A Hidden Invitation
Gospel Reflection for Tuesday, April 8th, 2025 - John 8:21-30
As we enter Passiontide, the last two weeks of Lent, the Church is inviting us to draw close to the mystery of Christ’s suffering, and go deeper into His love. Statues are veiled, hymns are subdued, and we find ourselves fixing our eyes on the visible love of God - Jesus on the Cross.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the crowd around Him “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM.” Jesus is pointing to His crucifixion, where His identity will be revealed, not through power, but through sacrifice. It is in His lifting up, on the wood of the Cross, that the fullness of the divine love is made visible.
The people around Him struggle to understand what He is saying. Asking questions that barely scratch the surface of the deeper truth of Jesus’ words, "He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, 'Where I am going you cannot come'?" Jesus’ reply “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world.”
During these final days of Lent we are invited to shift our gaze from what is below to what is above, from distractions to devotion, from self to our Savior on the Cross. And to ask ourselves the hard but necessary questions: Where is my heart? Do I really believe He is who He says He is? Am I ready to follow Him to the Cross?
Because the Cross is not the end, but the beginning.
Jesus said to the Pharisees:
"I am going away and you will look for me,
but you will die in your sin.
Where I am going you cannot come."
So the Jews said,
"He is not going to kill himself, is he,
because he said, 'Where I am going you cannot come'?"
He said to them, "You belong to what is below,
I belong to what is above.
You belong to this world,
but I do not belong to this world.
That is why I told you that you will die in your sins.
For if you do not believe that I AM,
you will die in your sins."
So they said to him, "Who are you?"
Jesus said to them, "What I told you from the beginning.
I have much to say about you in condemnation.
But the one who sent me is true,
and what I heard from him I tell the world."
They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father.
So Jesus said to them,
"When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will realize that I AM,
and that I do nothing on my own,
but I say only what the Father taught me.
The one who sent me is with me.
He has not left me alone,
because I always do what is pleasing to him."
Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.