Jn 12:25

  • Thread starter Thread starter polgas733
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
P

polgas733

Guest
Can someone please explain it to me please?šŸ˜ƒ
Jn 12:25

ā€œHe who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.ā€:confused:
 
ā€œUnless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruitā€ (Jn 12: 24). The Evangelist John thus foretold the glorification of Christ through the mystery of his death on the Cross. In this Easter Season, in the light of the mystery of the Resurrection itself, these words acquire an even deeper and more incisive eloquence. If it is true that a certain sorrow can be detected in them because of his imminent departure from his disciples, it is also true that Jesus pointed to the secret for defeating the power of death. Death does not have the last word, it is not the end of everything but, redeemed by the sacrifice of the Cross, it can henceforth be the passage to the joy of life without end. Jesus said, ā€œHe who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal lifeā€ (Jn 12: 25). Thus, if we can die to our selfishness, if we refuse to withdraw into ourselves and make our life a gift to God and to our brethren, we too will be able to know the rich fruitfulness of love. And love does not die.

ā€“Pope Benedict XVI from vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20080423_card-trujillo_en.html
 
Bookcat said:
ā€œUnless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruitā€ (Jn 12: 24). The Evangelist John thus foretold the glorification of Christ through the mystery of his death on the Cross. In this Easter Season, in the light of the mystery of the Resurrection itself, these words acquire an even deeper and more incisive eloquence. If it is true that a certain sorrow can be detected in them because of his imminent departure from his disciples, it is also true that Jesus pointed to the secret for defeating the power of death. Death does not have the last word, it is not the end of everything but, redeemed by the sacrifice of the Cross, it can henceforth be the passage to the joy of life without end. Jesus said, ā€œHe who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal lifeā€ (Jn 12: 25). Thus, if we can die to our selfishness, if we refuse to withdraw into ourselves and make our life a gift to God and to our brethren, we too will be able to know the rich fruitfulness of love. And love does not die.

ā€“Pope Benedict XVI from vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2008/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20080423_card-trujillo_en.html
Click to expand...
thank you very much
 
What do ā€œdenying oneselfā€ and ā€œhating oneā€™s lifeā€ mean? These words, wrongly understood, have sometimes portrayed Christianity as a religion that humiliates man, whereas Jesus came so that man might have life and have it abundantly (cf. Jn 10: 10). The fact is that Christ, unlike the false teachers of the past and present, does not deceive. He knows the human creature in his depths and knows that, in order to attain life, he must go through a ā€œpassageā€, a ā€œpassoverā€, from the slavery of sin to the freedom of Godā€™s children by renouncing the ā€œold manā€ to make way for the new man, redeemed by Christ.

ā€œHe who loves his life loses itā€. These words do not express contempt for life but, on the contrary, authentic love for it: a love that does not want this fundamental good instantly and only for itself, but for all people and for all time, in sharp contrast with the mentality of the ā€œworldā€. In fact, it is by following Christ on the ā€œnarrow wayā€ that we find life; those who choose the ā€œbroadā€ and comfortable way instead, exchange life for fleeting pleasures, disregarding their own dignity and that of others.

ā€“Pope John Paul II in above link
 
to my understanding, Life is the 2nd best thing here on Earth, the 1st best thing is the freedom to give it up for other people

is that right?:confused:
I find it hard to hate my life, especially when it is the only way I can know God, love God and Serve God.
 
polgas733 said:
to my understanding, Life is the 2nd best thing here on Earth, the 1st best thing is the freedom to give it up for other people

is that right?:confused:
I find it hard to hate my life, especially when it is the only way I can know God, love God and Serve God.
Click to expand...
ā€œHateā€ is an idiomatic term meaning ā€œto love less.ā€
 
polgas733 said:
I find it hard to hate my life, especially when it is the only way I can know God, love God and Serve God.
Click to expand...
Jesus also says if anyone comes to him without hating his fatherā€¦wifeā€¦etc (see Luke 14:26) he can not be his discipleā€¦

Jesus is not meaning we are to ā€˜hateā€™ in the literal senseā€¦it is a semitic way of speakingā€¦of saying one must love Jesus moreā€¦and if there comes a conflictā€¦it is Jesus we follow etc not wife or father etcā€¦

he also speaks of cutting off hands and plucking out ones eyesā€¦if they lead to sinā€¦this is not taken literallyā€¦it means to avoid the things that lead one into sin (in particular mortal sin)ā€¦

so when Jesus says one is to hate ones lifeā€¦he is not meaning one is not to actually love the gift of lifeā€¦but that Jesus and his kingdom etc come first! Even if we have to die as a martyr! That sort of thingā€¦

they are semitic expressionsā€¦
 
it shows the radical nature of being a Christianā€¦of being a disciple.

(remember Jesus said to love one anotherā€¦so hate in this sense is not the way we would meanā€¦)
 
Another one:

Pope Benedict XVI:

Dear brothers and sisters, this is the demanding way of the Cross that Jesus points out to all his disciples. On several occasions he said, ā€œIf anyone wants to serve me, let him follow meā€. There is no alternative for the Christian who wishes to fulfil his vocation. It is the ā€œlawā€ of the Cross, described with the image of the grain of wheat that dies in order that new life may germinate; it is the ā€œlogicā€ of the Cross, recalled also in todayā€™s Gospel: ā€œHe who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal lifeā€. ā€œTo hateā€ oneā€™s life is a strong and paradoxical Semitic expression that clearly emphasizes the radical totality which must distinguish those who follow Christ and, out of love for him, put themselves at the service of their brethren. They lose their life and thus find it. There is no other way to experience the joy and the true fruitfulness of Love: the way of giving oneself, of self-giving, of losing oneself in order to find oneself.

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/homilies/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_hom_20090329_magliana_en.html
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top