It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God"

 

 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.  And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'"  Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"  Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:

'He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you,'

"and,

'In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"

And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"

Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.

 

- Luke 4:1-13 

 

In yesterday's reading, the Gospel tells us that as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire."  And with many other exhortations he preached to the people.  But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison. When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.  And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased."

 

Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness . . .   Luke opens chapter 4 with the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.  The lectionary has skipped over the genealogy of Jesus, given in Luke 3:23-38, in which we're told that Jesus began His ministry "at about thirty years of age."  This account of Christ's time in the wilderness, therefore, happens at the beginning of ministry.  Note that it is the Spirit who led Christ into the wilderness.  My study Bible comments that this exodus of Jesus into the wilderness following His baptism has a dual symbolism.  First, it fulfills the Old Testament type, in which Israel journeyed in the wilderness for forty years after its "baptism" in the Red Sea (Exodus 14); and second, it prefigures out own journey through the fallen world after baptism as we struggle towards the Kingdom ourselves.  

. . . being tempted for forty days by the devil.  And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.  My study Bible remarks that to be tempted is to be tested in fundamental areas of faith.  Christ is tested by a struggle with the devil.  Just as it is the Spirit who leads Christ to this place of testing, we who are baptized in Christ need not be defeated by temptations as we also have the Holy Spirit to help.  My study Bible says that the wilderness is a battleground, an image of the world, both the dwelling place of demons and also a source of divine tranquility and victory.  Christ fasted in order to overcome temptation.  My study Bible says that this gives us an example of our own power and limitations in the face of temptation.  The hunger of His flesh doesn't control Him -- instead, He controls His flesh.  His fast of forty days is the foundation of the Church's forty-day Lenten fast before Holy Week, and a lesser known but also traditional fast before Christmas. 

And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."  Here is the fundamental area of testing for Christ:  the devil begins his challenge with, "If You are the Son of God."  It calls into question the Father's declaration at Christ's Baptism (see yesterday's reading, above).  Everything about Christ's ministry, His signs, His preaching, His word, His authority, His identity, is bound up in His relationship to the Father.  This was particularly emphasized in the readings in John's Gospel, which was our more recent material in the lectionary.  My study Bible comments that in His divine nature, Christ shares one will with the Father and the Holy Spirit; He can do nothing of Himself (John 5:30), apart from the Father.  But in Christ's humanity, He has free will and at all times must make the choice to remain obedient to the divine will of the Father. 

But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'" Jesus rebukes the devil with the truth and power of Scripture, each time He's tempted.  My study Bible comments that it teaches us, the faithful, to become immersed in Scripture in order to resist and drive away every temptation (see Psalm 119:11).  Here Christ rejects an earthly kingdom, showing us not to pursue earthly comfort in the "food which perishes" (John 6:27).  My study Bible comments that while Adam disregarded the divine word in order to pursue the passions of the body (Genesis 3), the New Adam -- Christ -- conquers all temptation by the divine word, giving human nature the power to conquer Satan.  Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 8:3.  My study Bible reminds us that the Israelites were tempted for forty years in the wilderness and proved disobedient and disloyal.  God humbled them first by letting them go hungry and then feeding them with manna to help them learn to be dependent upon Him (Deuteronomy 8:2-5).  Here Jesus is tested with hunger for forty days, but does not sin.  Each rebuke from Christ to the devil comes from the book of Deuteronomy.

Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.  And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.  Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours."  And Jesus answered and said to him, "Get behind Me, Satan!  For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'"   Here the devil seeks to tempt Christ away from the authority given in His relationship to the Father with the devil's worldly authority and glory.  The devil is called "the ruler of this world" (John 12:31), and the "god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4), as the whole world is in his power (1 John 5:19).  He seeks to turn Christ away from the Father and toward himself.  Each time Christ is tempted, He rebukes the devil with Scripture.  This is the same phrase He will use to rebuke Peter when He is tempted not to go to His Passion (and therefore the glory given by the Father; see John 12:16, 23, 28).   My study Bible comments that Christ refuses the road of earthly glory, which would lead Him away from His suffering and death for the redemption of the world.  Here Christ quotes from Deuteronomy 6:13.

  Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here.  For it is written:  'He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"  And Jesus answered and said to him, "It has been said, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.'"  Here the devil tries to win Christ over by quoting Scripture himself (Psalm 91:11-12).  In so doing, he tries vainly to use the Scriptures in order to put God's power of protection to the test (see also 2 Peter 1:19-21).  My study Bible comments that trials and temptations will come on their own.  We should never intentionally expose ourselves to danger in order to test or prove God's protection.  To do so is to tempt the LORD.  Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:16.

Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.  See Luke 22:40-46; 23:35; Matthew 16:21-23.

What does temptation mean to you?  For some people, life is about sticking to their goals, like staying on a diet, for example.  For others, goal-setting becomes something more than a simple desire to have a particular job or a particular appearance to the rest of the world.  Sobriety, for example, is a long-term goal for those who struggle with addiction of all kinds.   To truly struggle with the difficulties that life can put before us becomes a kind of reckoning that addiction-related behavior covers up.  It dulls the pain to some extent, but then creates huge problems of its own.  To try to hide from this struggle often brings more pain and intolerable circumstances.  Ask those who've gone from the frying pain of trauma or difficulty into the fire of addiction and a life that is out of control.  It seems that avoiding the conflict that asks us to separate ourselves from the evil we know only gets us further into problems, for the thing we avoid is still there under the surface, and still remains for us to confront.  Christ's temptation in the wilderness is an example to us all in the sense that it teaches us to face our temptations and make the tough choices.  It teaches us to make the sacrifices in the light of the real end goal, which is the kingdom of God.  Our true stumbling block lies right there:  in the choice to make between serving God and serving something that might sound good but is in truth deceptive in its seductive appeal to our worldly senses.  Let's take a look at the temptations that confront Jesus.  As one who is clearly capable of great leadership, great authority, and the use of power, He's tempted by the devil first of all to use His power to make Himself food, as He's been fasting in preparation for His ministry.  Jesus counters with the understanding that it is only the commands of God that are worth following, and if His commitment to this fast is really His commitment to following the Father's will -- especially for His ministry which is just at its inception -- then His hunger has to come second.  He won't use His power for a lesser or a contradictory goal, even if it sounds good or somehow appropriate.  The next temptation is about authority.  Jesus' authority is not worldly, but is from God the Father for what He is to do in His life.  But the devil's sense of authority is worldly:  if Jesus would only switch His allegiance, love, loyalty, and worship to him (as opposed to God the Father), then Jesus could have all the compelling, dictating, authoritative worldly power He wanted.  We have to think in this context of the worldly power of Caesar, who ruled absolutely and which included worship by his subjects.  But Jesus wields an authority that comes from God, not this worldly sense of the ability to force or to compel.  God's authority must work differently, and it calls people to their own response of loyalty, love, worship, that must be freely given.  Jesus' rejection of the devil's promise of easy ways to find followers and subjects becomes an assertion of the right to worship and the need to serve God alone, nothing less.  Finally the devil offers a temptation to test the power of God, and God's protection and loyalty to Christ Himself.  We know that the Cross will come to Christ, and the way the Father will desire for Him to come to His glory.  But Jesus affirms absolutely His choice of allegiance to the Father.  One should not tempt or test the Lord; there is only communion and relationship -- and that means trust.  For faith, above all in Christ's example, means trust:  Trust to the Father, trust to the Holy Spirit, trust in choosing His disciples and evolving His ministry, trust even in drinking the cup of Crucifixion (John 18:11).  In the end, Jesus remains loyal, facing and meeting every temptation with an affirmation of His first priority, which is to God the Father.  Although none of us has Christ's role as Savior, He sets the example nonetheless for each of us.  For while He will make sacrifices for these choices, so He calls upon us each to take up our own crosses.  He does not promise a simple life full of worldly benefits, but one in which our choices matter -- and in which we are to understand that the hard choices are there to help us grow in His light, to become stronger human beings, to understand that sacrifice will not kill us, but will instead bring us something better for us than the temptation we refuse.  He asks us to feed our souls with the good bread that sustains more deeply than temporal nourishment, and all else will be added (Matthew 6:33).  In modern psychology, it is understood that the avoidance of such choices -- especially through addiction to substances such as alcohol or drugs -- actually becomes an avoidance of growth and maturity.  What we don't seek to cope with in a healthy way, which may always involve a sacrifice of one kind or another, becomes our loss.  We miss out on what is actually better for us.  I would suggest that faith is the best way of coping, of finding compassion for our pain, One who listens and hears prayers, and the support one finds through a great cloud of witnesses.  Like Christ, we may seem to be alone at times by worldly standards, but the truth is that we are never alone (John 16:32).  Some people believe, falsely, that faith can be a crutch or a drug of some sort.  But faith becomes strength.  The truth is that the faith of Christ asks us to face the world and see it as it truly is, to make our choices, and to find the best way to grow and to cope, even in an imperfect world full of temptations and tests.  Let us learn from Him and follow His example.  Don't be fooled by false promises; Christ is the real deal.   For He is here for the life of the world (John 6:33)

 

And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased"

 

 Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire."  And with many other exhortations he preached to the people.  But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison. 

