Though the Letter to the Hebrews talks a lot about Jesus the High Priest, the perfect and holy one, it does not ignore his humanity; in fact, the book embraces it. Jesus “was in the flesh” and prayed “with loud cries and tears.” Jesus knew what it was like to be a human being. He experienced fear and anguish. Yet his faith in “the one who was able to save him from death” carried him through and even made him the source of eternal life for all.

We have a word for people who enjoy suffering, and it’s not a flattering term: masochists. Some outsiders to Christianity might peek into our churches, see the man on the cross at the center of our faith, and view us believers as folks belonging to this negative category. Why else would we value the suffering of one man, even a God-man, so much? There are other shades of Christianity, in fact, that have banished the image of the crucifix. Some theologies go so far as to declare that Jesus suffered 2,000 years ago precisely so the rest of us don’t have to. While it’s obvious that suffering hasn’t departed human history, some religious notions prefer to pretend it away as a done deal for people of faith. Good luck with that.

There were some Greeks in town who had come up to worship at the feast. They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee: “Sir, we want to see Jesus. Can you help us?” Philip went and told Andrew. Andrew and Philip together told Jesus. Jesus answered, “Time’s up. The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

In Saint Pope John Paul II’s final years, his dramatic physical decline and the ever more visible and enfeebling effects of Parkinson’s disease led some to call for him to step down and let a younger, more vigorous man lead the worldwide church. They claimed he was no longer up to the demands of the job. But they missed the central grace of John Paul II’s last years—his visible, embodied witness to the suffering of all humanity. 

Lord God, you draw everyone to yourself. Listen to the prayers we make in faith to you through your Son Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.

"The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder, but others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.‘ “ The conflicting reaction to the voice from heaven shows the response of the people to Jesus: Some believe, some don’t. For those who believe, Jesus is the model. The reading from the Letter to the Hebrews encapsulates Christ’s entire existence. He was there in the beginning with God—”Son though he was”—and through his Incarnation and Passion he learned what he taught: obedience to the will of God. So that all can behold his example he will be lifted up from the world, on the cross but also to glory, where “all . . . shall know me.”

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. —Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)