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John 12:20-38

While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light. (John 12: 36)

I am writing this Lenten reflection for Holy Tuesday as we approach the Third Sunday of Advent, also known as Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete Sunday is the Sunday on which we rejoice in the expectation of the Redeemer. We prepare our hearts and minds to once again welcome the Christ Child. Gaudete, stemming from the Latin, is translated as “rejoice.”

I am harkening back to Advent while in Lent because Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts here in New York City produced a revival of the Giancarlo Menotti opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, in December and early January. The story is fictional, yet it speaks powerfully to the heart, the depth, and the weight of the Gospel. In the opera, the Magi, en route to visit the Christ Child, seek lodging with a poor widow and her son, who was born with a leg condition and therefore walks with a makeshift crutch. Without recounting the entire libretto, Amahl is ultimately invited to go with the Magi to see the Christ Child. His leg is then healed, and he rejoices in that healing—a healing that portends the healing power of Jesus.

In John’s Gospel appointed for Holy Tuesday, there are many rich and varied themes. Yet even as Jesus speaks about his imminent and impending death, he leaves the gift of light. He calls all to embrace the light, to be a people of the light. In the face of hardship, injustice, and uncertainty, this passage calls us to embrace joy as an act of spiritual defiance—a witness to the truth that God’s light continues to shine, drawing us toward a new creation in which justice and joy reign supreme.