Fifth Sunday of Easter, cycle B

JOHN 12:20-33
SIR, WE WOULD LIKE TO SEE JESUS. WERE THE GREEKS IN THIS STORY CURIOUS, JUST TAKING A TOUR OF THE HOLY LAND, MEANING TO TAKE IN ALL THE SIGHTS AND MEET THE LOCAL CHARACTERS? OR IS THERE SOMETHING MORE GOING ON? JOHN IS THE ONLY ONE WHO TELLS THIS STORY, AND IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE REMEMBER THAT JOHN IS WRITING HIS GOSPEL FOR A GENTILE COMMUNITY, A “GREEK” COMMUNITY. AND JOHN MAKES SURE WE REALIZE THAT THESE GREEKS ARE FOREIGNERS, GENTILES, BECAUSE HE HAS THEM APPROACHING PHILIP, AN APOSTLE WITH A GREEK NAME, WHO CAME FROM BETHSAIDA, A TOWN IN NORTHERN ISRAEL WHERE THERE WERE A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO SPOKE GREEK. JOHN HIGHLIGHTS THIS MOMENT, BECAUSE IN HIS GOSPEL, WHEN JESUS ENCOUNTERS GENTILES WHO WISH TO HEAR WHAT HE HAS TO SAY, ACCORDING TO THE PROPHETS THIS IS THE SIGNAL FOR JESUS THAT HIS PASSION IS ABOUT TO START. AND THAT IS THE REASON THAT JESUS BEGINS TO TALK ABOUT HIS PASSION.
WHEN YOU READ THIS WHOLE PASSAGE, IT ALMOST SEEMS THAT THE FIRST PART, THE PART ABOUT THE GREEKS, HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SECOND PART. BUT THE TWO PARTS ARE RELATED.
JESUS NOT ONLY TALKS ABOUT HIS FORTHCOMING PASSION, BUT IN TALKING ABOUT IT, HE MAKES SURE THAT HIS HEARERS KNOW THAT WHAT HE IS ABOUT TO UNDERGO, HIS FOLLOWERS MUST AS WELL. WHERE I AM, HE SAYS, THERE MY SERVANT MUST BE.
JESUS SPEAKS ABOUT A GRAIN OF WHEAT FALLING TO THE GROUND AND DYING, AND ONLY THEN CAN IT BEAR MUCH FRUIT; HE SAYS THAT ONLY IF WE HATE OUR LIVES WILL WE SAVE THEM. JESUS IS REFERRING TO HIS OWN PASSION AND DEATH; BUT HE IS ALSO REFERRING TO HIS FOLLOWERS, AND WANTS TO MAKE IT CLEAR THAT WHAT HE IS ABOUT TO DO, WE MUST DO AS WELL.
WHEN I WAS IN MY TEENS, I GOT MY HANDS ON A PLAYBOY MAGAZINE. PLAYBOY USED TO BE A MUCH MORE WIDELY CIRCULATED MAGAZINE THAN IT IS NOW, AND IT WAS ALMOST RESPECTABLE. BEING A NERD, I SKIPPED OVER THE CENTERFOLD AND DISCOVERED THAT THE PUBLISHER OF THE MAGAZINE HAD A SECTION CALLED “THE PLAYBOY PHILOSOPHY”. I READ THIS, READ ANOTHER SECTION FROM ANOTHER MAGAZINE, AND DISCOVERED, AFTER A WHILE, THAT IT WAS GETTING REPETITIVE, SO I NEVER ACTUALLY READ THE WHOLE THING. BUT IT WAS A CONSISTENT PHILOSOPHY. MR. HEFNER'S VERY WINDY AND VERBOSE TREATISE COULD BE BOILED DOWN TO THE IDEA THAT SATISFYING YOUR PLEASURES SHOULD BE YOUR HIGHEST PRIORITY. OF COURSE YOU SHOULDN'T HURT OTHER PEOPLE IN THIS PURSUIT, AND YOU SHOULD PAY ENOUGH ATTENTION TO POLITICS TO MAKE SURE EXTERNAL FORCES WOULD NOT GET IN YOUR WAY. AND LEST YOU THINK THAT MR. HEFNER WAS PROMOTING MASSIVE EXCESS, HE WAS NOT; HE IN FACT FELT THAT IF YOU WERE GOING TO EXPERIENCE AS MUCH PLEASURE AS POSSIBLE IN YOUR LIFE, THAN YOU HAD TO SEE TO IT THAT YOU KEPT YOUR BODY IN REASONABLY GOOD SHAPE AND GOOD HEALTH. BUT PERSONAL PLEASURE WAS THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERED.
