Our humanity bleeds through today's Gospel passages in more ways than one. We see both elation and fall, hope in the midst of the darker sides of our natures. If we allow it, these Gospels hold a mirror to our own fickle hearts. The crowds cry "Hosanna" and the Apostles profess allegiance unto death. In a manner of days -- even hours -- Jesus is betrayed, abandoned, denied, condemned, tortured, and executed. As God, he could have stopped this horrific narrative from unfolding, but he doesn't. He allows free will to play itself out.

Now there were some Greeks among those who had come to worship at the feast. They came to Philip and asked him, 'Sir, we would like to see Jesus.'" It has begun. News of Jesus has spread beyond native-born, Aramaic-speaking Jews. We don't know if the Greeks mentioned here heard of Jesus from fellow travelers or if news of this intriguing rabbi had reached all the way to their home. What we do know is that this interaction spurred an interesting comment from Jesus: "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." In other words, it has begun. The time has come for the message to move beyond the geographic bounds of Israel.

Why is the world the way it is? We all wonder that from time to time. Each successive generation projects rose-hued longing on the past and casts furtive glances at the impending future. We see forces beyond our control in nature and in the newspaper. The world is changing and we're being pulled out with the tide.

We all have things in our lives that don't belong there. Maybe it's the poor way we allow someone to treat us, maybe it's a habitual sin, maybe it's a pattern of thought or attitude that traps us in a cycle of regret, anger, or an inability to forgive. Jesus has bold words for us today: "Take these out of here."