BETTER LET ONE MAN DIE THAN THE ENTIRE NATION PERISH

For Jesus, true death is not the physical one that men can give, but it lies in the refusal to give one's life for others, the sterile closure on oneself; on the contrary, true life is the culmination of a process of self-giving.

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Misunderstand, that is, taking one thing for another. This activity which has spread to the present day marked by the consistent use of social, for the author of the Fourth Gospel it becomes a literary device by which, using the momentary misunderstanding, the reader is guided towards further knowledge, often deeper, of reality, of the mystery that lives in Jesus. We saw it in the encounter between Him and the Samaritan woman and before that with Nicodemus, in last Sunday's Gospel. We still find it here, in the evangelical passage of this fifth Sunday of Lent. What could be more simple and natural than the desire to see Jesus? It wouldn't be a request we would ask every day either? Yet the Evangelist tells us that He seems, apparently, don't take it into consideration; distracted or, better to say, focused on an upcoming test, on what could distract him and therefore on a presentation of himself that the simple curiosity of seeing him might not understand. What or who should we look at when we long to see Jesus?

"During that time, among those who had come up for worship during the festival there were also some Greeks. They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and they asked him: “man, we want to see Jesus”. Filippo went to tell Andrea, and then Andrew and Philip went to tell Jesus. Jesus answered them: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. In truth, verily I tell you: if the grain of wheat, fell to the ground, it doesn't die, it remains only; but if it dies, produces a lot of fruit. Who loves their life, he who hates his life in this world loses it, he will keep it for eternal life. If anyone wants to serve me, follow me, and where am I, my servant will also be there. Be one serve me, the Father will honor him. Now my soul is troubled; what will I say? Dad, save me from this hour? But this is precisely why I have come to this hour! Dad, glorify your name”. Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified him and I will glorify him again!”. The crowd, who was present and had heard, he said it was thunder. Others said: “An angel spoke to him”. Jesus said: “This voice did not come to me, but for you. Now is the judgment of this world; now the prince of this world will be thrown out. And I, when I am lifted up from the ground, I will draw everyone to me”. He said this to indicate the death he was going to die." (GV 12, 20-33).

To understand the pericope just read it is necessary to refer to the growing hostility towards Jesus indicated by the following words which precede the passage just quoted:

«"If we let it continue like this, everyone will believe in him, The Romans will come and destroy our temple and our nation.". But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, he told them: “You don't understand anything! You do not realize that it is convenient for you that one man should die for the people, and the entire nation does not go to ruin!”. However, he did not say this on his own, ma, being high priest that year, prophesied that Jesus must die for the nation; and not just for the nation, but also to gather together the children of God who were scattered. From that day on they decided to kill him." (GV 11, 48-53).

In the words of the opponents there is also the observation that: «The world (it's weird) he went after him" (GV 12,19). In this context, in which the opponents' decisions have already been made, some Greeks want to see Jesus. It's a first step, not yet that perfect seeing that makes one contemplate the meaning of things with a gaze transformed by the Spirit, all the depth of reality that he will make Jesus express: «Whoever has seen me has seen the Father» (GV 14,9). This desire, however, is positive, of a completely different tone than the murderous aspiration of Jesus' adversaries. There are also Greek ones, present for Easter in Jerusalem, perhaps sympathizers of Jewish monotheism or even already circumcised, they cannot enter the innermost part of the temple where Jesus probably was: the enclosure reserved for Jews. In fact, to mark this space there was a balustrade which the historian Josephus Flavius ​​also tells us about which had some writings on it, still preserved today in Jerusalem and Istanbul, who recited in Greek, to be understood by non-Jews:

«Let no foreigner enter beyond the balustrade and the wall that surrounds it yesterday (the reserved Temple area, n.d.r.); whoever is caught red-handed will be the cause of the death that follows".

These who want to see Jesus they turn to the disciple who bears a Greek name, Filippo, who was from a city also inhabited by many Greeks and perhaps he himself spoke their language. The request must have been singular if Philip himself was helped and accompanied by one of the first two disciples of Jesus, also with a Greek name: Andrea.

