Today’s Gospel marks a turning point in the life of Jesus. He acknowledges this Himself with the words, “Now the hour has come.†It is as if everything in His life has been building up to this moment. Jesus says that the lives He and the disciples have lived and loved up to now will have to be left behind to begin the new life ahead. This new development will bring pain and suffering, but it is necessary, not only for Jesus but for His followers as well. At the end of today’s Gospel Jesus says that when He is lifted up from the earth, He will draw all people to Himself. With these words Jesus reveals a great truth – that we all belong together, and the basis of our togetherness is that we are all equally loved by God.
Lent is the season of the year when many Christians give up something as an outward expression of an inward transformation. To give up something is to relinquish it, to lose it, to renounce it. Today Jesus hints at the ultimate loss anyone might experience, to give up life as one might normally live it. There are also losses that are thurst upon us that are totally involuntary, like death of a loved one, sickness, or getting fired from a job. In giving up, letting go and dying to some things, says Jesus, we can position ourselves of life in us right now. Lent is about changing whatever it is that is blocking the fullness of life in us right now. Lent urges us to wake up out of our apathy and complacency and choose a path that gives us life and brings life to others.