5TH Sunday of Lent
"Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be." In today's Gospel, Jesus speaks about death. He gives the analogy of the grain of wheat that must fall to the ground and die in order to produce much fruit. Later, he speaks about how he will be "lifted up from the earth," making reference to his crucifixion. He says that the fruit of this will be that he will "draw everyone" to himself.
Jesus is telling us that death yields a greater good that it produces fruit. So, when he insists that we must follow him, we can take courage. Yes, following Jesus means accompanying him all the way to the cross. It means that we too are called to carry our own cross and die to ourselves: "Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life." But this death leads to a greater kind of life. When we stay connected to Jesus through thick and thin, we receive eternal life in the end! Jesus says, "The Father will honor whoever serves me."
The season of Lent is designed not only to help us reflect a bit more deeply on the sufferings and death of Christ, but also to prepare us for the glory that follows. The joy of Easter and the triumph of the Resurrection are all the more powerful precisely because they emerge out of the darkest, most "hopeless" of situations. When we cling to Jesus even through these kinds of circumstances in our own lives; whether they be sickness, unemployment, conflict, or disappointment - we are those servants that Jesus spoke of, the ones who go where Jesus goes, even when the going gets tough. But let us remember, as we march through Lent, that this journey will bear much fruit.
