If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also

 

 Now there were certain Greeks 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."

 

- John 12:20-26 

 

 This week is Holy Week, and will culminate in Jesus' Crucifixion, death, and Resurrection.  Yesterday we read St. John's account of Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, which we celebrate as Palm Sunday.  Note that this time in Jerusalem marks the start of Passover week.  This is the third and final Passover festival recorded in John's Gospel, and the Triumphal Entry marks the beginning of the final week of Jesus' earthly life.   Yesterday we read that a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:  "Hosanna!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' The King of Israel!" Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:  "Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt."  His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.  Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.  For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.  The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.  Look, the world has gone after Him!" 

 Now there were certain Greeks 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."  My study Bible explains that these Greeks were Gentiles (those who spoke Greek, the lingua franca or international language of the period).  They are Gentiles who believed in the God of Abraham, having come to participate in the Passover feast.  That they were still called "Greeks" shows that they were not yet full proselytes (converts) to Judaism.  Since Jesus had taught His disciples not to go to the Gentiles (Matthew 10:5; 15:24), my study Bible says, the disciples approach Jesus before they bring these inquirers to Him. Glorified is a reference to Christ's death on the Cross.  My study Bible notes that His obscure response indicates two things.  First, the answer these people are seeking will not be found in words but in the Cross.  Second, the Cross will be the event that opens all manner of grace to the Gentiles. 

"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."  My study Bible comments that this image of the grain of wheat dying in order to bear fruit signifies that Christ's death will give life to the world.  It is common in Orthodox churches to serve boiled wheat, sweetened and spiced, at memorial services for the departed faithful.  This is a kind of affirmation of God's promise that those who have died in Christ will rise again to life.  In the Armenian Apostolic Church, this passage is read in the memorial service.

 

 Jesus lays out the plan in today's reading, a plan for His glorification.  This is the great paradox that begins with more explicit language of His Crucifixion and death which is to come.  For, as these Gentiles show up, these pagan Greek-speakers who seek the God of Israel, so we get our first hints of the gospel being sent out to all the world.  And they seek out Jesus, so He has come to be known now outside of Israel.  Again, we're given a paradox in today's reading, just the same way Jesus, the King, rode into Jerusalem in what is called His Triumphal Entry not on a horse or in a chariot, but on the colt of a donkey, so "glorification" is going to mean something seemingly entirely at odds with the world's sense of glory.  It will not only mean His death, but it will mean death by the most notorious means of suffering intended for those who are non-Roman citizens.  It will mean a death by the most ignominious way known under the Romans, a death by a method from which we derive the word "excruciating," a death of ultimate humiliation before the nation, especially for a Jewish man.  And Christ's death will be added to by the religious leaders who will go to further lengths to humiliate Him and show how they despise Him.  All of this is part of Christ's "glorification," in His own words.  For this tremendous sacrifice on His part will be done, first of all, in obedience to God the Father, within the plan for salvation of all the world, meaning all of creation (not just the earth).  For Christ's salvific and redemptive Incarnation as human being is not meant for Himself only; it is not meant as a project for God, so to speak, but as a project for us, and out of love for us.  Gregory of Nazianzinus, also known as Gregory the Theologian (one of only three saints in the entire history of the Orthodox Church to be given this title), is famous for a statement about Christ's Incarnation.  He wrote, "What has not been assumed, has not been healed."  What this means is that every aspect of human life assumed by Christ is healed through His life and divinity, thereby enabling us to enter into and participate in His life and experience that healing for ourselves.  Whatever aspect of human experience, no matter how unpleasant or humiliating or painful, which Christ assumes as one of us becomes capable of being healed simply by His entering into our life.  And this is the great love, the seed that is being planted through His death and sacrifice, so that we might live and be healed and join Him where He is in eternal life.  Christ's life, death, and Resurrection becomes His hour of glorification through this process by which we are saved, by which we may also pray and experience the energies of grace made possible through His Incarnation and His help to us, even in our very present hour, during our suffering, through our prayers, and through His life which He brings to bear on all aspects of our existence, even those caused by influence of the evil one, the devil.  Because of this hour of glorification, there is no aspect of our life, no matter how humiliating or painful, or seeming to be a failure, that Christ has not assumed so that He may be there with us, present to us.  This is about Christ salvation for everything, and for everyone, held out and given as a present, a gift to all of us, if we but will receive it.  Again, Holy Week becomes all about paradox, the good and the evil, the tremendous sacrifice of love and at the same time those who plot against our Savior to bring Him such pain and death.  But God is more powerful than all of these things which seem to be imposed upon Him, for He enters into both our life and our death in order to transfigure and transform it, to defeat death and the forces of death and cruelty for us.  Wherever we go, He is there, for He is willing to make this sacrifice, to fall to the ground as a grain of wheat that is planted for us, to bring about a great harvest.  But let us note another paradox:  He doesn't do this alone; He invites us to live and choose as He does.  He says, "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."  He invites us also into glorification and honor such as God bestows, even upon Him.  For we cannot be the Christ, but we can enter into and share in this plan of salvation made glorious in believers and saints, those who love God so that their lives become also set apart for grace and for love.  Perhaps today God has something in store for you, a message, a way to address pain and difficulty, which draws you out of a human drama and into a place where love dictates instead what you can do with your time and your life, God's glory also shining through you.  Take the time for prayer, even in a time when things we cling to may be dying. 

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

 

 Now there were certain Greeks 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."

 

- John 12:20–26 

 

Yesterday we read that a great many of the people of Jerusalem knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.  But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many (even from among the ruling classes of the temple) went away and believed in Jesus. The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:  "Hosanna!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  The King of Israel!" Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:"Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt." His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him. Therefore the people who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.  For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.  The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.  Look, the world has gone after Him!"   

