Good morning!
Today’s Reading:
John 12:20-26
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.”
One of my favorite comics of all time has been Calvin and Hobbes. Our family loved this comic strip so much that we at one point named a cat Hobbes and thought my brother was exactly like Calvin. So every day, on my Google homepage I have a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon. Here is the one for today…
How perfect is this comic for Holy Week? or I guess just for life in general?
All of a sudden we realize that life is super short and so what will we do with our sidewalk square of time?
Did you know that the lifespan of a butterfly only lasts from a few days with some breeds for only up to a year with other breeds? That’s a short amount of time and look at how beautiful and necessary they are to the world. What would our life be like if we knew it would only be so short? Would we try to take more world saving risks and measures? Would we tell the people we love that we love them more often? Would we do things we have always wanted to do?
As Calvin and Hobbes realize and it kind of paralyzes them, life is too fragile and too precious to forget about the meaning of it. In a way, I think that is what our gospel writer is having Jesus do…Jesus is reflecting on the shortness of life. What will we do with our life? In our John passage, Jesus is realizing that the time is coming when everyone’s life will shift and life is too precious to waste. We need to be serving one another in our short lifetimes in order to gain more life.
What will you do on Holy Tuesday to live our your short life? How will you reflect on this week to come on Holy Tuesday? Will you run out into the sunshine and dance or plant or run? Will you read or write or laugh? Will you enjoy this life given to you? And serve in some capacity? What will you do today?
Peace,
Court
Living in Violet 