Planting the Seed

Gospel Jn 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.

Sorry; really late with this one. I've been busy seeing the sights of Barcelona.

As usual, there is something funny in this gospel passage—funny odd, if not joke funny. A group of Greeks have come, no doubt from a long way, and wish to meet Jesus. Jesus is asked directly if they can see him—and he does not answer. Instead, he talks of the kind of death he is about to die.

What gives?

I think the point is that the arrival of Greeks seeking Jesus signals that it is time for the crucifixion. If the Greeks are aware of it, and concerned about it, that means the message of Jesus's death and resurrection will spread throughout the world. Most of the Ancient world was then Hellenized, as a result of Alexander's Empire plus the prestige of Greek culture in Rome; if the good news was spread in Greek, it would quickly reach as far as Spain and Britain in the West, and Afghanistan and what is now Pakistan in the East. From there, trade routes could carry it further east--as in fact happened.

Whoever loves his life loses it,
and whoever hates his life in this world
will preserve it for eternal life.

There is a passage in the “Hail Holy Queen” that refers to the human condition as “mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.” A priest friend of mine scoffed at that, insisting that all things were really for the best in this best of all possible worlds. I thought he was wrong then, and this gives clear Biblical warrant that he was. If you are happy with this life, something is wrong. The “ruler of this world” is plainly not God, as this passage makes clear; it is Satan.