A Dominican Sister reflects on the Good News: John 12:24-26

In the Gospel of John, just before today’s reading, Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead and has entered Jerusalem. He knows that the Pharisees will do everything in their power to rid the world of him. In today’s gospel Jesus tells the apostles and us the conditions of discipleship. This is what we do if we are followers of Jesus. According to some scripture scholars, when a saying of Jesus is repeated frequently in the gospels it usually means that the saying closely reflects a teaching that has come from Jesus. Today’s teaching is found six times in the gospels, once in Mark, twice in Matthew and in Luke and once in John.

I am going to focus on the second statement of Jesus, “Those who love their lives will lose it.”
This is a riddle, a mystery. So, what does it mean to love life but lose it?  I think Jesus is saying that, if

we are hisof life, I give to you a helping hand, and you give to her a smile, and she gives a kind word to him, And he gives to me a word of encouragement. We are connected to everyone, to everything, and in losing our lives, we become more open to receive the life offered to us by people, by nature, by the universe.

Jesus does not order us to be faithful, he invites us to be faithful. The questions before us every day are, how can I, how do I, how will I answer the call of Jesus to love?

Mary Keefe, OP