The Crucified Life In Christ - 5th Sunday Of Lent - Fr. Michael Flowers 03.17.24

The first five minutes were lost in the recording. The notes are below: Today, the 5th Sunday of Lent marks the beginning of Passiontide, a two-week period commemorating Jesus’ suffering and death, leading us to Holy Week. Today is also the Feast Day of St. Patrick, that 5th Century British Saint who became the Apostle of Ireland. Though in America, St. Patrick’s Day has become a celebration of Irish culture, the Church commemorates the eternal significance of his life. Let’s turn our attention to Passiontide: John, 12:20-33. The setting is the Feast of Passover. A group of Greeks attending requested to see Jesus. Because Philip (Filippos) is a very Greek name, perhaps they had some prior conversations. At any rate, Philip needs to check out the request with Andrew, another Greek name (Andreas). The bulk of Jesus’ disciples were from Galilee, called Galilee of the Gentiles. At any rate, they decide to let Jesus know Greeks have requested an audience with him. 23 And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Something shifts when Jesus hears that some Greeks want to see him. It signals that his hour has come. Earlier in John’s Gospel, at the Wedding of Cana, he tells his mother that his hour had not yet come. What does this mean? His hour has come—to be glorified. That sounds like he will ride into Jerusalem on a white horse with the armies of heaven. So, how is he to be gloried? He uses a metaphor of sowing grains of wheat into the earth. He is the grain of wheat that must fall into the ground and die. He knows that his death will bear much fruit … He knows his death is how these Greeks and every tribe, kindred, and tongue will see Jesus! John wants us to see the cross as the ultimate means of glorification and the logic of his resurrection. Why is the cross the ultimate means of glorification? Because of what his death alone accomplishes. Jesus continues… 25 Whoever loves his life (psuche) loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. The word for life used here is psyche – translated as life or soul. This source of life, the ego, alienated from God and in rebellion towards God, must be crucified. The Psyche must fall into the ground and die so that newness of life in Christ can emerge. The “I” no longer lives but Christ lives in its place. To hate one’s life in this world? To hate one’s life in this world is not about self-annihilation but a recognition of the self in rebellion against God. Rejecting the false self is a way of caring for the true self. A shift from “my will” to “His will.” Jesus is saying to be truly human, one must undergo this difficult death of the false self. St. Ignatius of Antioch ... read. Not yet born, not yet alive, not yet human. Today’s Gospel passage says the same thing. Our transfiguration will come through submitting our daily struggle to live in union with Jesus. He identifies with the struggle: 27Now my soul (psyche) is troubled. Jesus saw his cross as the great cosmic exorcism of the world. Until Christ returns, we remain in battles and blessings. Through it all, we have been united with Christ. The power of the cross enables us to live in newness of life. The power of the cross brings us under the reign of grace. The cross is the power of God unto salvation. Let us cling to His cross, proclaiming his death until he returns.