Every day of Lent, Bishop Edward Malesic writes a Scripture reflection for the faithful. Follow the bishop on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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In today’s Gospel, we read, “Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast came to Philip . . . and asked him, 'Sir, we would like to see Jesus.'"
As Greeks are now coming to see Jesus near the end of his life, we again see that Jesus would not only be a Messiah for the Jewish people, but for the entire world.
Now that the entire world is hearing about and coming to Jesus, he says that his “hour” has come. The “hour” he speaks of is the time when he would show God’s love for every man and woman by dying on a cross. And so he said, “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.”
Jesus would draw the world to himself by the total self-giving love he would show from the cross.
The cross, then, becomes the sign of God’s love for us; the cross draws us to God. St. Paul found this out early on when he attempted to preach a cross-less Christ and his message fell on deaf ears. It didn’t take long for St. Paul to proclaim Christ crucified, who was risen from the dead. The proclamation of God’s love on the cross is what gave power to his preaching. Yes, it is Christ crucified who is the final word of God’s power and glory among us; the power and glory of pure love itself. Jesus said it best: "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit."
We must also learn what the apostles had to learn: He was not to be their exclusive possession. Jesus was sent for all. His love was large enough to embrace the world.
The Greeks came to Philip and said to him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” When people ask the same of us: “I would like to see Jesus” we must be ready to walk with them along the way to Jesus, accompany them to Jesus, and show Jesus to them. And we will show them not by theories or books. We will lead them to Jesus when we let them see how much of a difference his life has made in our lives. We lead them to Jesus present in his Word and his Sacraments. We lead them to Jesus present in his Church, his Family of Faith. We lead them to find Jesus in prayer, in the real presence of the Eucharist, and present with those who are most in need. We must be ready to show those who seek Jesus that he means so much to us that we have died to ourselves (like that grain of wheat) so that we can rise to new life with him.
And we must never hide Jesus, as if he belongs only to us. We must show Jesus to all we meet along the way.
Have a blessed week everyone.