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"Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again." Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him." Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." This He said, signifying by what death He would die.
The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man?" Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.
- John 12:27-36a
Yesterday, we began to read about what happened at the final Passover Festival that Jesus attended in Jerusalem. There were certain Greeks (that is, Greek-speakers, or Gentiles) among those who came up to worship at the feast. Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus. But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor."
"Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name." Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again." In some sense, Jesus' divine nature struggles with His human nature; His soul is troubled. He refers back to His purpose: to glorify God. My study bible says, "The Father's name is an extension of His Person. The Son's death completes the purpose of the Father and shows His love for all, thus glorifying Him. Christ is in effect saying, 'Father, lead Me to the Cross.' This is the Lord's divine response to the human prompting to avoid the Cross. The Father's response refers to the signs already performed by Christ and to the death and Resurrection to come."
Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him." My study bible tells us, "Though the Father spoke clearly, some people heard indistinct sounds like thunder because they lacked faith. Those with a little faith heard the words but did not know the source, thinking it was an angel. The disciples knew the Father Himself had spoken" (see next verse).
Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." This He said, signifying by what death He would die. A note reads, "Lifted up is a reference to Christ being hung on the Cross (see also 3:14-15; 8:28). This death will bring salvation to all peoples, while at the same time rendering judgment on the faithless and destroying once for all the power of Satan, the ruler of this world."
The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man?" Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them. My study bible tells us that "the light refers to Christ (1:4-9; 8:12). His teaching here has several facets of meaning. First, He will be completing His public ministry shortly. Further, our lives are very limited; we have but a short time to repent and believe in Christ before death. Finally, the second coming of Christ is but a little while when compared to eternity."
The light is Christ Himself, as He has spoken about Himself many times over in John's Gospel. Perhaps most notably, He has also referred to "walking while it is day" -- meaning, while He is in the world. See, for example, If anyone walks in the day, He does not stumble, because He sees the light of this world. But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him. If Jesus is the light of the world while He is in the world, how do we have light in our lives? In Psalm 119, we read, "Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path." We have His word, which Jesus will also call the light, in a future reading. But it seems to me that the practices of the Church have been purposely designed to impart the light to our lives. We've been given the Holy Spirit, working through and in all things to bring us light. We have the Eucharist which we take in remembrance of Him, so that we may truly be a part of Him while we are in this world. We have prayer and we have faith. We have worship and Scripture. All these things are designed to keep the light alive in us, so that we may not walk in darkness. Jesus emphasizes also that we must have the light in us (John 11:10). It seems to me this is key to understanding the goal He gives in today's reading: that we may all become "sons of light." Faith is the key to keeping this light alive in ourselves, to becoming children of light. In Matthew's Gospel, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us: "You are the light of the world . . . Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:14-16). Remaining in faith, in relationship, having this light lit within ourselves so that we shine it out to the world in what we do, all of this is completely tied together. The faith practices that we follow are designed to nurture and keep this light alive; the reading of Scripture as well. Prayer nurtures the light. Expressing the light in what we do also becomes an offshoot of prayer; "good works" are something we do prayerfully. It is all a great circle, but we keep coming back to our Source so that we may be nurtured, and our lamps lit. In the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, it is the wise who sleep when they need to, but who keep oil in their lamps. Oil, in the Greek, sounds alike to the word for mercy, and this is the historical understanding of the passage, of what it means to make sure our lamps are kept full of what it is that keeps our light burning: the mercy and grace of God we nurture within us, so that we "shine" it in the world. We take time for prayer, we take time especially for rest in Christ; we are prepared to share that light because we nurture it within ourselves and dedicate ourselves to be ready for the Bridegroom. Let us do what we must to remain in the light, for the light to remain alive and blazing in us. He wishes for us, too, to become children of light, that we may be His light in the world. Let us also live to glorify His Father's name, as He has taught.