When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.  And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased."

 

- Luke 3:15-22 

 

In yesterday's lectionary reading, we began the Gospel of Luke.  First, Luke's prologue:  Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.   From here, the lectionary began chapter 3:  Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.  And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:  "The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  'Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.  Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"  Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "Brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'  For I say to you that God is able to  raise up children to Abraham from these stones.  And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees.  Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."  So the people asked him, saying, "What shall we do then?"  He answered and said to them, "He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise."  Then the tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?"  And he said to them, "Collect no more than what is appointed for you."  Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, "And what shall we do?"  So he said to them, "Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages."  

 

  Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire."  And with many other exhortations he preached to the people.  In this context, my study Bible notes, fire has the primary meaning of the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is given to the world at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4).  Moreover, "fire" declares the judgment of Christ, in which the faithless will burn (see 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10; 2:8).  We must note also that this fire is one.  It is the same Power and the same Spirit which both enlivens the faithful and destroys the faithless.  

But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.  Herod Antipas, the tetrarch or ruler of Galilee (popularly called king) had divorced his own wife, and married his brother Philip's wife Herodias while Philip was still living.  John the Baptist preached publicly against this marriage as unlawful as it violated Mosaic law.  Herod Antipas, like his father Herod the Great, ruled for Rome, although the family adopted Jewish customs and nominally called themselves Jews.

When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened.  And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, "You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased."  My study Bible comments that Jesus Himself does not need baptism.  However, in being baptized, He accomplished several things, which my study Bible lists as follows:  (1) He affirmed the ministry of John the Baptist; (2) He was revealed by the Father and the Holy Spirit to be the Christ, the beloved Son of God;  (3) He identified with His people by descending into the waters with them;  (4) He prefigured His own death, giving baptism its ultimate meaning;  (5)  He entered the waters, thereby sanctifying the water itself; (6) He fulfilled the many types given in the Old Testament, as when Moses led the people from bondage through the Red Sea (Exodus 14) and when the ark of the covenant was carried into the Jordan so the people could enter the Promised Land (Joshua 3; 4); and (7) He opened heaven to a world separated from God through sin.  

 

Possibly the most stunning aspect of Christ's baptism is what is called Epiphany ("Manifestation," "Showing forth"), or more closely, Theophany ("Revelation of God").  This is worthy of a paragraph on its own, for here is the appearance of the Holy Trinity.  The Son is revealed by the descent of the Holy Spirit and by the voice of the Father.  My study Bible calls this the greatest and clearest public manifestation of God as Trinity in human history.  It was, since the ancient founding of the Church, celebrated on January 6th, and remains so in the Eastern Churches as a whole.  In the earliest years of the Church, Christ's Birth and Baptism were celebrated on this same day, as remains the case in the Armenian Apostolic Church, which has never separated the holidays.  My study Bible adds that the words spoken by the Father also apply to everyone who is baptized and lives faithfully, as sonship is bestowed by adoption (Galatians 4:4-7).  The Holy Spirit appearance as a dove is not an incarnation -- we should understand it, rather, as a visible sign for the people.  This moreover fulfills the type prefigured at the Flood.  My study Bible cites the commentary of Theophylact of Ohrid:  "Just as a dove announced to Noah that God's wrath had ceased, so too the Holy Spirit announces here that Christ has reconciled us to God by sweeping sin away in the flood waters of baptism."  