 

Now there were certain Greeks 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."  My study Bible says that these Greeks mentioned here were Gentiles who believed in the God of Abraham, and they have come to participate in the Passover feast.  That they are still called "Greeks" shows that they were not yet full proselytes (converts).  Jesus had taught His disciples not to go to the Gentiles (Matthew 10:5; 15:24), so the disciples approach Christ before bringing these inquirers to Him.   When Jesus speaks of being glorified, He's referring to His death on the Cross.  My study Bible adds that Christ's obscure response is an indication of two things.  First, the answer these Greeks are seeking won't be found in words, but in the Cross; and second, the Cross will be the event that opens all manner of grace to the Gentiles. 

"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."  This image of a grain of wheat dying in order to bear fruit signifies that Christ's death will give life to the world, my study Bible explains.  In the Armenian Apostolic Church, this passage is read at every memorial service for the faithful who have passed.  In many Orthodox churches, boiled wheat, sweetened and spiced, is served at memorial services.  My study Bible comments that this affirms God's promise that those who have died in Christ will rise again to life.  

A grain of wheat springing to life from death is such a ubiquitous image that it is impossible to separate ourselves from Christ's framing of His death and Resurrection.  Jesus says "it falls into the ground and dies."  But this seemingly sad image is contradicted by His phrasing that the grain only remains alone when this doesn't happen.  To fall into the ground and die is to guarantee that it produces much grain.  So we are to understand His death and Resurrection -- that it produced and is producing much grain, much fruit.  In the story of the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, Jesus refers to the returning villagers coming toward Him as a field of grain white for harvest (John 4:35).  But here He speaks of His own death which will give birth to many faithful, and also invites the disciples into this process as well:  "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."  It is not just Jesus who will undergo such a sacrifice; others will follow.  Perhaps the sacrifices we make in our lives will take on different forms, but nonetheless, Christ's saying still applies.  For what we give of our time, our efforts, our dreams and goals, these also count when given toward service and following Christ.  In St. Matthew's Gospel, Jesus says that giving even a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple will be rewarded (Matthew 10:40-42).  This sense of sacrificial giving and receiving permeates the whole of the Gospels, and all of the Christian life.  It is part of the process of transfiguring our lives in His image.  Indeed, we might consider our recent reading in which Mary covered Christ's feet with a pound of highly expensive fragrant essential oil as a story of what it is to make an extravagant sacrifice given for love of Christ, and to be received by Christ with a gracious reward indeed (see this reading).  For we should count also His words teaching us that "where I am, there My servant will be also."  In giving of our own sacrifices for Him and for the Kingdom, so we also become inheritors, servants, and those who dwell with Him even in an eternal reality.  He promises even more:  "If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor."   In today's lectionary readings, we're also given the final chapter in the book of Job.  There we read of the tremendous reward, even while yet in this world, which Job receives after his great sacrifice of suffering for the sake of his faith in God (Job 42).  Throughout the Scriptures, then, the sense of sacrifice as gift which will be returned in abundant measure plays its role and gives its message to us.  In Luke chapter 6, we read Jesus' Sermon on the Plain, in which Jesus discusses topics widely covered also in the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus says, "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you" (Luke 6:38).  This is taught together with the concept of forgiveness, and so it is that in forgiving we "give up" or "let go" of something to God, and we should understand it that way, as a type of sacrifice for which we'll be richly rewarded.  Let us consider, then, Christ's example of His own sacrifice and abundance of harvest to reap as result, and see that in doing so He teaches us to do the same.  For the countless examples amongst the saints and figures of the Gospels and in the Old Testament we have an entire spiritual history to consider.  What else could inspire such faith but the love shown in such sacrifice, especially by Christ the firstfruits who gave His life for us?  For there is no doubt that this is true.  In a highly consumer-oriented modern society, we might have difficulty considering the idea of sacrifice in a positive light.  But it's what makes the world go around, and civilizations are built not on selfishness but on the willingness to give for what might be, and for love of the good.  Let us consider where we make our sacrifices, and why.  What else can give us back so much?

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

 

 Now there were certain Greeks 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."

 

- John 12:20-26 

 

In yesterday's reading, we will given the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, a day we commemorate as Palm Sunday.  We read that a great many of those from the ruling classes in Jerusalem knew that Jesus was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.  But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.  The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:  "Hosanna!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  The King of Israel!"  Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:  "Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt."  His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.  Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.  For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.  The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.  Look, the world has gone after Him!" 

 

  Now there were certain Greeks 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."  My study Bible explains that these Greeks were Gentiles who believed in the God of Abraham, and have come to participate in the Passover feast.   That they were still called "Greeks" shows that they were not yet full proselytes (converts).  Since Jesus had taught His disciples not to go to the Gentiles (Matthew 10:5; 15:24), the disciples approach Him before bringing these inquirers.  When Jesus speaks of being glorified, He is referring to His death on the Cross.  (We recall that in yesterday's reading, above, the events of Palm Sunday, and the fulfillment of prophecy, only became clear to the recollection of the disciples "after Jesus was glorified.")  My study Bible says that Christ's obscure response here indicates two things.  First, the answer these Greeks are seeking will not be found in words, but rather in the Cross.  Second, the Cross will be the event that opens all manner of grace to the Gentiles.

"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."  My study Bible says that the image of the grain of wheat dying in order to bear fruit signifies that Christ's death will give life to the world.  At the memorial services for the departed faithful in many Orthodox churches, boiled wheat that is sweetened and spiced is served to affirm God's promise that those who have died in Christ will rise again to life.

