"Hide not your face from me"

Today's Mass Readings

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is cryptically telling His audience that He is approaching the time where He will be killed, and then He will be raised from the dead and ascend to the Father in Heaven. Some in His audience recognize that Jesus is speaking about His own death, and they are confused. Is He going to kill Himself? Jesus is of course predicting His crucifixion at the hands of the Romans. Jesus clarifies His divine identity in His statement, “I AM.” This was how God identified Himself to Moses in the burning bush. “I Am Who Am, therefore, tell them that I Am has sent you.” Again, Jesus explains that they will recognize Him as the One Who is I AM, when He is lifted up—on the cross. Elsewhere Jesus likens His crucifixion, His being lifted up, to the bronze serpent that Moses lifted up and by which the people were saved, by looking at it, which is found in today’s first reading from the Book of Numbers. Jesus’ crucifixion is aptly described as His being “lifted up” for at least two reasons. First, and the most literal, is that He is physically lifted up onto the cross. The second is that it is from the cross that Jesus reigns as king, which is a very important concept in John’s Gospel. It is only in John’s Gospel that Jesus is said to be wearing the seamless garment that the priest slaughtering the Passover lamb was supposed to wear. So, Jesus is both the lamb being sacrificed, and the priest offering the sacrifice, when He is lifted up on the cross. As the Israelites were healed from venomous serpents by looking up at the bronze serpent lifted up on the pole, so we too may find healing by looking to Jesus, lifted up on the cross.

As we approach Easter at the end of this Lenten season, let us really focus on the cross, the sufferings that Jesus underwent for our sake, so that we can really appreciate the joy that the Easter season brings. The joy of resurrection is so wonderful, precisely because of the difficulty and the agony of the cross.

Pray Ps 102: 2-3 as a response to God's word today:
O LORD, hear my prayer,
and let my cry come to you.
Hide not your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
in the day when I call, answer me speedily.