For Sunday
The Fifth Sunday of Lent

Collect

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Reading

From John 12:20-33

“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

Reflection

The portion of the gospel we read this week has Jesus approaching his final hours. Clearly he had death on his mind. There’s no way to escape that this is the prime undercurrent.

The image Jesus uses, of being “lifted up from the earth” is powerful and evocative. While it is possible that we think of this metaphorically, we really do go straight to the physical reality; evoking the image of Jesus’s body being raised into the air.

I can’t help but smirk at the narrator’s interruption, telling us that “this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.” A suggestion that feels less than helpful.

Jesus actually suggests an interesting triple-meaning — of being lifted up as hero, being lifted up to heaven (like Elijah), and lifted up on the cross. However, the narrator’s words strike it down, as if to say he really just meant the latter. He guides us to the specific when Jesus’s words are actually far more powerful than that.

Moments before, Jesus was describing matters of life and death through the metaphor of grain: that it falls, dies in its being planted, then sprouts, grows, and bears fruit. An image that evokes, not the finitude of death, but the ongoing transformation of life itself.

He names this challenge of faith, not for his death in particular, but for all. “Those who love their life lose it…” All of this coming after the disciples share with one another the desire to see Jesus. A vision of evangelism bearing fruit.

This is why I find the narrator’s interruption less than helpful. It seems to guide us away from the rich imagery of Jesus’s teaching. But it does force us back to its difficult center. That Jesus will indeed be lifted up. God will be glorified. But it will come through the crucifixion. An idea that many of us would rather avoid thinking about.