Christ speaks of Himself and His death on the Cross figuratively, in the image of a grain of wheat that produces much grain only if it falls into the ground and dies.  As noted above, the Gospel tells us (from yesterday's reading) that the disciples only understood the events of Palm Sunday, and the fulfillment of prophecy in the people's cry and actions, after Jesus was glorified.  Again today, Jesus emphasizes that it is now time, that "the hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified." One must wonder if it is that these Greek-speakers, Gentiles, have come inquiring about Him.  After all, the Gospel will spread to the world, and to the nations, in the Greek language -- the international language of its time.  Greek was the language of commerce for this reason.  Philip is from Bethsaida which at this time was expanding and would within only a few years would be elevated in status within the Roman Empire.  He also bears a Greek name.  In John's Gospel, his role is also significant.  First a disciple of John the Baptist, Philip is found by Jesus and introduces Him to Nathanael (also known as Bartholomew)  in John 1:43-51.  Jesus tests Philip at the feeding of the five thousand (John 6:4-6).   Here, he's the connection to the Greek community, and at the Last Supper it will be Philip who says to Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us" (John 14:8-9).  The burial place of Philip has been recently discovered in what was an ancient Greek-speaking city (see this translation of an interview with the Italian archaeologist who made the discovery).  It is known that Philip traveled widely spreading the Gospel, and died a martyr at this site.  Why is all of this important?  Because Christ's message would be spread throughout the world in the Greek language and through Greek speakers, one gets the feeling that perhaps these "Greeks" who approach Him are a clear sign to Christ that it is the hour of His glorification.  His landmark teaching regarding the grain of wheat is predicated upon His glorification on the Cross, that this event will produce much fruit -- and that is inextricably linked with the spread of the gospel beyond Israel and to all nations.  It is His sacrifice on the Cross that will teach us about what we give for our faith and that also produces spiritual fruit; in this Christ's Cross leads the way, even as it is the act of sacrifice on His part that will send His gospel out to all the world, and continues to do so.  For it is this act that will transcend all boundaries and shake the values of a world predicated only on materialist values of coercion, manipulation, and appearances alone as truth.  Jesus' Cross, and His sacrifice, continues to expand its influence, to reverberate with meanings and values that echo in the subconscious of the world to be discovered by faith and experience of the struggle for faith.  He will exchange one life for another, and in so doing, offer that greater and eternal life to us in His promise of abundance, and He continues to do so.  His sacrifice made possible the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the remembrance of all things for His followers (John 16:7).  Martin Luther King often cited the powerful necessity of sacrifice, understanding it as essential to his own ministry to produce fruit.  He said, "Nothing worthwhile is gained without sacrifice," an understanding of the truth that makes us free.  In a world dazzled by technological and other material power it is tempting to put faith exclusively in appearances, and  discard  Christ's sacrifice as the ultimate testimony by the Witness to our faith.  But sheer belief in material appearance works as a delusion, producing corruption, conflict, and faith in manipulation,  keeping people from hidden truths our Lord wants us to seek and find.  As He so often affirms, His sacrifice is His glorification which produces much fruit.  Let us remember His words. 

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

 

 Now there were certain Greeks 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 loaves 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."

 

- John 12:20-26 

 

 Yesterday we read that a great many of the prominent people from Jerusalem knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.  But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.   The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:"Hosanna! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  The King of Israel!"  Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:  "Fear not, daughter of Zion;  Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt." His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.  Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.  For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.  The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.  Look, the world has gone after Him!"

 

 Now there were certain Greeks 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."  My study Bible says that these Greeks are Gentiles who believed in the God of Abraham, and they have come to participate in the Passover feast.  That they are still called "Greeks" shows that they were not yet full proselytes (converts).  Since Jesus had taught His disciples not to go to the Gentiles (Matthew 10:5, 15:24), the disciples approach Christ before bringing these inquirers to Him.  Glorified, my study Bible says, refers to Christ's death on the Cross.  His obscure response indicates the following:  first, the answer these Greeks seek will not be found in words, but in the Cross; and second, the Cross will be the event that opens all manner of grace to the Gentiles.

 

"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 loaves 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."  My study Bible comments that this image of the grain of wheat dying in order to be fruit gives a significance to Christ's death:  His death will give life to the world.  At memorial services in many Orthodox churches, it is customary to serve whole grains of wheat, boiled, sweetened, and spiced, for the departed faithful.  This gives the image of the grain of wheat Christ uses to convey the promise that those who have died in Christ will rise again to life.  This may seem like an unusual response to the information that there were Greeks who wanted to speak with Christ.  But it is a significant new juncture in His ministry:  now the word and knowledge of Christ will go out to the wider, Greek-speaking world, thus producing much grain.  And this will happen through the Cross, and Christ's sacrifice.

 

