TODAY’S GOSPEL reminds me of the blind beggar, Bartimaeus, who made a scene in order to call the attention of Jesus who happened to be passing by. When Jesus asked the blind beggar what he wanted the Lord to do for him, he said, “Lord, I want to see!” But after he regained his sight, instead of returning to his family, we are told that he “followed Jesus on the way” to Jerusalem. I think what he really meant was, “I want to see YOU.”
In our Gospel today, we hear about a group of people who come to Philip and Andrew with a similar request, “We want to see Jesus.” I find the answer of Jesus a bit strange; instead of just saying, “Ok, I can see them now,” he says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it produces much fruit.” Hmm. How is that an answer to their request?
John says these “Greeks” who wanted to see Jesus had come to worship at the Passover Feast. It means they were probably Gentiles converts to Judaism who were coming for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in order to join the yearly festival commemorating the “Passing Over” of Israel from slavery to freedom through the sacrifice of a lamb.
Remember, the Gospel writer has announced from the very start through the mouth of John the Baptist that the mission of Jesus was— to be the “Lamb of God.” Remember that scene in Chapter 1 of John where the two disciples of John the Baptist (one of them being Andrew) started following Jesus and Jesus asked them what they were looking for, and they said, “We want TO SEE where you live”? Jesus answered and said, “COME AND SEE for yourselves.” Now they are in Jerusalem and are about to see.
Like I mentioned to you a few days ago, for St. John the crucifixion of Jesus in Jerusalem is an exaltation. The cross for him is not morbid symbol of suffering, but rather a hopeful symbol of redemptive love that is willing to pay the price for the sake of the beloved. That is why he calls it a “lifting up”.
I think Pope Francis had in mind the planting of the cross in 1521 when he reflected on the Gospel last Sunday while commemorating the 500th Year of Christianity with Filipino Catholics in Rome and all over the world. Remember how he focused on the two points: God “so loved” the world, “He gave” his only Son. That the “giving” should always proceed from “so loving”?
That was the Gospel that spoke about the Son of Man being “lifted up.” John even used as metaphor the way Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the desert, so that any of those who had been bitten, and who looked up at it might be healed.
Since all human beings, whether Jews or Greeks, have been bitten by the poison of sin, in today’s Gospel, he says, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” Meaning, the healing that he brings is not only for the Jews but for everyone, for all humankind. Perhaps this message is repeating itself now that all the nations have been bitten by the dreadful coronavirus. It is an occasion also for the whole world to be drawn to the healing message of the cross.
John is telling us, now that the Gentiles are coming to see Jesus, it means that the hour has come for his lifting up. His passion and death will give a totally new meaning to the Passover of the Jews. It will enable everyone, Jews and Gentiles, saints and sinners to cross over from the slavery of Satan to the freedom of the sons and daughters of God.
But this lifting up of the son of man has to be preceded by a fall, by the sacrifice of the new Passover Lamb. It will be a different kind of fall, unlike the negative fall of the old humanity. The fall of the new humanity represented by Christ is positive; it will give way to a rising to new life—like the grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies in order to produce much fruit.
The FALL usually has a negative meaning in the Bible. It connotes sin and failure, such as the “fall of Adam and Eve.” Our Gospel today gives it a totally new and positive meaning as Jesus relates it to the act of sowing or making the seeds “fall” on the ground in order to germinate and multiply themselves. No longer will the fall be associated only with the negative sense of “falling out” or “falling away”, but rather with “things falling into place,” and “seeds falling on the ground”.
In Tagalog the word for MEANING is KAHULUGAN. It comes from the root word HULOG, which means FALL. The image that it suggests is that of a bucket that collects the water when it is pumped out of a well. Without a bucket, the water just goes to waste (NAGKAKALAT). “MEANING” in Tagalog is that which allows things to FALL INTO PLACE (mayroong kinahuhulugan), the opposite of PAGKAKALAT or messing up.
Dear brothers and sisters, I know that this pandemic has caused many falls. Many people have fallen sick, many lives have fallen away, our economies continue to be on a free fall, many of our sources of security have been falling apart. Could this be an occasion for the whole world to look up at the Lamb who is lifted up, in order to be healed? Could this be an occasion for us to give this negative fall a more positive meaning—of letting things fall into place once again? Of learning to fall like seeds on the ground in order to rise and bear much fruit?
(Homily for the 5th Sunday of Lent, 21 March 2021, Jn 12:20-33)
