23 March 2027 · Syro-Malankara Rite
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“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” John 12:32
On Tuesday of Hasha Week the Church lets us hear the heart of Jesus as his hour comes near. Some Greeks have asked to see him, and he has spoken of the grain of wheat that must die to bear fruit. Then he says openly: “Now my soul is troubled.” He does not hide his fear from us. He is truly man, and he feels what we feel before suffering. But he does not run: “No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” A voice answers from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” St Augustine says that the Lord allowed his soul to be troubled so that the weak members of his body, when they are troubled, would not despair, but would find their own fear already carried by their Head (in substance). Then Jesus speaks of his Cross as a lifting up: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” John adds: “He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.” The Cross is not only where he suffers; it is where he draws the whole world to himself.
The Old Testament reading takes us to the last days of Moses. “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Your time to die is near; call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, so that I may commission him.’” Moses knows the people will be unfaithful after his death, so he writes a song to be a witness and lays the book of the law beside the ark. Then the Lord says to Joshua: “Be strong and bold, for you shall bring the Israelites into the land that I promised them; I will be with you.” Joshua's name in Hebrew is the same as the name of Jesus: “the Lord saves.” The Letter to the Hebrews draws the line from one to the other. Joshua led the people into the land, but not into God's final rest, for “if Joshua had given them rest, God would not speak later about another day.” That rest is still offered: “while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should seem to have failed to reach it... For we who have believed enter that rest.” Moses died outside the land. Jesus, the true Joshua, will die and rise, and lead us through death into the rest of God.
Jesus also says today: “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light.” These are the days to walk in that light. Many families use Tuesday and Wednesday of Hasha Week to prepare for the great three days. The Church's own preparation is simple: finish your confession; make peace with anyone you have quarrelled with, since no one should come to the table of Pesaha with a grudge; and plan to be present for the services. On Thursday our Church celebrates Pesaha with the Holy Qurbono of the Lord's Supper and the washing of the feet. On Friday comes the long service of the Passion, with the readings of the hours, the procession and the veneration of the Cross. Saturday is the day of the Lord's rest in the tomb, and the night leads into Qyomtho, the Resurrection. At home, children can help prepare the house for Pesaha, and the family can read aloud tonight the words of Jesus about the grain of wheat (John 12:24).
Theme: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
On Hasha Tuesday: Moses hands on the journey, Jesus faces his hour, and the Cross draws all into God's rest.
“I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
“And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20
Apply: Thank God this week for someone who handed the faith on to you, and pray for whoever you must hand it on to.
“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God.” Psalm 42:11
“In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.” Hebrews 5:7
Apply: Tonight name one fear aloud before God and add: Father, glorify your name.
“So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.” Numbers 21:9
“So then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God; for those who enter God’s rest also cease from their labors as God did from his.” Hebrews 4:9-10
Apply: Spend five minutes each day until Friday simply looking at a crucifix.
The Lord who feared still chose his hour, and his Cross draws the whole world.
Jesus, the true Joshua, leads us through death into the rest of God.
Take-home resolution: Make peace and finish your confession before Pesaha, and look often at the Cross this week.
Dear friends, in today's Gospel Jesus says: now my soul is troubled (John 12:27). Our Lord is truly man. He felt fear before his Passion. He does not ask us to pretend we are never afraid.
But he also says: no, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name (John 12:27–28). Fear is not sin. Running from God's will is the danger. Jesus gives his fear to the Father.
Moses, near death, hands the people to Joshua, and God says: be strong and bold; I will be with you (Deuteronomy 31:23). Joshua bears the same name as Jesus. Hebrews tells us that the true rest of God is still open (Hebrews 4:1), and Jesus is the one who leads us into it.
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself (John 12:32). This week let us look at the Cross and let him draw us: make peace before Pesaha, finish our confession, and walk in the light while we have it. Amen.
Children, did you know that Jesus was afraid before he died? He said: my heart is troubled. But he talked to his Father, and he was brave. When you are scared, you can do what Jesus did: tell God, and ask him to help you be brave. Jesus said that on the Cross he would pull everyone close to him. He wants you close too!
Lord Jesus Christ, true Joshua, you lead your people through death into the rest of God. In your hour your soul was troubled, and yet you said: Father, glorify your name. When we are afraid, let us find our fear already carried by you. Lifted up on the Cross, draw us and all people to yourself. Keep us walking in your light in these holy days, and bring us to the joy of your Resurrection. Amen.
