asks me to carry another’s cross. But he does ask me to carry mine, and then to follow him. Since he did the big and salvific death to self, maybe even little old me can do a small death to self.
On Holy Thursday, Jesus instituted the priesthood and then taught his Apostles what authentic priestly service looks like when he washed their feet. True leadership is servant leadership. If I am in a leadership role, can I spend less time counting the size of the crowd following me and more time looking around to see who needs help? Can I die to pride, even a little?
One of the fruits of the serpent’s lie to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is that we fear death. And we need to die to that fear of death. We need to come to believe that the things of this earth are of little importance in and of themselves. We need to be reborn to an understanding that how we treat the things of this earth are the only things of importance in this world. It is not my status but how I look at my status that matters. It is not that I have talents but how I use those talents that matters to God. It is not my body in and of itself that matters but how my body is used to glorify God.
And I have agency in all these decisions. God has a plan, and it is a good plan, and we can trust that plan. But God’s plan includes my freedom. He loves me enough to let me not love him. And the devil has been whispering ever since I had ears that I shouldn’t trust my heavenly father. He whispered to Adam and Eve that their father — our father — is a liar. And we believed it. And all of us are born with the ingrained distrust of our heavenly father. That distrust has to die if we are to live.
Because we have agency, and because our father gave us freedom of will, we can choose. We can choose to overcome the innate disposition to sin. We can choose to master our passions. We can choose to overcome the attachment to a scorecard. God loves me and he loves you exactly the same amount on our best day as on our worst day. There is no adding up in order to get a passing grade. God does not keep the scorecard. The devil keeps one, and he looks at it and he tells you how you’re doing. But God does not have a scorecard. God only has a question: do you love me? He asked this question of St. Peter as part of his reconciliation with the rock of the church who denied the Christ three times. He asked Peter, “Do you love me as I love you?” Peter responded, “I love you as I love a brother.” Jesus asked again, “Do you love me as I love you?” Peter responded, “I love you as I love a brother.” And because God doesn’t have a scorecard Jesus went down to meet Peter where he could be met. He asked him, “Do you love me as you love a brother?” And Peter replied, “You know I love you as I love a brother.” Can I die to self enough to love God with what I have even if it’s not even close to how much He loves me? Can I die to self-importance and embrace the humble position of a true disciple?
St. Thomas the Doubter had the scorecard of empirical evidence in his hands when he returned to the upper room on Easter evening after the resurrected Jesus had visited the apostles. When Jesus came back a week later, he showed himself so that Thomas could believe, based on his empirical evidence of wounds on the side and on the hands and feet of Jesus. But Jesus added that there wasn’t any need for this empirical evidence; there was only a need for faith. Can I die to my own impressive intellect and accept the reality that I can never know what God knows, and that’s actually a gift rather than a hardship?
Because I have agency I can choose to believe. I can choose to believe that the Scriptures are true and what the church teaches is true. That is the gift of faith. Much of what I believe cannot be confirmed with empirical evidence to satisfy the modern mentality. But the modern mentality is nothing more than the latest manifestation of the devil’s disobedience and lies.
At the beginning of his hour in the gospel of John, Jesus prays audibly to the father and those with him hear the audible response. Jesus explains that this vocal message from the father was given to them that they might believe. He wants them to believe that judgment has come upon the world and the ruler of the world will be driven out. We have a role to play in driving out the ruler of the world. Our role is to resist him. We are the church militant. We are the church fighting against the wickedness and snares of the devil. He rules the world, but we are guerrilla fighters for Christ in the world.
Let us fight the good fight. Let us put on the full armor of God, so that we can take our stand against the devil’s schemes. Let us understand that our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. We are in for a fight of eternal significance, for it is the fight for our souls.
Let us stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around our waists, with the breastplate of righteousness in place. With the Spirit of Truth, the Advocate, at our side, we can be sure of victory.
Let us also take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Finally, may we take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Bound in Love 
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