 Jesus gives us the image of the Cross, a type of exchange, of one life for another, of one way of life for the promise of one of abundance, when He says, that "unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain."   He makes this clear to us when He gets deeper into its significance:  "He who loaves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."  In following Christ, we find a different way of life, a different energy, a different outlook than the type of life "the world" promises us.  In Christ we have an exchange, and we also have the action of the heroic, of letting go of one thing for another -- the sacrifice of what is lesser in order to gain something greater, to be a part of a bigger picture which we can't always grasp and the world so often fails to acknowledge.  He vindicates the Cross by saying, "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."  This is the promise He made when He taught us to take up our cross and follow Him (Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, Luke 9:23, Luke 14:27).   We exchange our way of life for His; in following Him, in taking up our own cross, we may be also with Him and honored by the Father.  This is what is understood as a heroic way of life.  It has the underpinnings of sacrifice for something greater, even for a whole community united in Christ, for one contribution contributes to the whole.  It is for this reason that we honor saints and martyrs.  This sense of a heroic life, one couched in the proper understanding of sacrifice, of greater goals and better life, is one that can't be seen from a purely materialistic worldly perspective.  It does not fit a commitment merely to consumption or constant gratification.  It does not appeal to our immediate grasping for what we see in front of us, but instead asks us to go to the heart of faith to find meaning, value, sustenance, and a transfiguration of our lives, suffusing whatever we do with meaning.  A priest whose blog I often read comments today that in the Christian life, nothing is wasted.  This means that even in the worst of time -- and maybe especially then -- we take up our cross and follow Him, and we simply don't know in the very short run, in the immediate awareness, what good will come of that or us, what future outcome that will bring.  But we know for certain that Christ makes something great of our sacrifices done in faith, and there is nothing left out of life in this transfiguring, redemptive power of God which turns the instrument of Roman punishment into the instrument of salvation for all, the symbol of Resurrection.  It is in this sense that we lose our lives in order to save them.  Today, appropriately, marks the Feast of the Cross (also called the Elevation or Exaltation of the Holy Cross) across many denominations.  In the Armenian Apostolic Church, we now enter the season of the Cross.   Looking around at our world, it seems that it is an appropriate time to take in what we see around us:  the violence, injustice, corruption, and coercion of every kind, and see it all in the light of the Cross.  We know what injustice, manipulation, violence, envy, and selfish blindness constitutes the motivation to put Jesus to death on the Cross, and yet we are also told nonetheless that His Passion is His glorification, and that He goes willingly -- as it will also become, in God's hands and with God's transforming power, the instrument of our salvation.  And this will mean salvation not just for this world, but for a universe, an entire created order.  We should give pause to consider what must have been devastating for Christ's disciples, His mother, and His friends, and think about what the life of the cross means for each of us.  For we have no idea how God might use anything in our lives, every sad or painful act, every hard truth.  And this is the real message of the Cross:  the Cross is something we could call the tree of prayer.  It saves and redeems if it is beheld with the eyes of faith in Christ, who will be lifted up just as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness so that those who beheld with the eyes of faith would be saved (Numbers 21:5-9, John 3:14-16).   Let us begin this season by seeking that glorification, the vision of the Cross in faith -- the Cross as tree whose leaves can grow for us with our prayer and transfigure all of our own painful experiences.  

 

 

 

 

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the round and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain

 

 Now there were certain Greeks 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 round 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."

 

- John 12:20-26 

 

Yesterday we read that a great many in Jerusalem knew that Jesus was there for the Passover; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.  But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.   The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:  "Hosanna!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  The King of Israel!"  Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:  "Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt."  His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.   Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.  For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.  The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.  Look, the world has gone after Him!"

 

Now there were certain Greeks 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."  My study Bible explains that these Greeks were Gentiles who believed in the God of Abraham, and that they have come to Jerusalem to participate in the Passover feast.  That they are still called "Greeks" shows that they were not yet full converts to Judaism.   It notes that since Jesus had taught His disciples not to go to the Gentiles (Matthew 10:5, 15:24), the disciples approach Jesus first before bringing these new inquirers to Him.  Glorified is a reference to Christ's death on the Cross.  Moreover, my study Bible adds, Christ's obscure response indicates two things:  first, the answer these Greeks seek won't be found in words, but in the Cross; and second, the Cross will be the event that opens all manner of grace to the Gentiles.  Let us note also that this is the first sign in the Gospel that inquirers from the wider, Greek-speaking world are coming to hear of Christ; perhaps it also serves as a sign for Jesus.  Greek was the "international language" for communication of this time; and, of course, the New Testament will be written in Greek for this reason.  It is the language in which the gospel of the Kingdom will travel through the highways of the world.

"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the round 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."   Jesus gives the image of the grain of wheat dying in order to bear fruit -- my study Bible comments that this signifies His death will give life to the world (John 6:51).  It is a tradition in many Orthodox churches to serve boiled wheat, sweetened and spiced, at memorial services for the departed faithful, a gesture which affirms God's promise that those who have died in Christ will rise again to life.  This passage is read in the Armenian Apostolic Church as part of every requiem.

 

Jesus speaks in vivid language, saying, "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."    Elsewhere He uses similar bold language, such as when He says, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26).  He follows with a statement similar to the pattern He establishes in today's reading, "And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."   In each case, He contrasts the extremes of loving or hating one's life in this world (including family members) with loving and following Him.  These are difficult things to reconcile, possibly unimaginable to most of us.  But for the times that come down to spiritual choice, these statements might not be so extreme.  This vivid and colorful language used by Christ is quite possibly meant to shock, in order to make a point:  that loyalty to God ultimately takes precedence over the rest of our priorities in life.  St. Paul writes, "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).  There are times when our prayers will lead us to make choices for which we may need to break with rules or habits learned at home in our natal families, or to disagree with a loved one over a particular path or opinion.  It is in this sense that choice is offered to us in our spiritual lives, a truth we must choose to love even when others whom we love do not approve or do not like our choices.  There comes such a time when a love of God, and the truth we must accept, trumps all else we care for.  Jesus goes to the Cross Himself certainly understanding this and making such a hard choice.  We know of His love for His mother, and for all of His disciples, and yet He will go to the Cross in obedience to the Father, seemingly abandoning those who love Him and for whom the prospect of His death is unmitigated tragedy (see St. Peter's response to Christ's prophecy of His Crucifixion, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!" - Matthew 16:22-24).  Jesus goes the Cross in order to give us an abundant life, one that we may claim even if we die a human death.  Many people separate a life in the world from this life after death, but that is a false conclusion, as Jesus indicates here.  In a recent reading, Jesus said to Martha, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live."  This offer is not about an afterlife, but about the quality of life we choose in the here and now, and this is what Jesus is trying to clarify by His deeply powerful and stark statements.  He offers us to participate in His power of immortality, but participation in that life is a choice that is always with us now, and we come face to face it in our lives when our deepest loyalties and truths are tested.  In today's reading, Jesus speaks of offering Himself and giving His life as a sacrifice, in order to produce abundant life.  Even His own deepest human impulses do not take priority over the choice to offer us this life in abundance through His willing sacrifice in following the Father's will.  May our own sacrifices to follow a prayerful life of faith also produce much grain.

