The Gospel appointed for Tuesday in Holy Week is John 12:20-36.

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

“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. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.”

After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them.

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The redemption of the world is no small matter. Humanity and the creation were in perilous danger, on the brink of disaster. It was not a situation that a few people of good will could correct or that a messenger of peace could remedy. The world’s darkness was too deep for that, its illness too severe.

We see the same in the wars and famines and conflicts of today, reported daily in newspapers and on television. The scourges of drugs and pandemic; racial conflict, poverty, despair.

These are all God’s people! God made them to live for him and to love him. He formed them in the womb to be his servants.

And we know from our own lives and those we love the quiet desperation with which so many live, so far from the wholeness and joy and purpose for which we are created – and so headed for emptiness and loss.

I write this, not to be discouraging, but to be honest, accurate. If what we men and women need is a little helping hand to get over a rough spot, then the Gospel of the Crucified and Risen Lord is grotesquely overstated – a scandal and foolishness.

The redemption that Christ brings is not a gentle influence but a violent struggle:

  “Death and life have contended/ in that combat stupendous.”

as an ancient Easter hymn puts it. And they are fighting over us. We and the world need to be rescued, ransomed, healed, reborn.

On the Cross is God the Son himself, who has become man for this precise purpose – to die instead of us, because we are guilty and he is not; – to die for us, because his death defeats death and wins life for us. The Cross is the power of God and the wisdom of God bringing us, if we will allow it, a completely new life.

What does this mean?

First, we are judged by the Cross. “Now is the time for judgement on this world.” It looks as if Jesus is being judged and defeated but that is not so. It is the world of sin, including us, which condemns the Righteous One which stands itself condemned. We are judged; which is why penitence, sorrow for sin, always characterizes the Christian life. “He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.”

Second, we are cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus, which washes us clean.

Third, we are drawn to Christ crucified to love and serve him. Every time we come to Holy communion it is an act of love. The Lord embraces us, makes us one with himself. He marks us with his cross – how painful! – so that all that is not of him is purged away, so that we come to reflect him perfectly, in wholeness and joy.

This is not the easy way, but the easy way doesn’t get anywhere. This is the worthwhile way, the way that leads to life. “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

May we be drawn to Christ this Holy Week; to know him, to love him, to live for him forever.