5th Sunday in Lent

The gospel text for today is John 12:20-33. This is the homily:

The scriptures recount the incident when, one day, Some Greek pilgrims, who had come up to Jerusalem, went to the apostle Philip with the request, “We’d like to see Jesus.”

Many of the people of the world today also desire to meet Jesus directly, face-to-face. The unfortunate thing for us Christians is that they demand to see him in each one of us, and we should let him shine through us just as the sun shines through a stained glass window.

Those who don’t believe in Christ don’t have trouble with the fact that we are Christians, but rather, that we aren’t Christian enough—and here we find the drama. As Gandhi read the Gospels, he was deeply affected and almost become a Christian; but what he saw of Christians whom he knew made him stop and withdraw. (One wonders what he’d make of the the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” – all so-called Christians – invading another country. More to the point, what would Jesus make of it!)

Our greatest responsibility as Christians lies in our ability to let others see Jesus, face-to-face, in us. Filled with Easter joy, let us resolve to be more Christ-like in the way we live our lives and the way we relate to others and to our world.