I SAW A PICTURE OF HIM THE OTHER DAY. HE'S IN HIS MID-EIGHTIES. HE STILL LIVES IN HIS MANSION, SURROUNDED BY PRETTY GIRLS, PARTYING FROM MORNING TO NIGHT, OR AS MUCH AS HE CAN AT THIS AGE. BUT HIS EYES ARE EMPTY AND HIS FACE LOOKS RAVAGED. HE IS FACING HIS DEATH, AND HE KNOWS IT. AND A LIFE DEVOTED TO PLEASURE HAS PRECIOUS LITTLE TO SHOW FOR IT AT THE END.
WHERE I AM, THERE MY SERVANT SHALL BE. WE ALL HAVE AT LEAST A LITTLE OF THE PLAYBOY PHILOSOPHY IN US. IT IS THE PULL OF ORIGINAL SIN, THE VOICE IN US THAT SAYS, “I DON'T CARE WHAT GOD SAYS, THAT FRUIT ON THAT TREE LOOKS MIGHTY TASTY.” BUT IF WE ARE TO BE SERVANTS OF JESUS, THEN WE MUST BE THAT GRAIN OF WHEAT; WE MUST LEARN TO LOVE SOMETHING MORE THAN WE LOVE OUR OWN LIVES. IF WE DON'T, WE WILL END UP FACING THE JUDGMENT OF THE WORLD THAT JESUS TALKS ABOUT.
DO YOU WANT TO SEE JESUS? I SAW HIM LAST WEEK WHEN A NURSE I WORK WITH SAT WITH A PATIENT DYING OF CANCER, HOLDING HER HAND AS SHE STRUGGLED FOR BREATH. DO YOU WANT TO SEE JESUS? I MET HIM WHEN I SAW MY DAUGHTER COMFORTING HER CHILD WHO HAD JUST FALLEN AND SCRAPED HIS KNEE. DO YOU WANT TO SEE JESUS? I SAW HIM WHEN I JOINED A SMALL GROUP OF OUR FELLOW PARISHIONERS, WHO KEEP JESUS COMPANY ON TUESDAY AFTERNOONS WHEN HE IS EXPOSED IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT. DO YOU WANT TO SEE JESUS? I SAW HIM WHEN I WATCHED AN ELDERLY MAN STRUGGLING TO OPERATE A BODY THAT NO LONGER COOPERATED, SO THAT HE COULD GET TO HIS FEET AND GREET ME AT THE DOOR.
MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, JESUS IS ALL AROUND US IF WE KNOW WHERE TO LOOK. WHEREVER SOMEONE GIVES HIMSELF AWAY, EVEN A LITTLE BIT, THERE JESUS IS. BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT THE PASCHAL MYSTERY IS ALL ABOUT. JESUS GAVE HIMSELF AWAY, EVERY BIT OF HIMSELF, EVERY LAST DROP OF BLOOD, EVERY LAST BREATH, FOR YOU AND I. AND WHERE I AM, HE SAYS, THERE ALSO WILL MY SERVANT BE.
ON THIS FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT, WE SHOULD ASK WHAT WE WILL SEE WHEN WE LOOK IN A MIRROR. WILL WE SEE A PERSON LOOKING BACK WITH EMPTY EYES, EYES THAT LOOK FORWARD TO A MEANINGLESS DEATH AFTER A MEANINGLESS LIFE? THE RULER OF THIS WORLD WILL BE DRIVEN OUT, AS JESUS SAYS, AND ALONG WITH HIM, THOSE WHO LIVED ONLY FOR WHAT THE WORLD HAS TO OFFER.
OR WILL WE LOOK INTO THAT MIRROR AND SEE IN OUR OWN EYES A PERSON WHO HAS SPENT A LIFETIME GIVING HIMSELF AWAY, A LITTLE AT A TIME, SO THAT AT THE END, THERE IS NOTHING LEFT. HOW WONDERFUL THAT WOULD BE. BECAUSE IF WE HAVE GIVEN OURSELVES AWAY, AND THERE IS NOTHING OF US LEFT, THEN IN THE MIRROR WE WILL SEE ONLY JESUS. FOR WHERE I AM, THERE ALSO MY SERVANT WILL BE.