Today’s Scripture Readings

Gospel Reading

NRSV

Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour. ‘Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—“Father, save me from this hour”? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’

In today’s readings, we are drawn into the depth of God’s love, a love poured out completely, even to the Cross. This is not only a love given for us, but a love that calls us to live with God, now and into eternity, by becoming people of the same self-giving love.

In the Gospel, Jesus reveals that true glory is not found in power or status, but in surrender: “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). In this image, we come to see that our faith proclaims not a distant God, but a God revealed in the Crucified, love that gives itself completely for others. God’s power is made known not in domination, but in a love that suffers, gives and redeems.

Yet this path is not without cost. Today’s reading from Wisdom reminds us that this kind of love is often tested: “like gold in the furnace he tried them” (Wisdom 3:6). What may appear as loss or struggle can, in the light of the Resurrection, become a place of transformation. The Cross and Resurrection belong together; what seems like defeat is taken up and made new in God.

So we are invited to trust that our own experiences of difficulty and surrender are not without meaning. In God, they may become a path to new life, new light, and deeper love.

Let us give thanks and pray on this Anzac Day for all those who have poured out this same self-giving love, that through their service, suffering and the sacrifice of their lives they may experience the light of the Resurrection.