Ezekiel 37:12-14; Romans 8:8-11; John
11:1-45
Sir, we should
like to see Jesus.
I love this line. Sir, we
should like to see Jesus. And, of course, so would I; so would you. Jacques
Fesch, on the morning of his execution at the age of twenty-seven, with great
joy wrote: 'In five hours I will see Jesus.'
With the arrival
of the Greeks and their request to see Jesus it seems that Jesus is suddenly plunged into a troubling awareness that his time has come and his whole demeanour seems to change. It's almost
as if their arrival was like the boarding of the last passenger on the ship. Now we can leave.
Jesus put it this way: Now the hour
has come; and we immediately ask,
'What hour?'
At the
marriage feast of Cana when Mary mentioned to her son that the wine had run out
Jesus had replied: Woman, why turn to me? My hour has not come yet.
In the sacred
scriptures God has his day and the devil has his hour. Until that hour came
neither Satan nor his minions could do anything to harm Jesus. (John 7:30): They
would have arrested him then, but because his time had not yet come no one laid
a hand on him. Now, however, the hour had come (Lk 22:53): When I was among you in the Temple day after
day you never moved to lay hands on me. But this is your hour; this is the
reign of darkness.
The hour has indeed
come and Jesus is deeply troubled. How will you feel when it becomes apparent
to you that your hour has come?
Jesus uses the word
now four times in this short passage so that it brings together in the
one moment various profound aspects of the crisis.
·
Now the hour has
come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
·
Now my soul is
troubled.
·
Now sentence is
being passed on this world.
·
Now the prince of
this world is to be overthrown.
Jesus' humanity now
recoils at the horror of his impending passion and death.
No one wants to die, our
human nature, too, recoils from the mere thought. Matthew (25:13)
advises us: So stay awake, because you
don’t know the day or the hour. Death, it is a
journey we must all make and the only way to give it meaning is to make that
journey with the Master. To take up our cross as he takes up his, and to carry
it with him.
The wise man, like
Jesus, is prepared and recognizes that his death might be more like that of
Jesus than he imagined. John (16:2) tells us plainly: …indeed the hour is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is
doing a holy duty for God. Could the Catholic Church today be at the threshold
of entering into that hour?
But let us return to Jesus. His soul is suddenly troubled. He would like
to avoid this hour which rises up before him. The temptation comes: What shall I say: Father, save me from this
hour? But it was for this very reason that I have come to this hour. We recall the words of the Gospel of Mark (14:35): And going on a
little further he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were
possible, this hour might pass him by.
It is Jesus' relationship with his Father which gives him strength
as it will be our relationship with the Father which will give us strength when
that hour comes for us: Father, glorify
your name!
Jesus deeply understands that his own glory lies in glorifying the
name of his Father: Now the hour has come
for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Let me finish by making a suggestion. At some quiet time in the
week ahead read this Gospel again and underline those words which Jesus seemingly
speaks to his disciples, but which we suspect are at the same time spoken to
himself. If we do this we might find a real doorway into the very heart of our
agonising Lord – and love him just a little more.