 

The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified

 

 Now there were certain Greeks 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."

 

- John 12:20–26 

 

Yesterday we read that a great many of those among the ruling parties of the temple knew that Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.  But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of those from Jerusalem went away and believed in Jesus.  The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:  "Hosanna!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  The King of Israel!"  Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:  "Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt."  His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.  Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.  For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.  The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.  Look, the world has gone after Him!"

 

 Now there were certain Greeks 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."  My study bible comments that these Greeks were Gentiles who believed in the God of Abraham, who came to participate in the Passover feast.  That they are still called "Greeks" shows that they were not yet full converts to Judaism.  It says that as Jesus had taught His disciples not to go to the Gentiles (Matthew 10:5, 15:24), the disciples approach Him before bringing these inquirers.  Glorified is a reference to Christ's death on the Cross.  My study bible adds that His obscure response indicates two things.  First, the answer that these Greeks (or rather, Greek-speakers) are seeking will not be found in words, but rather in the Cross.  And second, that the Cross will be the event that opens all manner of grace to the Gentiles.

"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."  The image of the grain of wheat dying in order to bear fruit gives a particular significance to Christ's death on the Cross:  that it will give life to the world (John 6:51).  My study bible explains a custom common to many Orthodox churches:  boiled wheat is sweetened and spiced, and served at memorial services for the departed faithful, in order to affirm God's promise that those who have died in Christ will rise again to life.

 

 Christ's powerful words in today's reading are probably the most profound in the Gospel, in terms of not just their significance and meaning. but the power of the events themselves that Christ describes here, the life that comes from His sacrifice on the Cross.  The grain of wheat is a powerful image:  a tiny grain, falling to the ground, broken.  It dies, but it does so to give life, and life abundantly.  As Jesus says, it produces much grain.  This is an unshakeable image.   All too often, we tend to think that our heroes are just that:  images to look up to, people who sacrificed for an entire group, leaders who stand head and shoulders above everyone else.  But Jesus does not stop with the powerful description of His own death and sacrifice, and its abundant life-giving effects.  It is of the utmost importance for us all to understand that Jesus does not stop there.  He goes on to say, "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."   In other words, this gospel message is not just about the story of Jesus, the story of Christ's Passion, the story of His sacrifice and the abundant resurrectional life He offers to all of us through these events.  His command follows His statement about Himself with the illustration of the grain of wheat.  He asks us to follow.  We are the ones who must put into action our own willingness to give up the life of the "worldly" that is offered to us, and take up instead the life that Christ offers in His own example, that of following in love and dedication to God.  This is not only about Jesus, in some powerful sense.  It is rather that Jesus calls us to take up the same life.  His life may have led to the powerful images we have, to the depths of death and suffering, and transfiguring all of it so that we might have an abundance of life that wasn't possible without Christ's mission.  But Christ's mission into this world, the Incarnation and life of the Son as Jesus Christ, isn't only about Jesus.  We miss His point entirely if that is where we leave it.  Christ's mission is about finding disciples, those who are willing to take up our own cross and follow Him.  He says, "Where I am, there My servant will be also.  If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor."   We are not asked simply to worship, honor, and behold Christ as Messiah and Savior.  We are asked to live life as He did, to understand the point of sacrifice for the same purpose, in the same love, which produces the same fruits.  There is only one Christ, of that there is no doubt, and only one Son.  But He calls each of us to follow in the same dedication, and promises that we, also, will produce "much grain."  We are meant to participate in His life, the one He offers to us in the Eucharist.   Like Christ, we might not be able to see all of the fruits of our lives, or even live to see them, but nevertheless, we are promised the same kind of action and purpose, should we decide to take up our own crosses.  When we lose sight of the productiveness and creativity hidden in sacrifice, then we lose our way, and we enter into a losing battle based on selfishness, and what looks expeditious or opportunistic.  We lose the power hidden in our faith and the teachings of Jesus.  But no matter what the project, life asks of us sacrifices in the name of what is higher or better, and for the purpose of that which is greater.  If you raise a child, it asks sacrifice to do a good job.  If you need to complete a creative project, one must give up one's time and effort that could be put into something else.  A loving marriage asks mutual sacrifice of both persons.  In the end, one must weigh the greater goal against the temporal sacrifice.  When we lose sight of the meanings in suffering, and the transcendent values to be found there, then we lose our way with Christ.  The love in the sacrifice on the Cross cannot be forgone or unseen and still be Christian.  Our faith asks of us a particular effort, and that effort is simply to weigh in our lives everyday the options before us.  What is worthy of us, and what is not?  What are the higher goals?  Whom do we serve?  There is no loss in this sacrifice, only a choice to be made for what produces more fruit, more grain, and especially a higher and greater love.  Let us note that Jesus begins by putting all of this under the umbrella of glory:  "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified."  We are invited into this fellowship to share in that glory, and there is where we should see our own crosses, our own sacrifices for the higher and greater meaning of our lives.

Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment

 

 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true and no unrighteousness is in Him.  Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"  The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."

Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."  Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.  And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"  

The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."  Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"

 

- John 7:14–36 

 

 Yesterday we began reading chapter 7 of John's Gospel, in which Jesus has chosen to walk in Galilee after confrontations with the religious leaders; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because they sought to kill Him.  Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.  His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing.  For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly.  If You do these things, show Yourself to the world."  For even His brothers did not believe in Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.  You go up to this feast.  I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."   When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.  But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.  Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, "Where is He?"  And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him.  Some said, "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people."  However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.

 

 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true and no unrighteousness is in Him."   Let us notice once again Jesus' emphasis on the love of God -- and particularly the honor that comes from God, as opposed to worldly glory.  My study bible comments here that the simple desire to know and follow God's will is the key to understanding it.  Spiritual blindness, it says, comes from an unwillingness to know God or to recognize the authority of God.  Here is the way that St. John Chrysostom paraphrased the words of Christ in this passage:  "Rid yourselves of wickedness:  the anger, the envy, and the hatred which have arisen in your hearts, without provocation, against Me.  Then you will have no difficulty in realizing that My words are actually those of God."  As it is, these passions darken your understanding and distort sound judgment.  If you remove these passions, you will no longer be afflicted in this way."  

"Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"  The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  Jesus is referring to His healing of the paralytic, which took place at a previous religious festival (the Feast of Weeks, commemorating the giving of the Law by Moses); see this reading, and Christ's dispute with the religious leaders which followed (here and here).   In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus gave examples from the Old Testament of blameless violations of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:3-5), and here He refers to circumcision on the Sabbath.  His point is regarding healing and wholeness.  To judge with righteous judgment would mean considering the true purpose of the Sabbath, and Christ's aim to heal and to restore.  See also Mark 2:27.

Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."  My study bible comments that these crowds are mistaken, both in an earthly sense and in a divine sense, when they say, "We know where this Man is from."  In human terms, they think of Jesus as being from Nazareth in Galilee.  But they aren't aware that His birth was actually in Bethlehem (see Luke 2:1-7).   Moreover, they can't understand that He has come from the Father in Heaven, and is eternally begotten before all ages -- and so His divine origin also remains unknown to them.  

Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.  And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"   His hour is the time of His suffering and death.  My study bible comments that Christ is the Lord over time, which is an authority possessed by God alone.  He comes to His Cross of His own free will and in His time, and not according to the plotting of human beings (see also John 8:20, 10:39).  

The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."  Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"  Here Jesus refers to His death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.  But as is a common theme in John's Gospel, Jesus uses everyday language to describe events of great mystical significance, which will later be expounded in the Gospel.  The religious leaders do not understand His meaning and are perplexed.  To go among the Greeks means among the Gentiles, as Greek was the international language of the time.  This unwitting prophecy, according to my study bible, points to the time after Christ's Ascension when His name will be preached among the Gentiles by the apostles.  

When John's Gospel describes the reactions of the people we can see the unfolding popularity of Christ's ministry, and how that plays into this drama of the increasing hostility of the leadership, as well as Christ's preaching.  In yesterday's reading (see above), we were told that there was much complaining among the people concerning Him.  Some said, "He is good"; others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people."  However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.  That is, the term "the Jews" here represents the religious leadership, and is used as a political term.  All the people in the Gospel, except where noted, are Jews, and that includes the author of this Gospel, and Jesus Himself.   John notes for us the conflicts and stirrings among the people around Jesus.  Some say He is good; others say He deceives the people.  And all are afraid of the religious leaders who seek to seize Jesus, and so will not speak openly.  In today's reading, taking place in the middle of the feast, we're told that some people from Jerusalem say, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."   After Jesus responds to this, we're told that the religious leaders sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.  And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"   So by this time, in the middle of this eight-day Feast of Tabernacles, many of the people have come to believe in Him.  And we can clearly see the response of the religious leaders:  the Pharisees seek to arrest Him and send their officers to take Him.  It's almost a picture of the growing and emerging chaos around Jesus in the conflict His ministry stirs among the people as all respond to Him in their own way.  And Jesus is the center of that storm, the One who remains firmly committed to His mission, asserting the truths which He is given to tell to the people, and placing all of His own faith in His communion with the Father.  As the actions continue to swirl about Him, Jesus goes deeper, digging in and revealing new truths about His ministry and hinting at His Passion, death, and Resurrection to come.  Where He goes, they cannot follow, He says, warning them that He will be with them only a little while, and when they seek Him then, they will not be able to find Him.  Jesus emphasizes that He is true to the One who sent Him, whose glory He alone seeks -- and that the One who sent Him is true.  But they do not know Him; their love is not for God, but for the glory they derive from one another, from other human beings.  "Do not judge according to appearance," He says, "but judge with righteous judgment."   And this is really the key to His Gospel, the gist of His warnings that there will come a time when they will seek Him and they won't be able to find Him, because ultimately He Himself will be the Judge.  If they have no love for the One who sent Him, they cannot have love nor understanding of the doctrine He teaches, the compassion to heal on the Sabbath, the good judgment He asks them to prefer above their own valuation of rules and honor.  But in these statements, Jesus doesn't simply speak to the people of His time or the religious leaders of His time.  He speaks to all of us for all of our times.  He speaks to us about times we follow social rules and customs that are nominally meant for good but in fact do harm.  He speaks to all of us when we're asked to judge according to appearances, instead of using good judgment which would be pleasing to God.  He stirs the crowds with His teaching but His real mission is far more urgent than anything that they can imagine, because it is really about life and death, what we care about, and what we ignore.  Jesus links our tendency to judge by appearance, to want the glory that comes from the world -- as opposed to God -- to the ultimate judgment to come, and we have already been told that He is the Judge (see John 5:22-23).  If we are encouraged to judge by appearance, then we are being asked to blind ourselves to the truths Christ taught, for He judges according to the heart and intention, and asks us to do the same.  

