Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year B

Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year B

Jer 31:31-34; Heb 5:7-9; John 12:20-33

The readings of the Holy Mass today remind us that we have finally reached the Fifth Sunday of Lent and that Holy Week is not too far away.  The readings do not only usher us into the Passion Week, but also remind us what we celebrate today, and what we anticipate in the upcoming days. In this way, the gospel is like a sign-post that points and leads us to the Holy Week. On Holy Thursday we will be asked to stand with Jesus as he is betrayed, denied and deserted. On Good Friday he will be condemned, beaten, crucified and he will die. There is no way of ignoring or avoiding the reality of the death of Jesus. But the cross is not our final destination. It is only a stage on our journey, not only through Lent, but in our lives too. On Good Friday, we are asked to experience the fact and reality of death and also have faith in Jesus who offers us the promise and hope of new and everlasting life.

The Bible passage this morning, says that people from all over the world were coming to worship at the celebration of the Passover and that some of the people there were Greeks, likely proselytes, a group known in the early church as “God-fearers”, those who had converted to Judaism to distinguish them from those physically descended from Abraham. For Jesus, the arrival of these God-fearing Greeks signals his “hour” which earlier in John’s gospel, He has insisted had not yet come. The hour of glory for Jesus is his passion and death through which He draws all people to Himself.

The passage also teaches that new life and eternal life are possible only by the death of the self through suffering and service.  Salt gives its taste by dissolving in water.  A candle gives light by burning its wick and melting its wax.  Loving parents sacrifice themselves so that their children can enjoy a better life than they themselves had. Let us pray that as Christians who have been doing penance and fasting during this season we may all acquire this self-sacrificial spirit, which Christ asks us to live in today’s Gospel.  As we look forward to  the Passion Week, and as Jesus is about to depart,  it would be a pity if we allowed these days of Lent to pass without trying to live out a more spirit filled life. Let us realize that, obedience to God, his covenant and willing sacrifices to serve him through our neighbors will never be in vain (Heb 5:7-9), the best way to follow Christ!

Only a life spent for others will be glorified in Heaven, and sometimes even in this world. We know that the world owes everything to people who have spent their time and talents for God and for their fellow human beings.  Mother Teresa, for instance, gave up her comfortable teaching career, and with just 17 cents in her pocket began her challenging life for the “poorest of the poor” in the crowded streets of Calcutta.  We see similar cases in the history of great saints, scientists and benefactors of mankind in all walks of life. They chose to burn out rather than to rust out.   Let us, too, spend ourselves for others.

When we watch the Olympics, we see but young athletes who have made enormous sacrifices over the years. They have sacrificed a normal childhood for countless hours of hard work and pain and solitary training, and they have done it all just for that moment when they might stand on the winner's platform at the Olympic Games. If few of us are Olympians, many of us are parents, and what is parenthood but a whole series of sacrifices? You sacrifice all of your privacy and a piece of your sanity. You sacrifice a neat, orderly environment in which to live, where things stay just where you left them. You make a huge financial sacrifice - between children and taxes, all for the sake of something which money can't buy. In these and in many other ways, we are perfectly used to the idea of losing one thing in order to gain something else. It all makes me wonder: if we are so willing to sacrifice and even suffer for things which matter to us in our worldly lives, why shouldn't we do even more for the sake of our spiritual lives? Why should we shy away from the full meaning of what Jesus said in today’s Gospel: "If you love your life you will lose it, but if you hate your life in this world, you will gain it for eternal life."

Many Christians refuse to accept any sacrifice that they are asked to make.  Their motto seems to be: “As long as I’m living, I want to live well.”  With that idea in mind they completely separate themselves from God, try to take advantage of others, and try to make as much money as possible without worrying about where it comes from.  They seem to have an incredible need to live life as they wish without taking into consideration the consequences of what they do for themselves or for others.  But this way of living is not exactly what Holy Scripture asks of us. 

In the first reading (Jer 31:31-34), Jeremiah touches on the saving covenant promises which God made to our fathers and ancestors: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and David, but in a renewed way to Israel, the house of David and subsequently to ourselves, today.  Jeremiah speaks of God’s promise of a new covenant, new manners, laws, precepts, and ways in which God expresses his loving relationship with us, "I will be their God, and they will be my people"   ( Jer 31:33). Unlike the old covenant written on tablets of stone (Exodus 24:12), the new covenant will be written in the heart of everyone with a transforming effect. He says, “behold the days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, I will place my law within them, and write it upon their hearts.

