A Meditation on the Passion of Our Lord according to St. John

Sometimes we get a glimpse, and it’s marvelous. But in order to catch this glimpse, we must see with the eyes of faith. We must see as the Greeks were bidden to see, for their asking of Philip, Sir, we would see Jesus (St. John 12:21). Philip referred this request to Andrew, who in turn asked the Lord Himself, who replied, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

Behold how this request was transmitted: it was handed on through Philip and Andrew, the very same disciples Jesus had tested at the feeding of the five thousand. Then, Jesus had asked Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And Philip, exasperated, had no clue, nor did Andrew, who, though a lad had presented him with five loaves and two fish, could only manage to say, What are they among so many? (St. John 6:5-9) And this same Andrew was the very one who had first followed Jesus’ invitation, Come and see, and, having done so, exclaimed to his brother Simon, We have found the Messiah. And likewise Philip had announced to Nathanial, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph (St. John 1:39-45). So these two disciples are recognized by the Evangelist as disciples who should have known when tested, but who failed. And now, through the relay of the request from the Greeks to Jesus, they are learning just how to see him. Now they are learning how to live by faith. Now they are about to find out how to see Jesus: The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. For he who is himself the holy corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die, that he might bring forth much fruit.

To see him glorified is not to see him in splendor but in his Passion. His glory is his cross, and accordingly, his day of agony we call Good Friday.

So on Good Friday let us consider the bidding of Pilate (of all people!): Behold the man. Look upon him in his affliction and see there how he is winning back the Paradise lost by the first man. And again, consider what Pilate (of all people!) wrote about him: JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. For he would not alter this when asked, but replied, What I have written I have written. And in the greatest of ironies, Pilate, himself unaware of what he was saying and writing, was right. Not only so, but here was Jesus at this very moment procuring his kingdom, by his own humiliation.

Would you see Jesus? Then behold the man, precisely where he is designated the King of the Jews. Behold him there with faith, and there you will have your glimpse of his glory. For by his stripes we are healed.