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

 

 Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast.  Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, "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."

 

- John 12:20–26 

 

Yesterday we read that a great many in Jerusalem knew that Christ was there for the Passover; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.  But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.  The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:  "Hosanna!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  The King of Israel!"  Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:  "Fear not, daughter of Zion; / Behold, your King is coming, / Sitting on a donkey's colt."  His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.  Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.  For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.  The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing.  Look, the world has gone after Him!"

 

 Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast.  Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, "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."  These Greeks, my study bible explains, are Gentiles who believed in the God of Abraham, and have come to participate in the Passover feast.  Since they are still called "Greeks" it indicates that they were not yet full converts to Judaism.   As Jesus had taught His disciples not to go to the Gentiles (Matthew 10:5, 15:24), the disciples approach Him first before bringing these inquirers to Him.   The hour that He should be glorified is the time of His death on the Cross.  My study bible adds that Christ's obscure response indicates two things.  First, that the answer these Greeks seek will not be found in words, but in the Cross; and second, that the Cross will be teh event that opens all manner of grace to the Gentiles.  

"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."  My study bible comments that the image of the grain of wheat dying in order to bear fruit signifies that Christ's death will give life to the world.  It is traditional in many Orthodox denominations to serve boiled whole grains of wheat, sweetened and spiced, at memorial services for the departed faithful.  It's an affirmation of God's promise that those who have died in Christ will rise again to life.

In today's reading, it's almost as if the meeting of the Greeks from abroad who wish to see Jesus sparks in Him an understanding that this is the sign of His approaching death, the time in which He will be glorified.  In that context, His statement about the grain of wheat that dies in order to produce much grain is sad and wistful, although it is the truth of what will happen.  We can read into it at once the deeply human desire for life, to thrive, and at the same time the acknowledgement that what is to happen will happen for a reason, in order to give life to many.  Have there been times in your life when the Cross came in the form of asking you to give something up, in order to reap a much greater harvest?  Have you made sacrifices in time so that there will be later on a greater abundance or harvest of something?  Speaking strictly of spiritual life and spiritual fruit, there are, of course, many ways this can happen, and each particular to an individual, and also to a particular time in one's life.  Indeed, one can look back upon life and mark intervals by such choices and such sacrifices.  I can remember making a choice to depart from a path of a particular career because I felt it was the way my prayer led me; I may have forgone some financial and other rewards, but my spiritual life had time and space to grow as a result.  I chose to give up development of a career using one particular talent, but found instead gratification in another -- and one which allowed me to use my skills to study and write about the Bible, such as I do on this blog.  And there have been many such choices along the way in which a time of "crisis" became a time of the Cross, a time for making choices, and one which in retrospect exemplified Jesus' example of the grain of wheat falling to the ground in order to give life to much more.  I was simply following my faith and my prayer, and had no idea what lay down the road when I made a change.  But I can look back in retrospect and see the growth Christ is speaking of.  The ultimate sacrifice is, of course, Christ's on the Cross.  He made the choice so that we may all benefit, and take what we receive from Him in so many ways that affirm that in Him is the power of life, and of rejuvenation, revival, resurrection.  Again, when the Cross comes in our own lives we can experience through our faith this process of death and rebirth, such as I did in the various career paths mentioned above.  But it can happen in so many ways.  We might find that life is full of deaths and resurrections, grains of wheat we allow to fall to the ground in order to bring about a harvest of more abundance.  What is most important is that, in following our own prayer to Christ, we place in Him our trust, and know that He went first to show us the way.  He taught us that we must each carry our own cross, and follow Him.  These Greeks who appear at the feast, and seek Him, are in some sense a sign letting Him know that His Gospel is already going to the Gentiles, and that the grain of wheat that will fall in Jerusalem will be one that spreads a harvest out to the whole world.  Jesus gives to His disciples -- and thereby to us -- an image which will serve posterity so that we understand what is happening, and what will happen, in the proper context of the faith and Jesus' broader mission.  Let us keep in mind that His ministry and mission remain ongoing.  The fruit of that grain of wheat continue to be produced and to spread, to be experienced in the world by more and more people, and in new and broadening ways.  When we participate in His life, so we also participate in this death and rebirth, this giving up of a little in exchange for so much more.  We enter into His life, and into the life of His ministry by laboring in these same fields He planted.  Jesus says, "He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life."  What of your life do you exchange for the greater life He promises to you?  Into which labor do you enter?

If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority

 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.  Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"   The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."

Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."  Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.  And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?" 

The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."  Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"

- John 7:14-36

On Saturday we read that Jesus practiced His ministry in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him.  (The lectionary has skipped over chapter 6 for now, and we have begun reading in chapter 7.)  Now the Jews' Feast of Tabernacles was at hand.  His brothers therefore said to Him, "Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing.  For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly.  If You do these things, show Yourself to the world."  For even His brothers did not believe in Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.  The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil.  You go up to this feast.  I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come."  When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.  But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.  Then the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, "Where is He?"  And there was much complaining among the people concerning Him.  Some said, "He is good"; other said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people."  However, no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews.