If we think about what it means here that, right at the very starting point of Christ's ministry, we are given this Epiphany or Theophany, we can see it in differing ways.  First of all, it is a heavenly declaration to the world regarding Christ.  Not only is He the Son, as revealed in the appearance of the Holy Spirit and the voice of the Father, but it teaches the world that where the Son is, there the other two divine Persons of the Trinity are as well.  It is, in and of itself, a revelation to the world of the Holy Trinity, and thus the foundation, or starting point, of Christian theology.  While during this period in Judaism (frequently referred to as "Second Temple" Judaism), the various names for God which already existed in Old Testament Scriptures were debated and discussed as possible differing Persons of God, this event seals the Trinitarian understanding for Christianity.  Moreover, it is intriguing that it takes place as Jesus submits Himself to the baptism of John the Baptist, for He certainly does not need to do this for the sake of repentance, nor, obviously, in preparation for the coming of the Christ, Himself.  In Matthew's Gospel, John the Baptist protests, saying to Jesus, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?"  But Jesus insists, saying, "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then, we're told, he allowed Him (Matthew 3:13-15).  So therefore it opens to us to ponder what it means that Jesus and John thus "fulfill all righteousness."  It is a time of the handing off of public authority in some sense, from John, who is the last and greatest of the Old Testament prophets, to Jesus, the Christ or Messiah.  It clearly provides an opening to the whole world, through the manifestation of the Trinity and the declaration that Jesus is Son, that a New Covenant is now also going to be made manifest to the world.  It is safe to assume that Jesus' submission to Baptism, in addition to achieving all of the things my study Bible lists (as reported in the preceding paragraph), is something He does by command of the Father, without whom Jesus does nothing.  What seems explicit in Luke's Gospel, which we've just begun reading from yesterday's lectionary assignment, is that Luke centers us within history.  He marks events with a clear delineation of human time scale, by explicitly naming who is in authority in each worldly realm that is relevant.  He begins the chapter by noting that these events take place "in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests" (Luke 3:1-2).  Luke gives us a clear sense, then, of God "disrupting" human time, intervening within a setting of history, making an appearance to us within the worldly time and events we experience.  While a Theophany like this astonishing one-of-a-kind event is rare, it does not preclude the kind of epiphany we might experience in the life of the Church, in prayer or worship, in communion or through the sacraments, in prayer before a candle or icon, or any number of ways in which some sort of spiritual understanding is conveyed to us.  It is an announcement to us, not only of the Trinity and of Christ the Son, but also intimates to us that God appears in the middle of our worldly lives, intervenes, comes to us in ways unexpected and unanticipated.  Just as we are expected to live our faith through our worldly lives, God intersects with the world.  Nothing makes this more clear than the Incarnation of Christ itself, God become human.   It is the good news that indeed, God is here, present with us, always knowing and listening, and not so far away at all.  There is nowhere "off limits" and God finds a way to find us, even in a wilderness of unknowns -- or even where the worldly certainties would seem to crowd God out altogether. 

So the people asked him, saying, "What shall we do then?"

 

 Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.

* * *

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.  And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:

"The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

'Prepare the way of the LORD;

Make His paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled

And every mountain and hill brought low;

The crooked places shall be made straight

And the rough ways smooth;

And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "Brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'  For I say to you that God is able to  raise up children to Abraham from these stones.  And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees.  Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."  

 

So the people asked him, saying, "What shall we do then?"  He answered and said to them, "He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise."  Then the tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?"  And he said to them, "Collect no more than what is appointed for you."  Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, "And what shall we do?"  So he said to them, "Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages." 

 

- Luke (1:1–4) 3:1–14 

 

On Saturday, we read the final reading in John chapter 12, as Jesus spoke at the Passover Feast after His Triumphal Entry:   Then Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.   And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.   I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.  And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.  He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him -- the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.  For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.  And I know that His command is everlasting life.  Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."

 

  Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed.  My study Bible comments that although Luke was not a disciple from the beginning, he has perfect understanding of the gospel because his sources were the apostles themselves, the eyewitnesses of Christ.  Luke wrote his Gospel to Theophilus, who was a prominent Gentile who had received Christian instruction (see also Acts 1:1).  It cites St. Ambrose, who notes that Theophilus can simply mean any "lover of God," and therefore he writes, "If you love God, it was written to you."

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.   As in the beginning of his Gospel (see Luke 1:5), Luke is careful to note the historical setting of the events his Gospel narrates.  My study Bible comments that an ancient prophecy of Jacob indicated the Messiah would come when a king ruled who was not from the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10).  Jesus was born under the ruler of Herod the Great, who was a non-Jew who called himself king of the Judea.  Now at this beginning point of Christ's ministry, while John the Baptist is preaching his own call to repentance in preparation for Christ, Herod's sons rule as tetrarchs.  Herod the tetrarch of Galilee is also known to us as Herod Antipas.  Caiphas was now the sole high priest, but people also recognized the continuing power of his father-in-law Annas, a previous high priest who was deposed by the Romans.

