Today, we begin the final weeks of preparation before the Easter Feast. In reading this gospel passage, it's not uncommon that the first couple of sentences become, if you will, throwaway sentences, because we wait until we get the actual words of Jesus, and that's what sticks in our minds. The passage starts by saying that there were some Greeks who came to worship at the Passover, and they wanted to see Jesus. This request is more than an act of star-crazed Gentiles looking to get a glimpse of Jesus. It is really a desire to know who Jesus really is.

Jesus answers their desire in quick fashion, and He points out, "You want to see me, what it is like to be me? The seed must die in order to produce fruit." By following Jesus, we must experience daily the dying, know that we will get it wrong and we will take two steps forward and then move backwards and false assumptions will be exposed and the false self will die. And then the lens through which we see ourselves and through which we see humanity and which we see God will change, allowing us to see in a new way.

Years ago, Miami Dolphin coach Don Shula took his family, his wife and his five children, on vacation to Maine. One rainy afternoon, they went to the town's only movie theater, and when they walked in there, there were only six people in the entire theater. But to a person, those people stood and they applauded and they cheered.

Don smiled at them and he waved and he bowed. And then the family sat down. A man ran up and shook his hand, and Don said, "How did you recognize me?" And the man said, "I don't know who you are. All I know is that before your family walked into the theater, the manager said that unless at least five more people showed up we won't have a movie today." In other words, to use the gospel image, a grain of wheat needed to die. Don needed to face some reality in his life. Not everybody in the world knows who he is.

And some things go on that have nothing to do with him. That's a message that many of us, all of us could wrestle with. What part needs to die? The part that feeds the ego, the part that believes that I stand at the center of the universe. I would never say that, but I act that way. The part that blocks me from seeing my real self.

Now this requires us to let go of our past mistakes. We have to allow the grain of wheat to die. There must be a piece of us that is willing to undergo a daily death and resurrection. In the first reading, God promises that He will always be our God, no matter how much we screw up. God does forget our sins, and God does promise us a new beginning, again and again and again. The gift that God gives is the new beginning. You see, humility isn't thinking little of myself. It's thinking not at all of myself. It's understanding that the world around me is a world that I must embrace truly and in which I must live just as I am.

Some Greeks had come to worship at the Passover Feast, and they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and they said to him, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew, and then Andrew and Philip went together and told Jesus. Jesus said to them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life is going to lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Whoever serves me must follow me, for where I am there will my servant be, and the Father will honor all those who serve me."

Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the son of man be lifted up so that those who believe in him may have eternal life. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. So that those who believe in him would not perish, but would have life eternal. God did not send his son into the world in order to condemn the world. But the world might believe through him. And those who do not believe are already condemned for not believing in the only son of God."

Now, the verdict is this, light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light because their deeds were evil. One who does evil things does not come to the light or fear that those deeds might be exposed. The one who does righteous things who lives in the truth, he comes to the light so that all may see that his deeds are done in God.

Since the Passover was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple area, He found those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as money changers seated there. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area with sheep and oxen as well. He spilled the coins of the money changers, He overturned their tables, and to those who sold the doves, He said, "Take those out of here. Stop making my Father's house a marketplace."

His disciples recalled the words of scripture, "Zeal for yourself, zeal for your house will consume me." At this, the authorities said to Him, "By what sign do you show us for doing these things?" And Jesus said to them, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." They said, "This temple has been under construction for 46 years and you will raise it up in three days?" Now, He was speaking about the temple of His body. And when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this and they came to believe the scriptures and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Now, while Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Passover, many began to believe in Him when they saw the signs He was doing. Yet Jesus would not trust Himself to them because He knew them all and He did not need anyone to testify about human nature. He understood human nature well.

Jesus took Peter and James and John. He led them up a high mountain by themselves and, there, He was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white. Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they stood talking with Jesus. Peter then spoke up and said, "Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." Peter hardly knew what he was saying. He was terrified. And then a cloud came casting a shadow over them, and from the cloud came a voice saying, "This is my Beloved Son. Listen to Him." And then, suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone, just Jesus alone. And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus charged them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had been raised from the dead. And so they kept muttering to themselves, "What does raised from the dead really mean?"