4th Saturday of Lent (March 16). Lifted up

Prepare to Listen.  Father, glorify your name.
 
Prayerfully Read John 12:27-33
27‘Now my soul is troubled.  And what should I say—“Father, save me from this hour”?  No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.  28Father, glorify your name.’  Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’  29The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder.  Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’  30Jesus answered, ‘This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.  31Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.  32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’  33He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
“His hour” refers to Jesus’ death, the reason he came.  What surprised you in Jesus’ words?
 
In the previous verses we met Greeks who asked to see Jesus.  John leaves us wondering whether they ever did see him, up close and personal.  Jesus used their request to teach basic truths about himself and how all peoples can see him, regardless of who or where they are.  He teaches us all where to look in order to see him.  Do you know where to look to see Jesus?  It’s easy to look in the wrong places, at the wrong evidence, at the wrong people.
 
If you want to see Jesus, look up for he will be “lifted up.”  This is the second time he said he must be lifted up (Jn 3:14), this time adding it was to draw all people to himself.  John explains that his words indicates “the kind of death he was to die.”  People living in Palestine then knew being “lifted up” didn’t mean Jesus would be placed on a high pedestal, in glamourous advertisements easily visible to all.  It meant being lifted up on a cross and dying.  Therefore, look up to the cross, to the wounds to see Jesus.
 
One day a former student told me that her church emphasized showing mercy to all people, regardless of who or where they came from.  She hoped this would draw people to Jesus and her church.  Mercy is attractive.  It particularly attracts the attention of people on the periphery of society—the disenfranchised and marginalized; the poor and the aliens; the suffering and neglected; the sort we often prefer to avoid.  They will come to mercy and when they do, that’s where we will see Jesus, in the wounds of the marginalized.
 
Where are you looking to see Jesus?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord, if you’re best seen in the wounds of the marginalized, the poor and struggling, give me the courage to see their wounds and show them your mercy where and how I’m able.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Look up and see Jesus in the wounded and struggling.