And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins . . .  My study Bible comments that the call to repentance was tradition for prophets.  John's baptism did not grant remission of sins once and for all, but prefigured and prepared people for the baptism of Christ which was to come (see Romans 6:3-11).  John is a figure of the Law in that, like the Law, he denounced sin but could not remit (literally "put away") sin.  Both John and the Law point to the One who can remit sin.  

 

. . . as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:  "The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  'Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths straight.  Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"  The voice of one crying in the wilderness (as quoted here from Isaiah 40:3-5) is ascribed by John the Baptist to himself, in his role in the story of the Christ, in John 1:23. 

Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "Brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.'  For I say to you that God is able to  raise up children to Abraham from these stones.  And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees.  Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."  My study Bible comments that while parents and ancestors help impart piety and holiness, ancestry itself does not make one worthy of God.  It notes that each person in every generation must bear fruits worthy of repentance.  Stones symbolize the Gentiles who would become children to Abraham through faith in Christ (Romans 4:16-18).  

So the people asked him, saying, "What shall we do then?"  He answered and said to them, "He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise."  Then the tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?"  And he said to them, "Collect no more than what is appointed for you."  Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, "And what shall we do?"  So he said to them, "Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages."   Like Jesus' teaching about Judgment in the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46, John the Baptist counsels compassion as a standard rule for behavior and living a life of repentance.  Those who are well-to-do should share with the poor.  The tax collectors, who frequently practiced extortion as a matter of course, are told to do their job honestly and collect no more than their appointed share.  The soldiers serving Rome frequently did the same, and so could use their rank to intimidate and extort; they also are to be content with their wages.  

Let us make an immediate observation about John the Baptist's teachings to those who ask him what they should do to practice repentance in preparation for the Lord.  While our immediate commentary was on its entrenched prescription of compassion, which is so elegantly echoed by Christ in the parable of the sheep and the goats, and His specific prescriptions of visiting those who are sick, or hungry, or in prison (Matthew 25:31-46), we might also make another observation about them, and that is that -- yes, while all are acts which involve compassion -- they also involve sacrifice.  In other words, John tells the people to share with those who have less than they do; he tells the tax collectors to collect only what they can do honestly and without extortion, and the same thing he tells to the soldiers:  to do without the extra they can collect through dishonest, manipulative, and violent means.  (It would seem that the latter was quite a standard practice.)  He was telling them -- and also us, today -- that the decent and humble behavior that goes with honor is an important part of repentance, of living as though we expect the Lord at any minute and are aware of His power of judgment.  This might not seem like great, heroic expectation, nor is it highly exciting or ambitious, but it is the stuff of living a decent life and being as honest as we can within our particular sphere of where we are and who we are in the world.  In these days of competition about whose "wokeness" is greater, whose sense of compassion can be publicly expressed so as to elicit the most approval and good public relations, we can look to John the Baptist's more modest prescriptions about doing the best we can in the ways our jobs and lives permit as something more reasonable and bearing the hallmarks of truth and familiarity with the reality of people's lives in a much deeper way than today's media often allow us to think about.  We don't need a special secret superpower to be the kind of responsible person to God that John says we can be.  Neither do we need to spread the word about our good deeds to the whole world.  In fact, in John's more realistic picture of life here, we might be better off if we do not do that.  While John sought to prepare people for Christ, for the gospel message and for Christian baptism, his realistic teaching to the people who ask him for help puts us in mind of an event broadcast around the world today, the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.  While attitudes about the British monarchy in particular or monarchy in general may vary, Queen Elizabeth -- at least for today -- is being praised for her capacity for self-denial in responsibly discharging her duties in her position.  She seems never to have openly taken sides in a political dispute among her subjects, even to have allowed those close to her to hear a political opinion one way or another.  In an age where we are used to seeing emotional expression all about us, the Queen remembered her role and seems to have played her part without personal bias or feeling overriding her responsibility, whether that be a political opinion or personal feelings.  In that sense, she stands praised today as someone who gave an example of what it was to serve dutifully, and put her private feelings and desires aside, yet caring to express compassion in ways still fitting to duty and protocol.  In this day when so many are praising -- at least for today -- this capacity for sacrifice, let us remember the humble and honest words of John the Baptist.  For each of us are capable of doing likewise in our own ways -- and more than that, we are each called to do so.

 

 

I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness

 

 Then Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.   And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.   I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.  And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.  He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him -- the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.  For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.  And I know that His command is everlasting life.  Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."

 

- John 12:44-50 

 

Yesterday we read that Jesus taught, "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.  But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:  "Lord, who has believed our report?  And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?" Therefore they could not believe, because Isiah said again:  "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them."  These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.  Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.   

