FINDING BY LOSING, 5th Sunday of Lent, Year B
Our age has stressed finding one’s self, becoming one’s best, realizing one’s potential, seeking freedom, personal fulfillment, exercising one’s rights, and being productive. The world recommends one way of achieving these good goals and the Gospel another. The world says in different ways, find yourself at the expense of others; become your best self at the expense of others; do whatever you have to do to realize your potential such as with the use of drugs or steroids; seek “freedom” by violating the Commandments of God; fulfill yourself by meeting every desire of your nature and realize that sin is an “old fashion idea”, be productive through stealing, cheating, and being irresponsible. There are different degrees of acceptance and rejection of the world’s standards. Many want to achieve the goals but still be honest, truthful, respectful and responsible. They may not know however, or want to follow the Gospel way of doing it which involves a continual dying to one’s self.
The life of Jesus and His teachings reveal God’s way for us to fulfill our life, be truly productive, and free. The Gospel sees us fulfilling our life by losing our life in something, or better Someone, greater than ourselves. We become productive by self-denial, self-sacrifice, self-donation and dying in various ways. We become free to the extent we are able to keep the Commandments and live by the Spirit of Christ, which brings us a full life, a life patterned on the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Some Greeks, who were interested in all the latest self-help literature available in those days, such as the Book of Wisdom, and the Book of Sirach, and all those who could help them to greater life, heard about Jesus and sought Him out. Perhaps He could give them yet one more way to grow in human life, realize their potential, and achieve fullness of life. They told Philip “…Sir, we would like to see Jesus”. Philip told the other disciples and they lead them to Jesus. They found Jesus at just the right time. He was about to fulfill His life by undergoing His suffering, passion and death. He had been thinking a lot about what is involved in being productive and fulfilling one’s self. That had occupied a lot of His thought and prayer. Paul wrote later under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit: “In the days when Christ Jesus was in the flesh, He offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the One who was able to save Him from death…He became the source of eternal salvation for all…”.
The Greeks had arrived at a major turning point in the life of Jesus. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” They heard the way to find full life according to Jesus. “…I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.” Jesus identified with the grain. He would produce the fruit of salvation of the world by undergoing His death. Those who want the fullness of life will follow Him. “Whoever serves Me must follow Me, and where I am, there also will my servant be.”
To arrive at the fullness of life, resurrected life in Christ’s kingdom, we must become like the grain too. We die to ourselves so as to produce fruit. We give ourselves over to Christ, His reign, His Father, His Church, and we find life. In losing ourselves, we find ourselves. Each time we die to ourselves and live for others, we experience a new and deeper life. Like the grain which has to undergo transformation from being a grain to becoming a plant, so we have to undergo a continual transformation in our persons until we arrive at the fullness of risen in Christ’s kingdom. This is an ongoing process of continual dying and rising. Each day we can undergo a little spiritual dying and each day we can experience a spiritual resurrection.
Just as the grain loses itself, but finds itself productive and multiplied many times in the plant, so we find ourselves by losing ourselves. By going the way of Christ’s cross, we produce the spiritual fruits of joy, peace, hope, and freedom in the Spirit.