"We want to see Jesus!" This is the sincerest request from the Greeks in our gospel today.

When Jesus heard the request, he immediately felt an inner commotion that made him utter disconcerting words: "The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified!" According to the theology of the fourth Gospel, the word Hour was extremely important in the life of Jesus. Everything He did was guided by the Hour of the Father. To explain this, Jesus uses a beautiful image of a grain, “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.” What a deep and beautiful imagery. This image is exactly what happened to Jesus: going through Death He was glorified in heaven.

Often we do not understand the reason why we go through "death", which does not always mean the death of the body literally speaking, but, a state of exhaustion, apparent failure and depression. However, it is in these hours of trial that our spirit surrenders to the evidence of God and we can truly glorify Him. In those moments we realize that our earthly life of the flesh is not even that important and that our spiritual life is much more significant because that is how we are following the example of Christ.

Jesus said,"If anyone wants to serve me, follow me, and where I am, my servant will also be." Following Jesus means imitating him and under the same conditions, doing everything as He did. If Jesus was glorified by the Father, on the cross, we too will receive the glory of God when we surrender to Him and His designs. When we do not admit suffering or accept that our dying for the world is a sign of belonging to Christ, then, we will be just a grain that is useless, a grain that is not capable of bringing life. Victory will come to us only after we fight, the fruit will come after we sow the seed and the dawn will only emerge after the night has passed. The death of Jesus is the manifestation of His love. We can only become fruitful grain, if like Jesus, we love and even willing to give up life for our beloved.

As we continue our Lenten journey, may we wish like the Greeks: to see God, to touch Him, to want Him. Amen.