Two men face death today, and both are told what lies beyond it. Moses, at the end of his road, hands his people to Joshua and writes them a song, knowing how they will fail. In John, Jesus says, “Now my soul is troubled”, and then asks only that the Father's name be glorified. The Epistle (Hebrews 4:1–5) connects them: the promised rest is still open, and it is a rest Joshua's land could only point to. The key words are with you, the hour and lifted up.
Setting.
Deuteronomy is presented as Moses' farewell on the plains of Moab, on the edge of the land he will not enter. He is one hundred twenty years old, and the Lord has told him he shall not cross the Jordan (31:2). This chapter prepares the people for life after him, and it weaves together three things he leaves behind: a successor, a book and a song. Many scholars think the chapter joins strands from different stages of the book's growth, which may explain why it moves back and forth among the three. The song itself follows in chapter 32.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Your time to die is near; call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting,” (31:14)
God's first concern at Moses' death is the people's future. The greatest leader in Israel's memory must also let go.
“In that day they will say, ‘Have not these troubles come upon us because our God is not in our midst?’” (31:17)
Part of the trial will be the feeling that God has gone. The song is given so that they will know that the God who seems absent is the one who foretold this, and that he has not stopped speaking to them.
“Be strong and bold, for you shall bring the Israelites into the land that I promised them; I will be with you.” (31:23)
The only words spoken directly to Joshua in this reading. His name in Hebrew, Yehoshua, is the same name as Jesus. The promise is the one the risen Lord gives his Church: “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20).
“Take this book of the law and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God;” (31:26)
Moses will die, and the word stays. Here is a people learning to live by what is written down.
“For I know well how rebellious and stubborn you are.” (31:27)
This is the voice of a man who loves his people and has stood between them and God (Exodus 32:11–14). It is the same honesty the prophets used, spoken from within. Christians read such verses as a mirror, as Paul says, “they were written down to instruct us” (1 Corinthians 10:11).
How the Church reads it.
St Justin Martyr saw in Joshua, whose name Moses changed (Numbers 13:16), a figure of Jesus, who leads God's people into the true inheritance (Dialogue with Trypho 113, in substance). Hebrews says this directly, in the chapter from which today's Epistle comes: “if Joshua had given them rest, God would not speak later about another day” (4:8). The letter also takes up the promise of this chapter for Christians: “I will never leave you or forsake you” (13:5; compare Deuteronomy 31:6). The Book of Revelation shows the saved singing “the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb” (15:3).
Setting.
These words come near the end of Jesus' public teaching in John; after them he departs and hides (12:36). Some Greeks have come asking to see him (12:20–22), and he has answered, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified”, speaking of the grain of wheat that dies to bear fruit (12:23–24). John does not tell the story of the agony in the garden as the other Gospels do. Here, in the temple days, is where he shows us the troubled heart of Jesus.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say” (12:27)
The words are close to the Psalms of lament (compare Psalm 42:5–6). Jesus is truly human, and he truly dreads what is coming. Faith in his divinity must never make his fear unreal.
“No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.” (12:27)
The Catechism quotes this verse to show that Jesus embraced the Father's plan with his whole human will (CCC 607).
“Father, glorify your name.” (12:28)
This is the first petition of the Lord's Prayer in other words. The Father's answer covers both past and future, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
“Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.” (12:31)
The Cross looks like the world's judgment on Jesus. John says that it is the reverse. The Catechism teaches that victory over the “prince of this world” was won once for all at this Hour (CCC 2853).
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” (12:32)
A note on the text: some ancient manuscripts and the Latin Vulgate read “all things” where others read “all people”. NRSV and the Malayalam POC both follow “all people”. Either way, the reach of the Cross has no limit (CCC 542, 662).
“Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you.” (12:35)
Near the end of his public teaching, his word is an invitation, not a condemnation. Light is a gift that can be received today.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism's teaching on the Ascension quotes this very verse, and says that the lifting up on the Cross signifies and announces the lifting up into heaven, and indeed begins it (CCC 662). Hebrews speaks of the same prayer: “with loud cries and tears” he offered prayers to the one who could save him, “and he was heard because of his reverent submission” (5:7). The Church sees in this the pattern of Christian prayer in fear: to say honestly what we feel, and then to say, “Father, glorify your name.”
In the other Gospels Jesus prays that the cup may pass. In John he seems to refuse that prayer. Is this a contradiction?
No. The Gospels show one obedience from different sides. Mark, Matthew and Luke let us hear the request and the “yet, not what I want”. John starts at the same fear and passes straight to the “Father, glorify your name”. Both accounts show a real human struggle and a real human yes.