 

 Then Jesus cried out and said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.   And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.   I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness."  As He has done so often in John's Gospel, Jesus ties everything about Himself, His identity, His mission, and His ministry to the Father.   If we believe in Him, we believe in the Father who sent Him.  Unequivocally, He tells them that to see Him is to see the Father.   In our recent readings, Jesus has spoken of Himself as the light; Here that light into the world is clearly tied to the Father as well.  

"And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.  He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him -- the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.  For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.  And I know that His command is everlasting life.  Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."   My study Bible explains that Christ does not judge with favoritism or partiality.  It notes that He has spoken the words of life, words of love, forgiveness, repentance, virtue, and mercy.  His words will be the unbending standard by which all people are judged on the last day.  

In John's sixth chapter, Jesus teaches, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63).  Here, in tying even the words He speaks to the commands of the Father, He says that the word He speaks will be the judge, for the Father's command is everlasting life.  Again, this is an echo of something earlier in the Gospel, a statement from St. Peter which Jesus also attributes to an understanding coming from the Father:  "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (John 6:68).  Ultimately, Jesus speaks of authority.  This includes His own authority as given by the Father, but also the authority in the words He teaches and gives to us, for they also come directly from the Father.  They are the commands He has been given by the Father, and they are commands given though Him to us.  In this way, these authoritative words and teachings may act as our judge, the standard by which we're measured.  Let us note that His emphasis is on our receipt of these words, on our faith.  It is not a standard that tells us that our lives are measured by the outcome of how closely we have managed to follow, but rather by our faith.  This is about the hearts and minds of those who receive, not by how perfectly we always manage to measure up -- but by our effort and sincerity, or so it seems to me.  We have the example of St. Peter, who denied Christ three times while He was in trial at the home of the high priest (Matthew 26:69-75, Luke 22:54-62).  This was his failing, but we know also of the forgiveness given to him and his subsequent life of service to Christ and the Church as well as his standing among the other apostles.  We are all disciples on a learning curve, and so we must carefully consider Christ's words as given from One whose chief identity is one of love and compassion.  This is about faithfulness, a kind of loyalty and love in the heart -- one characterized by receiving the words of Christ as those powerful with "everlasting life," with authority, that contain the power of redemption and resurrection for all of us.  He knows us as imperfect beings, living in a world of darkness as He says, but those who deeply need His word that is a light to us.  For we are not judged harshly, but with compassion and love, and so much depends upon our own capacity for the same.  Once again, as we have so often noted, we are offered a choice.  Do we accept His word or do we not?  Can we take it in and seek to live it in faith?  Can we take it to heart?  It is the light through the darkness of a world which remains violent and full of conflict, in which we struggle to live the life He teaches.  Where is your light to guide you, and how deeply do your cherish the flame He gives us (Matthew 5:14-16, 2 Peter 1:16-21)?  For this is the way of everlasting life.

 

Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

 

 "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.  But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:

"Lord, who has believed our report?

And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?"

Therefore they could not believe, because Isiah said again:

"He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,

Lest they should see with their eyes,

Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,

So that I should heal them."

These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.

Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. 

 

- John 12:36-43 

 

The setting of yesterday's reading is just after Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, having been welcomed by crowds with a messianic joy, and with all kinds of expectations of Him.  But He began to teach about His coming Passion.  In yesterday's reading, He said, "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say?  'Father, save Me from this hour'?  But for this purpose I came to this hour.  Father, glorify Your name."  Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."  Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered.  Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him."  Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.  Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.  And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."  This He said, signifying by what death He would die.  The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up/"  Who is this Son of Man?"  Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you.  Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.  While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."  These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.

 

 "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.  But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:  "Lord, who has believed our report?  And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?"  Today's reading begins by repeating Jesus' statement from yesterday's reading:  "While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."  John's Gospel has, from its beginning, referred to Jesus as the light, and here He also refers to Himself as that light (see John 1:4-9; 3:19; 8:12; 9:5; 11:9-10; 12:35).  His emphasis is on faith, belief.  But here we are confronted with non-belief, and how faith exists or does not exist in the heart of a human being.  The quotation is from Isaiah 53:1, a prophesy regarding the Messiah.

