Having completed the signs that form the literary structure of first section of John’s Gospel and serve to define his ministry, Jesus now draws his sole focus to the Cross. Two important themes are coming at the listener of this passage. First Jesus draws our attention to the demands of discipleship and the connection between faithful discipleship and Resurrection to new life. Here Jesus speaks of death, but he is speaking of death on two distinct levels. For his disciples, and those who would follow him, there is a necessary death to self. Jesus emphasizes the necessary sacrifice of one’s own will in order to be a disciple. This then leads Jesus also to speak of his own immanent death on the Cross.

One of the beautiful ironies in the teaching of Jesus is that one must abandon and forsake this life in order to attain eternal life. But it is also true that if one wishes to see this life as all there is, then there is a consequential loss of eternal life.

At the time of Jesus this teaching was hard enough, not only to grasp, but most certainly to live out. Now, in an age of instant gratification, dominant secularism, and a loss of the eternal, this teaching is even more countercultural and off the normal center than ever. To live a life of intentional abandonment and sacrifice is abhorrent to a consumeristic culture that views eternal life – heaven and hell – as fanciful notions of a distant past when people longed for the luxury we now can take for granted.

Yet, Jesus is very clear: his would-be disciples must allow themselves to be like a seed, buried in the ground, sacrificing of themselves, if they seek to bear fruit. It is only through such self-sacrifice that bearing fruit is possible.

While it might look to the reader here that Jesus is not addressing the question at hand – that two men approached Philip because they wanted to meet Jesus – he is rather placing the condition on their exchange. This is the only time in the Gospels when someone seeks an introduction to Jesus. Others, even lepers and outcasts approach Jesus with alacrity seeking healing and the forgiveness of their sins. These two men seem to be approaching Jesus more out of curiosity. This looks more like a formal business introduction, or perhaps the way that one might approach a celebrity or person of note. Do they just want to “meet” Jesus, so that they can tell their friends that they did, or are they interested in encountering Jesus?

Jesus is telling them, and us, that it is not enough to “know him,” or to have met him. In our selfie-obsessed culture, Jesus is not just another photo op among thousands of others. There has to be an encounter with Jesus, and an encounter always bears a consequence. One must be willing to take the step to death-to-self for the sake of service to the Kingdom of God. Our life, our mission is to be of service to Jesus. This we do through our service to one another, laying down our lives for the other, loving our neighbor as and because God loves us. Hence, discipleship comes at a great cost to the self, but it also comes with a great reward – the promise of eternal life.

The second theme, Jesus reflecting on where he is going next, is deeply connected to the first theme. It is in continuity with this teaching that Jesus now, reflecting on his own Death, that Jesus eschews any sense of fear or being troubled in Spirit. He has instructed his disciples that they must lay down their lives for the sake of the Gospel, and Jesus knows that he must do the same, to show them the example of what they also will do. Jesus cannot love this life more than he loves life with the Father. This is the mission, the meaning of the Cross itself. In the context of the Gospel it would appear that we are just days ahead of the Passover where he will hand himself over to Death for the sake of the Kingdom.

Jesus endures his Passion and Death so that we are freed from death, but we must still die to self so that we might live for him. It is here, as we abandon this life for the sake of the other, that we encounter Jesus and have the strength and grace to be faithful disciples.

Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.