Reflection for Sunday March 17, Fifth Sunday of Lent: John 12:20-33

Gospel: John 12:20-33

Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 

Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me. 

"I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it and will glorify it again." The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, "An angel has spoken to him." 

Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come for my sake but for yours. Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself." He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.

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Reflection:

The story is told about a middle-aged man who presented himself to his parish priest and asked the priest if he could join the ministry of extra-ordinary ministers of the Holy Communion.  When the priest asked why he desired to join the ministry, he said that he wants to serve the people of God. To make a long story short he was eventually allowed to join the ministry. 

What the priest did not know was this: the middle-aged man lied when he answered that he wants to serve the people of God. Because he only desires to become popular in their community for He loves influence, respect and attention. After six months of serving he was told by the priest not to serve anymore because he was serving for the wrong reason. 

We sometimes seek Jesus with the thought in mind that once we are with Him life would be blissful already. We seek Jesus because we think that the moment we are with Him there would be no more problems and difficulties to overcome. We seek Jesus because we think that He is the panacea for our personal and emotional difficulties. 

In the gospel, there were some Greeks who worshipped at the Passover Feast and wanted to personally see Jesus. For what reason did they want to see Jesus? Were they expecting to witness more miracles from Jesus? Were they expecting to be healed? Were they expecting to hear more life-changing preaching and so forth? 

Yet, Jesus mysteriously tells us in the gospel, as He told Andrew and Philip, that if we want to have a full comprehension of His Lordship, we must be ready to die to our own selfish desires.

We must be ready to throw away our worldly lives in order to have eternal life with Him. And if we really want to serve Him, we must be ready to bear our own cross as He carried and bore His own cross on His way to Calvary. 

A life with Jesus is never easy, but it’s only through Him that you will discover the true meaning of your life. – Marino J. Dasmarinas