Father, glorify Your name

 "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 heart 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 12:27-36

Yesterday's reading told us that there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the Passover 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."  Jesus' human soul is troubled.  The Gospels give us indications of Jesus' struggle in the fullness of His humanity and His human will.  But nevertheless He submits His human will to the Father and His divine will that is one with the Father's when He says, For this purpose I came to this hour.  It is an indication that this is a voluntary submission.  My study bible says that it shows that each person must submit his or her own will to God's will.    The Father's name is an extension of His Person.  The Son's death completes the purpose of the Father, says my study bible, and shows His love for all, thereby glorifying God the Father.  In His divine response to His troubled human soul at the the thought of the Cross, Jesus effectively says, "Father, lead Me to the Cross."  

Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."  Therefore the people who stood by and heart 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."  The Father's response to Jesus embraces both the works that have been done by Jesus (the signs in the Gospel) and His death and Resurrection to come.   Though the Father spoke clearly, my study bible tells us, 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, and though it was an angel.  But the disciples knew that the Father had spoken, as indicated by Jesus' words to them.

"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.  Lifted up refers to Jesus being hung on the Cross (also used in 3:14-15, and 8:38).  My study bible says that 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.  The light refers to Christ, as both Jesus and the Evangelist have done throughout the Gospel (see 1:4-9, 8:12).  My study bible says that this teaching has several facets of meaning.  First, Jesus will soon be completing His public ministry.  Also, our lives are very limited.  In that sense, we have a short time to repent and to believe in Christ before death.  And finally, Christ's second coming is but a little while when compared to eternity (see 2 Peter 3:8, Psalm 90:4).

What is the light?  We have Christ's words themselves telling us, "I am the way, the truth, and the light."  These words are not interpreted as merely symbolic metaphors for the fact that Christ is a great Teacher.  On the contrary, theology teaches us that Christ is the Person who is Truth.  He is a kind of lodestone, a polestar.  That is, He's something by which all other things are measured.  He is the way when we have need of discernment, when we need to make a decision, when we are trying to choose which way to go.   He is the light that illumines the way forward, like the pillar of fire that led the Israelites through the darkness.  As the light, He illuminates not only the good, clear way but also casts His light on the dangers we might not recognize, the traps and stumbling blocks that are set for the unaware.  He's the light toward which human beings reach, even if they do not know His name.  Christ in His Person is the ultimate manifestation of these realities.  But He's also the light that casts light that can be reflected by others.  He shares His light with us.  We may participate in it and also reflect it back into the world.  In the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus tells us that a lamp isn't lit to be hidden, but to be put on a lampstand where it can give its light to all who are in the house (Matthew 5:15, Mark 4:21, Luke 8:16).  This isn't just a metaphor teaching us how we can be little shining lights in our own regard, but rather He tells us that we may glorify our Father in heaven by doing so.  And thus, we get back to the language of today's Gospel reading.  We may be like Him by glorifying the name of the Father, by participating in this light, following His way and His truth.  What Jesus shares with us isn't an easy symbol or metaphor in the same sense that the Mystery of Christ's mystical Body and Blood aren't simply easy metaphors or symbols.  Rather it speaks of a depth of love, participation, and even identity that John's Gospel has continually referred us to.  Jesus will tell us, "Abide in me" (15:4).  He has repeatedly spoken already in the Gospel to tell us that He will be lifted up so that we may be lifted up with Him, and be with Him where He is.  Thus our Light isn't just the light that helps us to know where we are going.  He is that which gives us life, which gives us meaning and identity and substance, which allows us to participate in His very life.  He is the foundation of love and He brings us the fullness of love.  He will be lifted up on the Cross, defeating death so that we may have life with Him.  His depth of obedience to the Father is a measure of His love which embraces all, embraces us.  He invites us into that love so that we, too, may reflect it back into the world with Him.  The Judgment comes as we decide whether or not we follow, sharing in that love or not, and what we will embrace for ourselves.