Nature of Things

Today's Gospel reading is John 12:20-26.  We are told some "Greeks" came to Philip and said, "we wish to see Jesus." The hunger of a pagan heart to see Jesus makes perfect sense. At the level of intellectual curiousity it is appropriate. After all, haven't there been many strange and wondrous stories about the Man? Also, He is known for His wisdom, story telling and teaching. Any Greek worth his weight would want to ponder and wrestle with the words of this Man. Yet, as is always the case with John's Gospel, there is probably another level. At the core of every human being (Greek here can also mean all the Gentiles) there is a hunger. Each and everyone of us, we all have that hunger. Many spend their lives ignoring the feeling while pursuing distractions, preoccupied with short term concerns.

For Jesus, these words signal a turn. They are an important sign to Him. His response to the request for an audience elicits this response, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified..." There should be no surprise that the Greeks are not mentioned again. Nor is the sudden shift unexpected. In John's Gospel, sudden shifts and turns are the norm, the unexpected twist is always expected!

Jesus goes on to say that "unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

I interpret John with trepidation. [The characters populating this Gospel story never seem to understand the words of Jesus, so why would I dare to presume I have correctly understood?] But I do believe that Jesus is saying that it is the nature of things. The world in which we live has rules. God could have created any number of universes with any number of rules. He made this one. He is contained by the limits He has set for it and for Himself. The death of Jesus is, therefore, necessary. In other Gospels the Greek word 'dei'  (it must be, it is binding) appears on the lips of Jesus. Clearly Jesus believed that there was an inflexible demand at work in His life and ministry.

Why did the Lord die on the cross? It is all tied up in the nature of things. It is the way this world in which we live works. There is a "cost of doing business" on our planet, if you will. Life and death are interlocked. We can moan and groan. We can fantasize about alternatives. We can grouse about God's failure to make the world the way we would have. Yet, in the end, we must understand, God (in and through Jesus) has embraced the creation as it is, God has submitted to the rules and been confined by the nature of things. So Jesus, to bring life and much fruit, dies. The "Greeks" are here, so Jesus knows the time has come. Come let us worship!