This New or Renewed Covenant prophesied by Jeremiah was fulfilled, at least in part, through Jesus’ life, death and Resurrection. The Responsorial Psalm (Ps 51) is our cry for mercy from God as we ask Him to cleanse us from sin and guilt and create a “new heart” for us.  In the second reading, St. Paul tells the Hebrews that it is by Jesus’ suffering and death, in obedience to his Father’s will, that Jesus established the New Covenant. Using metaphors of the “grain of wheat sown in the field” and the “spent life” in today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches the same lessons St. Paul does. The Gospel hints at the inner struggle of Jesus in accepting the cup of suffering to inaugurate the New and everlasting Covenant. However, Jesus accepts the cross as his “hour,” meaning the stepping-stone to his passion, death, Resurrection and exaltation. He also considers his “hour” as the way of glorifying his Heavenly Father and of being glorified by his Father. In addition, it is the way by which Jesus draws all people into the saving action of God. Finally, the “lifting up” of Jesus on the cross and later into Heavenly glory by Resurrection and Ascension is the assurance of our own exaltation and glorification, provided we accept our crosses.

The events of the Holy Week that these readings, of this last Sunday of Lent anticipate, are salvific, uplifting and transforming. With his victory on the Cross, and being lifted up from the earth, He draws everyone to himself: men, women, children, Jews, Romans and Greeks and Gentiles alike. With it Christ teaches us the new covenant, of hope, endurance, forgiveness, way to eternal life and the need to love everyone, no matter where they come from, or what they look like, especially the poor and the marginalized, those affected natural and human-made tragedies, that Pope Francis has increasingly invited us to welcome in our hearts, homes, budgets and legislations!

If we must share in this new covenant, we must be ready to lose our lives so as to find it just as the grain of wheat has to die in order to bear fruits humans too, have to die to ourselves in order to live more fully as humans and as God’s children. Jesus’ passion and death fulfill all this.  He yielded to the will of the Father and is glorified in His death and His glorification brings life to His disciples who have to follow His path by dying to themselves.  To die to ourselves is to be willing to trust God and to do what He wants; it means putting ourselves in His hands to die to our pride, arrogance, forgiving those who hurt us; and decrying what is evil. Practically speaking, we die every day when we stand up for justices and against injustice, when we speak the truth instead of lies; when we give up our comfort for the sake of others; when we say no to sin, corruption and immorality; and, when we stand alone because we refuse to be part of the crimes and evils of our society.  These “daily deaths” draw much strength from us and shrink our physical life. However, the more our physical life shrinks, the more our spiritual life is strengthened and glorified. 

One man who learned what there is to lose and gain was an eighteenth-century slave-trader named John Newton. Captain of a trans-Atlantic slaving ship, he had everything this world can offer as he made a lucrative living from the brutal business of buying and selling human cargo. Eventually, he was confronted with the Lord Jesus Christ, and he was converted to the Gospel truth which makes us free (John 8:32). He spent the rest of his life crusading to abolish the very business which had proven so enriching. He also wrote a number of great hymns, including a familiar one which begins: “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound! That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found, Was blind, but now I see.” Once, John Newton thought that he was on top of the world, but in truth, he was wretched and blind. He lacked the moral clarity to see that he was nothing more than a cynical businessman making money in an evil enterprise; he was allowing the agnostic's law of supply and demand to separate him from his Christian conscience. Then Jesus came along and the old John Newton died. A new John Newton was born. An old life was lost and a new one was found, a new life whose melodic fruit remains with us to this day. What about yourself? What have you got to lose? You've got to die to yourself in order to live with Christ! You've got to sacrifice and give up to gain! So what about it? What have you got to lose? What about selfishness? Shouldn't we lose that narrow-minded little love which only extends to family and friends?

Only those who walk and follow till the end will be restored to eternal life.  Hence, the psalmist tells us: “…but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Is 40, 31). Therefore as we continue our walk with Christ this season, the thought of his own suffering and death must strengthen us daily. Also, we must constantly remind ourselves that to suffer for others, and for Christ, is an honorable thing to do. This is because, that is where the glory lies.

My sisters and brothers, our faith should show us that if we want to dedicate ourselves totally to Christ, we have to make a firm commitment to follow him.  Only in this way will the grain of wheat that is our spiritual life give fruit.  We heard in the Gospel reading what we need to do to allow this to happen in our life.  Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. As Christ has lifted us up, may we in turn empower and lift up others, particularly those we meet daily, the poor, the weak, the needy, the less-privileged, friends, colleagues and family members, through  our gentle words of encouragement, charity, mutual respect, and love that invites them to share in Christ, who is the source of eternal life and the rallying point of our salvation, "when I am lifted up I shall draw everyone to myself."