²⁴ Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ²⁵ Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶ Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be…

²⁷ “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.

³¹ Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. ³² And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Jesus has just been cheered and honored by a great multitude as he entered Jerusalem, but he is not deterred by their accolades. He knows what lies ahead. He must die in order to bear much fruit for all people, both Jew and Gentile alike. He is troubled by what is to come because he knows what is to come:  great suffering, pain, abandonment, and death. Yet he also knows that this is the culminating hour to which his entire earthly life has led him, for which the Father has called and prepared him. It is only by his death that Satan can finally be defeated; it is only by his death that all humanity may come to know and love the Father as Jesus has known and loved the Father from before the beginning of time.

³⁶ Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

It is only because of his own death that the light of God will move beyond the physical location of Jesus himself to enlighten others, through his Spirit, to become God’s children. We are those children. We are able to spread the light of the glory of God brightly and truly into every dark nook and cranny of our world because Jesus was willing that his own light on this earth be extinguished for us.

Will we dedicate ourselves in service to the living Christ so that the glory of God can be magnified through us? Or are we only seeking wonders that will make our lives easier as were so many in Jesus’ time, while God himself in human form strode among them? God is calling and preparing us for a life that is only possible through our own death to self. Are we willing?

Lord Jesus, help us to see that through our total commitment to you, we are set free to be God’s children as we were originally intended to be, scattering seeds of light and life into your astonished creation.

Author: Mary Spaulding

Other Lenten readings for today:

• Isaiah 49:1-7
• 1 Corinthians 1:18-31