Today is Day 28 of our Lenten reflections on the gospel of John.  Thanks so much for joining us!  To contact us, visit our website: www.markandkatiemartinez.com

A Reflection on John 12:20-50

“He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (v 25)

The hour has come. Jesus has arrived at the point of no return. Everything now points to his passion and death. But that means that everything now points also to His Resurrection. Jesus has revealed the Father, revealed His love and heart for His people Israel and for the whole world. He has lived out that part of his mission. And now we begin the culmination of that mission, when He will be lifted up to draw all to himself, “for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world” (v 47b).

“Unless a grain of wheat falls and dies…” he tells us. He is preparing us for what is to come, and he is teaching us a great truth for our own lives. He has taught us how to live, and now He is teaching us how to die. We are to lose our lives, to die to selfishness, sin, and fear. But we do not do it alone. Our Lord would not have it any other way but to enter the struggle with us: “Now is my soul troubled.” He knows what He must do. He can feel the weight of it all. In that moment of anguish, he calls out to the Father, “Glorify your name!” And the Father answers: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

Oh, that we could follow this example of Jesus! Oh, that we could feel our troubled hearts, give them over to the Father, and in the midst of it all, cry out, “Glorify your name!” Because, as the Father looks down on Jesus, so He will look down upon us, “I have glorified it, child, in you. And through this circumstance, I will glorify it again. I will bring glory into your life and the lives of those around you. Because child, if you die, you will bear much fruit. So, do not be afraid, my Son goes before you. He will shepherd you into new life, and my will will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Father, I am sometimes scared to lose my life in order to gain it. Remind me of Your great love for me, for whom you did not even spare your only Son. Remind me that you will call me to die to only what hinders my way to you, and that you will raise up in me a divine purpose that will bring me far more joy than anything I could imagine.

Scripture quotations are from The Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright ©1965, 1966 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved worldwide.