 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.  And the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  Jesus answered them and said, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.  If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.  He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him."  We recall that Jesus is at the Feast of Tabernacles, an eight-day autumn harvest festival, commemorating the time when Israel wandered in the desert of Sinai, led by Moses.  Here my study bible comments that the simple desire to know and follow God's will is the key to understanding it.  Spiritual blindness comes from unwillingness to know God or to recognize the authority of God over our lives and our existence in the created cosmos.  My study bible quotes St. John Chrysostom, who paraphrases Christ:  "Rid yourselves of wickedness:  the anger, the envy, and the hatred which have arisen in your hearts, without provocation, against Me.  Then you will have no difficulty in realizing that My words are actually those of god.  As it is, these passions darken your understanding and distort sound judgment.  If you remove these passions, you will no longer be afflicted in this way."

"Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law?  Why do you seek to kill Me?"   The people answered and said, "You have a demon.  Who is seeking to kill You?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel.  Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.  If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?  Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."   Jesus turns here to the themes which repeat themselves throughout His reported ministry in the Gospels.  What is a violation of the Sabbath?  What constitutes an act against the will of God?  As in other instances, He here states a "blameless" violation of the Sabbath, that of circumcision, as given by law of Moses (or as the text says, from the fathers).    He cites not only the purpose of the Law, but the full aim of the will of God:  to heal.  To judge with righteous judgment is to do what He has said in the verses above:  to desire above all to do the will of God.

Now some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is this not He whom they seek to kill?  But look!  He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him.  Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ?  However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."  Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, "You both know me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know.  But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me."  My study bible notes that these crowds are mistaken, in two ways.  That is, in both an earthly sense and a divine sense.  As human being, they are thinking of Jesus as being from Nazareth of Galilee, but this is not the truth.  Jesus was born in Bethlehem (7:42; Luke 2:1-7).  Moreover, they can't understand that Christ has come from the Father in Heaven, and as the divine Son He is eternally begotten before all ages.  Therefore, this divine "origin" also remains unknown to them.   The crowds, as reported by John, reflect the confusion of the people regarding Jesus.  But Christ's emphasis remains on the desire to love and serve God, and the wisdom this confers.

Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.  And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"   Christ's hour is the time of His suffering and death.  He is the Lord over time, which is an authority possessed by God alone, as my study bible notes.  Jesus comes to the Cross of His own free will and in His time, and not according to the plots of human beings.  See also 8:20, 10:39.  John repeatedly gives us instances where Christ is the object of murderous intent, but it is not yet His hour.

The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him.  Then Jesus said to them, "I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me.  You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come."   Christ refers to His death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven.  It is a confirmation regarding His total foreknowledge and understanding of the culmination of His mission in the world.

Then the Jews said among themselves, "Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him?  Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?  What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?"  We are reminded yet again that the term the Jews is a political term in John's Gospel, used to denote the leadership.  (As opposed to the people, and the crowd.)   To go among the Greeks is to go among the Gentiles; that is, the Greek-speaking populations of the world, for at this time Greek was the international common language in the way that English is today.  The Dispersion is the Diaspora of the Jews among the Gentile populations.  My study bible says that this is an unwitting prophecy by the leaders (and not the last one; see 11:50), which points to the time after the Ascension, when His name will be preached among the Gentiles by the Apostles. 

The confusion of the crowds speaks volumes.  It tells us about our own places in the world, and how confusing it is to find truth.  Even the leadership are confused as well, and perhaps led even more astray than the crowds are by their own envy and resentment and outrage that Jesus seems to be violating and upstaging their authority.  But Jesus Himself gives us all the key here to understanding Him, His aim, His works, and our own places in the universe.  He gives us one great key to seemingly all things, and in particular to wisdom:  "If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority."  This is the key not only to doing as He teaches:  "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  But it is also given as the key to His own knowledge, when the leaders ask themselves, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?"  What Jesus offers us, then, in today's reading, is the key to discernment, to wisdom, and to good judgment.  That is, a sincere desire to do the will of God, to put our own wills second, and to find and to serve God's will.  This is no easy thing.  It's not simply about following rules written down and interpreted for us somewhere, as the passage clearly illustrates since so much evolves here around Jesus healing on a Sabbath.  The real key to seeking to know and do the will of God is in prayer, in dialogue.  And what is that dialogue like?  So much depends upon silence, upon our own capacity for silence and stillness in prayer.  The Psalmist tells us, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10).  Christ teaches us about intimate prayer with our Father who sees in secret -- even about the importance of "secretness" (if we may call it that).  "Secret" is another word for mystery in the Greek, we must remind ourselves.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches us that when we pray, we are to "go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place" to "your Father who sees in secret" (see Matthew 6:5-6).  Let us consider the practices of monastic prayer designed to take us to this secret place with our Father who sees in secret, such as the Jesus Prayer, and remember that there is in our depth a kind of sacred silence into which we pray.  (Here is a rather thorough article on the practice of the Jesus Prayer, or Prayer of the Heart.)  It is said that God prays in us in silence, with language we're not keen enough to understand as anything but silence.  But this is also a great mystery.  Nevertheless, what remains with us is Christ's great teaching, this great key to all things:  that it is the will to do the will of God that really gets us someplace in life, that gains us the benefit of wisdom and understanding, discernment and good judgment.  This involves great humility, and its cultivation in ourselves, as Jesus says:  "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him."  Let us understand Him.  This is the way of the Cross (see Matthew 16:23-27).  Today is the day on which many branches of the Church commemorate the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary the Mother of God.  How could Mary have heard Gabriel speaking to her?  How could she have given her assent to the will of God?  Let us consider her as the model, even as His mother, for each of us.  Consider her life and what was of most central importance to her, how she remained with Him through all things and even at the Cross.  In humility we listen and accept and seek God's will for our own, even through all the times of our lives.