March 29

John 12:22-33 

None of us likes to think about death very much, especially our own. It surprises us, then, to see how often Jesus spoke of his own death. In today’s Gospel, Jesus uses the image of a grain of wheat which, he says, “remains alone” until it is planted, until it dies, so it can “bear much fruit.” Like the grain of wheat, when Jesus died and rose again the fruit he gave to us who believe in him, was the gift of forgiveness now and salvation forever and the entrance into that life with God which is eternal. 

While we can only accept those things with thanksgiving, your life and mine are also a constant dying in order to live. To put it more plainly, your life and mine are a continual choosing between what we will allow to live in us and what we will choose to put to death.  

We will be able to become honest and trustworthy people when we choose  to put to death the temptations we often feel to cheat or to lie or to be dishonest.

We will be able to show respect for all people when we choose to put to death our prejudices and our negative stereotypes of people who are not like us. 

We will be able to become truly moral people when we choose to put to death our opportunities to be immoral, whether financially, emotionally or sexually. 

We will be able to know a deep sense of God’s peace, when we choose to love people and use things and put to death our tendencies to love things and use people to get them.  

Life is, indeed, a constant choosing between what we will allow to live in us and what we choose to put to death in us. Like the grain of wheat, for life abundant to grow some things need to be allowed to die. 

Lent is a time to clarify these choices and to choose to live with what really makes us alive.