Having received the news, Jesus seizes the moment as another sign that his "hour" has come (Come hora), that of his glorification in his Easter (GV 17,1). Cana of Galilee, when it was in the initial phase, Jesus mentions it to his Mother, now here, instead, it is expressly said that the time: «It has arrived». And as then the spouses at the wedding at Cana disappear from the scene, here too the Greeks seem rudely put aside, so that a revelation about Jesus emerges. This time not a sign, but his own words reveal it. His death will be fruitful as happens to the grain of wheat which must fall to the ground and rot in order to multiply and bear fruit., die, otherwise he remains sterile and alone. Accepting to rot and die, the grain multiplies its life and therefore goes through death and reaches the resurrection.

The paradox of parables returns that Jesus feels the need to clarify:

«He who loves his life, loses it, and those who hate their life in this world, guards it for eternal life".

For Jesus, true death is not physical death that men can give, but it lies in the refusal to give one's life for others, the sterile closure on oneself; on the contrary, true life is the culmination of a process of self-giving. The story of the grain of wheat is the story of Jesus but also that of each of his servants, who, following Jesus, he will know passion and death like his Lord, but also resurrection and life forever. It will not only be Jesus who will be glorified by the Father but also the disciple, the servant who, following his Lord, become his friend (GV 15,15).

What, so, Jesus promises to see? His passion, death and resurrection, his glorification, the cross as a revelation of love lived to the end (cf.. GV 13,1). To every disciple, coming from Israel or from the Gentiles, it is given to contemplate in his ignominious death the glory of one who gives his life for love. The Evangelist also allows us to take a look at the most intimate feelings experienced by Jesus and his filial conscience. How the Synoptics will recount Jesus' anguish in Gethsemane (cf.. MC 14,32-42 e par.), in the moment preceding his capture, Giovanni reports his confession: «Now my soul is troubled». He is troubled by what is about to happen, as he had already been troubled and cried at the death of his friend Lazarus (cf.. GV 11,33-35). But this very human anguish does not become a stumbling block placed in his path: Jesus was tempted, but he radically overcomes temptation by adhering to the will of the Father. Differently from the synoptics, but I agree with them, for John Jesus did not want to save himself from that hour, nor be exempt from it, but he remains faithful to his mission by carrying out the Father's will, in profound union with Him, so much so that the glory is shared between them: "Dad, glorify your name". Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified him and I will glorify him again”. The words of the Letter to the Hebrews come to mind:

«In the days of his earthly life he offered prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to God who could save him from death and, for her full abandonment to him (his reverence), was granted" (EB 5,7).

But Jesus' hour also corresponds to the judgment on the world who does not know the love of Christ and opposes it:

«Now comes the judgment of this world; now the prince of this world is cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth I will draw everyone to me"

a reference to that serpent raised by Moses (cf.. Nm 21,4-9; GV 3,14) who saved the Israelites. The messianic "hour" of Jesus expels the prince of the world who prefers the darkness of evil and will leave room for the authentic King who, even if he rules from a cross, he attracts everyone out of love and towards whom we must turn a gaze of faith. Here is the real answer to those who wanted it, and they still want it today, «see Jesus».

Today's Gospel page it is the good news especially for all those disciples who know the dynamics of falling to the ground, of "rotting" in suffering, in solitude and hiding. In some hours of life it seems that all following is reduced only to passion and desolation, to abandonment and denial by others, but then more than ever we need to look at the image of the grain of wheat given to us by Jesus; more than ever we need to renew our gaze of faith: «They will look at the one they have pierced» (GV 19,37).

According to an ancient tradition Bishop Ignatius of Antioch (35 approximately – Rome, 107 circa) met the apostle Saint John. It is therefore not surprising to find it in one of his letters addressed to the Christians of Rome, where he will find martyrdom, a concordance of terms and views with the Gospel that we read today:

«I am God's wheat and I will be ground by the teeth of wild beasts to become the pure bread of Christ... It is better for me to die for Jesus Christ than to extend my empire to the ends of the earth... The prince of this world wants to take me away and suffocate my aspiration towards God. All my earthly desires are crucified and there is no longer any aspiration for material realities in me, but a living water murmurs inside me and tells me: “Come to the Father”».

From the Hermitage, 17 March 2024

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