Therefore they could not believe, because Isiah said again:  "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them."  These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.  My study Bible notes the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, who teaches that Isaiah's prophecy does not mean that God causes spiritual blindness in people who would otherwise have been faithful.  This is a figure of speech which is common in Scripture, and reveals God as giving people up to their own devices.  There is a similar understanding in Romans 1:24-26.  To say that He has blinded them is to say that God has permitted their self-chosen blindness (compare Exodus 8:15, 32 with Exodus 10:20, 27).  The people did not become blind because God spoke through Isaiah; Isaiah spoke because he foresaw their blindness.  The quotation is from Isaiah 6:10.  Isaiah . . . saw His [Christ's] glory in about 700 BC (Isaiah 6:1) and spoke of Him in many places through the length of his extensive prophecy. 

Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.  According to St. John Chrysostom, my study Bible notes, these rulers are in truth the worst of slaves.  They are enslaved by the opinions of men.  This keeps them from leading as God would have them lead. 

Once again, the Gospel emphasizes that we have a choice.  Belief is a matter of accepting a truth that roots itself in the heart, that comes through the approach of God.  How do we perceive this light?  Where does this perception of light and spiritual truth come from?  Which part of ourselves is capable of discerning it, of taking it in and nurturing it?   In the tradition of Greek philosophy there existed the concept of what in Greek is called the "nous" (pronounced noos).   Some consider it merely to be the intellect, but in the tradition of the Church and theology it came to be understood as the specific faculty capable not just of discursive reason but also of apprehension of things beyond ourselves, spiritual truth, spiritual reality.  It encompasses both mind and heart, in the sense that the heart indicates the center of a person, of the soul, the place that unites soul, spirit, mind:  the intellect and intuition.  This is a place that is not only aware of who we are and what we are, but which can permeate experience with meaning, especially that which is given through prayer and other ways in which the things of God reach to us and communicate with us in the subtle language of this kind of perception.   It is this place of light that constitutes spiritual illumination, and it permeates our lives and the fullness of who we are:  body, soul, spirit, mind -- and mingles with our experiences and our walk in the world.  Hence, Christ's words, "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" (John 12:35).  Prophets and saints throughout the ages saw by this light and spoke by this light.  But clearly, and for all kinds of reasons, this light is neither understood nor perceived by many; there are those who are blind to it, and those who prefer the darkness without it.  At least, this is the language of Scripture, and especially John's Gospel.  Hence, Isaiah's questions, "Lord, who has believed our report?  And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?"  In Christ's foundation parable about Himself, the parable of the Sower, He speaks of many reasons why the seed of His truth does not take root.  One of them is illustrated by allegorical thorns that choke the word, said by Christ to be the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches (Matthew 13:22).  In today's reading, John indicates that for many of the rulers on the Council, the truth of Christ was clear to them, but choked from fruition because "they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God."  They feared exclusion and isolation, being put out of the synagogue by the Pharisees who had chosen as a body to oppose Christ.  (Nonetheless, John's Gospel tells us that Christ had followers among them.  Nicodemus in particular is a Pharisee and also a believer in Christ.)  But this particular fear, of being excluded, socially isolated, stripped of place and position, remains a great power in our world today, and especially through the prominence of social media.  We're all familiar with bullying and what it does, in school among children as well as in the workplace among adults.  We know the impact of exclusion on our lives, psychologically and materially.  We also know the impact that psychological and social isolation can have on our physical health.   But the Scriptures teach us that nonetheless, we are called to faith and to live our faith.  The heroic life of the early believers in Christ makes that clear, and our Savior's Passion sets that example regarding the strongest, highest, and best calling that we have.  We have to consider clearly what a desire to accept this light and live it means to us.  We will always find the compassion and love of God, even when we are called to sacrifice something worldly for that love.  Again, Isaiah asks, "Who has believed our report?  And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?"  The prophets and saints we know chose to live this calling, even at the risk of life, reputation, belonging.  Let us seek God's light for ourselves, and our own particular way we are to live it.  Let us ask for the discernment to walk in the way we're called through the world and the thorns it seeks to bring to us today.  For we are called not to be a part of the darkness of the world -- He calls us out of the world (John 15:19):  to walk in the light and become His children of light.   When we love the praise of men more than the praise of God we so easily stumble in our own darkness, our self-imposed blindness.  

 

 

While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light

 

 "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say?  'Father, save Me from this hour'?  But for this purpose I came to this hour.  Father, glorify Your name."  Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."  Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered.  Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him."  Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.  Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.  And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself."  This He said, signifying by what death He would die.  The people answered Him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up/"  Who is this Son of Man?"  Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you.  Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.  While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light."  These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them.

