I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again (John 12:28)


On the fifth Sunday of Lent, the readings meditate Jesus, who prepares himself and his disciples for the cross. We too are preparing ourselves with ever greater intensity to walk with the Lord. Father David reflects on the readings.

christ_crucified

"The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified… Father, glorify your name… I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again" (John 12:23. 28). The text that we hear this Sunday, the fifth and last Sunday of Lent, brings to a close the first part of the Gospel of Saint John. Up until now, we have repeatedly heard: "my hour has not yet come" (John 2:4; 7:30; 8:20) and today we hear "the hour has come". The hour of glory has come. However, what kind of glory is meant here? Are we ready for it? The coming glory is not the glory of this world, bestowed by the ruler of this world. It is not riches and power as we might think. In fact, the coming glory "is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out" (John 12:31). The glory about which Jesus is speaking is that of a crucified one, who has died on a cross like a criminal. How can one possibly see such a terrifying death as glory?

In his cry to his Father: "Father, glorify your name", Jesus accepts obedience unto death. In his cry, he prepares to empty himself of everything for his Father. "He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death-- even death on a cross" (Philippians 2:8). Thus too, the second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, describes him: "In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered" (Hebrews 5:7-8). The glory revealed on the cross is the glory of the Son: Son of God, who offers himself up in obedience to the will of his Father. This glory is the fulfillment of the vocation of the human person, created to be the crown of creation, image as likeness of God.

The first creation was completed on the sixth day (Friday) with the creation of the human person. One of the great Fathers of the Church, saint Irenaeus of Lyons, pointed to the human person fully alive and said: "the glory of God". Is this what the voice from heaven means when it says: "I have glorified it". Most exegetes tend to explain these words as referring to the public ministry of Jesus in the first part of the Gospel of John – the miracles that reveal his identity. However, it is not contradictory to see the glory already accomplished as being that which is revealed in the creation of the first human in the image as the likeness of God, his Father and Creator. The first glory faded as a consequence of sin, which blurred the image of God in the human person. Instead of keeping Sabbath, being a constant song of praise to the Creator of the world and life according to His commandment, the human person distanced himself from God through his sin. During the Lenten fast, we too have been invited to meditate this distancing in our own lives, the blurring of the image and the fading of the glory.

The voice from heaven wakens us and urges us to prepare ourselves: "I will glorify it again". On Good Friday, Jesus will restore the glory, renew the image and all will gaze on him, hanging on the cross: the image of the son, obedient to the commandment of his Father. Not only for the sake of obedience to his Father does Jesus fulfill his vocation but also out of the great love with which he has loved us – we, his brothers and sisters. When the Greeks ask to see him, Jesus answers: to see me means to see me crucified because through the cross I restore the glory of the human person. The glory is that of obedience to his Father, obedience unto death, and love of his brothers, love until his last breath. Hanging on the cross, Jesus draws all to himself: "when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (John 12:32). We gaze on him as the image of obedience and love, who offered himself in order to reconcile us with our Father.

In Jesus hanging on the cross, we see 'the new covenant" about which Jeremiah wrote in the first reading. "This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Jeremiah 31:33). The new covenant is not a book but a heart upon which is written the Torah of God. As Jesus says to us during the Eucharist: "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:25). The new covenant is revealed in his crucifixion and we participate in his death by drinking from the cup – the cup of his blood poured out for us.

Are we ready to walk with him on his way to Golgotha? Are we willing to look on his glory? The way goes through wilderness, suffering and death but the end of the road is unity with him in the embrace of the Father with all our brothers and sisters.

Soutenez-nous Contactez-nous Vatican News en Hébreu La messe en hébreu Pour la protection des enfants


© 2020 Saint James Vicariate for Hebrew Speaking Catholics in Israel