Reflection for Passion Sunday 2024

Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.

Welcome on this Passion Sunday. We continue in our Lenten study of struggle. 

Today we consider Jesus’s struggle as He faces His impending death. We also consider the very struggles we ourselves face in our faith journey. Through struggle, we realize that the Holy Spirit is alive and working in us. The Holy Spirit moves to guide and gift us. Jesus walks with us as we journey toward the eternal life Jesus won for us.

In today’s gospel message some Greeks arrive, find Philip, and make a request, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 

It is interesting that this meeting with Jesus is not outwardly described. Rather, Jesus’ discourse is the very response to the request. If you wish to see Me, then this is what you will and must see – My suffering and death, the requirement to walk in My footsteps, a call to our willingness to sacrifice, our complete focus on God’s kingdom work, and allowing ourselves to go to Jesus crucified.

The call to all who want to see Jesus is to accept His very real presence in each aspect of our existence, in each experience of any or all of our human senses.

Sometimes the struggles we face are right there in our face, they are a very present experience that challenges us and gives us great examples of strong faith.

As you know, yesterday we went to our Seniorate Lenten Retreat. There was a lot of good accomplished in prayer and reflection. Of course we shared in a fantastic meal. Then this happened…

We got into our ‘brief’ Seniorate meeting. Everyone reported out on the activities in their parish. Then the meeting took on a negative tone. It was an awful struggle. Negativity is. The casting of blame on others or down-talking the way others find their way to Christ is no answer or help. It hurt.

That struggle may have made lesser people bitter or angry, yet brave people from those among us and others stood up and blew away the negativity. They remembered that the negativity of the ruler of the world has been driven out by Christ.

They reminded us of what is most important for believers. Problems – go to the cross with faith that God is God, that His promises are true, that we must act in all things with faith and hope – no struggle can overcome the Holy Spirit. Our call is to be there for all who struggle with exactly the hope, faith, and welcome Jesus calls us to offer. As Jesus faced His struggle so must we!

Reflection for the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Look!
Jesus!

John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

I saw a cute little poster. Kermit the Frog is drinking tea and reflecting: ‘You slow down when you see the police but you don’t stop sinning even though God is watching.’ It makes me think of exactly how scared I was as a kid when I heard that God saw and knew everything.

Of course, now I know better. Certainly, God is all knowing, He sees everything – but He sees us through a kind of rose colored glasses – He sees us through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus who gave Himself for us. If I have placed my faith in Him, all my sins have been washed away and I need no longer fear. As the hymn proclaims: ‘Grace, my fears relieved. The hour I first believed.’

The one error we fall into as people freed by grace is to maintain a two-plane view of our relationship with God. He is ‘up there.’ We are ‘down here.’ We do stuff here; He watches from there.

Having a two-plane view of our relationship with God sets Him apart from us. As Kermit surmises in the poster, we see the police and slow down. We fail to see God’s near presence in our lives, our workplaces, and our community because we do not believe He is with us, near us.

The changes we are called to make begin with our breaking down separateness from God.

Indeed, Jesus came into the world to demonstrate God’s desire to be with us. He did not leave us alone and apart, but sent His Holy Spirit to live with us, advise us, and to fill our lives with grace as we encounter Him in sacrament and community. We are called to break free of our two-plane view and live closely with God – as St. John tells us, walking with Him ‘in the Spirit and in truth.’

The next step moves us from concept and thought. We must decide how we will see God – Is He apart or near? This is where the rubber-hits-the-road. If God is on another plane and apart from us, we may choose to live just as we live, disconnected from Him, not seeing Him. But if He is with us, part of every aspect of our lives, not just watching, but involved here and now, then we must take John the Baptist’s observation seriously. John pointed to Jesus saying ‘Behold!’

If we believe that He is with us, we are called to point to Him just as John did. We are called to bring clarity where there is doubt and to make Him completely real – on the same plane – as those we encounter. That happens when people recognize Jesus in their midst when they recognize His very real presence. That happens when they see the face of Jesus in our faces and feel His touch in our work – when the light goes on and they say, ‘Look! Jesus!’