 

- John 12:27-36 

 

Yesterday we read that 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."

 

  "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."  My study Bible points out that here Christ reveals His human will, the natural human response to His impending Passion.  But nonetheless, He aligns Himself with the will of the Father, even as He is fully human as fully divine.  

 

"Father, glorify Your name."   Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."  The Father's name is an extension of His Person.  My study Bible says that the Son's death completes the purpose of the Father and shows His love for all, thereby glorifying Him.  He is effectively saying, "Father, lead Me to the Cross."  This is Christ's divine response to the human prompting to avoid the Cross.  The Father's response, additionally, refers to the sign already performed by Christ and also to the death and Resurrection to come.

 

 Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."  Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered.  Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him."  Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake."  Although the Father spoke clearly, those who stood by heard indistinct sounds like thunder.  My study Bible comments that this is because they lacked faith.  Those with a little faith heard the words but did not know the source, thinking it was an angel.  The disciples knew the Father Himself had spoken, as indicated in Jesus' response, "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.  Lifted up is a reference to Jesus being hung on the Cross (see also John 3:14-15; 8:28).  My study Bible notes 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 Gospel has referred to Christ as the light (John 1:4-9), and Christ has referred to Himself as the light (John 8:12).  My study Bible says that His teaching here has many facets of meaning.  First, He will shortly be completing His public ministry.  Moreover, our own lives are very limited; we have only a short time to repent and to believe in Christ before death.  Finally, the second coming of Christ is but a little while compared to eternity. 

Jesus calls Himself light, and speaks of our journey through life as walking in the world.  It is His light we need to make sure we are on the right path, making the good choices of God.  He has called Himself the light of the world (John 8:12).  If we believe in the light, He says, we may become sons of light.  That is, children of light.   So, we may ask ourselves again, more deeply as the Gospel moves along toward Christ's Passion, what does it mean to be children of light, to be faithful to Christ?  Here Jesus clearly ties together faith and being.  What we put our faith and trust into, we bear likeness to, and we may become more so by walking in the light -- living according to this faith.  This is not a promise of some sort of fairy tale life, nor a promise of self-aggrandizement in some sense.  What it is, is a promise that we might have spiritual truth revealed to us and integrated into our way of being in the world, a sense of what it is to become more like Him and to follow God's judgment and discernment for our lives.  We seek His light in order to become the kind of people who seek His prudent counsel, who understand the purpose and meaning of sacrifice, and who do not fool themselves either about the nature of His light nor of the world.  In chapter 11, we were told that Caiaphas, in his role as high priest that year, advocated to the Council that they put Christ to death.  He said it this way:  "You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish."  But we understand these words to be inadvertent prophecy, and fulfilling the role of high priest in so doing, because they teach us about Christ's mission and work, although as a man, Caiaphas meant something quite different.  (Jesus says, "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.")  Christ's death would have the effect of gathering together Jews and Gentiles in one faith, and this is the power of His sacrifice, and fulfillment of the Father's will.  At the same time, it is a defeat of the enemy, whose final weapon is death (1 Corinthians 15:26).  What we might come to understand for ourselves, as Jesus speaks of the light, and of walking in the light, is that the sacrifices we might be called to make will be in some sense also serving this higher purpose of Christ's calling, of serving the light and becoming more "like Him," becoming, in effect, His children.  We are to understand, as we've frequently commented on the life of the Cross, that He calls us to exchange one life for another, an "earthly" life for one suffused with this kind of light, the light of spiritual reality and an understanding of discernment and higher purpose.  This is not a formula for instant gratification and happiness, but it is one of belonging to something transcendent and meaningful, one that teaches us about love and the emptiness of serving only materialism, a way of life that sees nothing of deep value and cannot recognize its own darkness.  Christ's light is one that illumines the way to discernment, to find a true worth and meaning in a world of competing interests, ruthless violence, and endless manipulation.  This is the light that shines in the darkness, the light of the world.  What side would you choose?  Whose light would you bear into the world?  Who do you choose to guide you? In 1 Corinthians 15:35-49, St. Paul speaks of glory, of the difference between the life of the Resurrection, and the various types of glory we might observe.  Here in today's passage, we are asked to ponder what type of glory we might want for ourselves, for there is the "glory" of the world and what it admires and envies and elevates especially through our media and public relations and all the means of the powerful, and then there is the glory of the light of Christ.  We might well want both, but so often we are asked instead to choose.  Whose light will draw you forward with love and truth?

 

 

 

 

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.