Sunday, March 21, 2021

 The Fifth Sunday of Lent

(Jeremiah 31: 31-34, Hebrews 5: 7-9; John 12: 20-33)

It has been so long since our last time on a plane that we have almost forgotten the experience. We remember how we boarded the plane thirty or forty minutes before takeoff. We settled in while the others passengers found their seats. Then there was an announcement: they needed to take a count. If there were empty seats, they admitted a few more passengers and closed the door. Now the plane could take off to the skies. Today's gospel narrative begins with a similar experience.

When he learns of the coming of the Greeks, Jesus responds that the hour of his glorification has come. He will say later that when he is raised up, he will attract everyone to him. Evidently the Greeks represent the vanguard of the crowds that come to Jesus. It is time for him to save the world. We see everyone coming to Jesus in the catholicity of the Church. There are Catholics in all parts of the world, from Argentina to Siberia.

In the Church we Catholics are called to participate in the new covenant that God has forged by the death and resurrection of his Son. The prophet Jeremiah speaks of this covenant in the first reading. The Jews forgot the Law written on stone tablets to form the heart of the covenant of Moses. The new covenant is made between God and the new Israel, both Jews and non-Jews who make up the Church. The law of this new covenant will not be engraved in stone but in the hearts of the faithful. In this way it cannot be forgotten. It is the work of the Holy Spirit forming the followers of Jesus according to his teaching.

But the new covenant is not achieved by spiritual teachings and inspiration alone. It will cost Jesus his life. He offers the parable of the seed dying on the ground to describe his sacrifice. As the seed has to be broken up to produce fruit, so Jesus has to give up his life. It will not be easy at all but a harsh, painful, frightful thing.

Always truthful, Jesus is not ashamed to admit the tumult taking place within him. But he declares that he is not going to ask the Father to remove this ordeal from him. He knows that God gave him this mission out of love for the world. Therefore, he is going to fulfill it. It is true that in the Gospel of John we do not see the pain and difficulty that Jesus experiences in his passion as we see in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. But we have the second reading as a testimony to his suffering. The Letter to the Hebrews says that Jesus learned obedience by suffering so that he could “become the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”

A proverb tells us that what happens to the teacher, also happens to his disciples. Since Jesus incurred the disdain of the wicked, we have to expect the same treatment. They will reject us when we insist, for example, that sexual intimacy outside of marriage is always immoral. They are not going to hang us on a cross, but they will probably make fun of us. When injustices like this happen to us, we want to remember the voice of the Father in this gospel: "'I have glorified (his name) and I will glorify it again.'" He will glorify our names as well because we have spoken the truth.

It is said that the Gospel of Saint John is symbolized with an eagle because the text soars high. More than in any other gospel, Jesus in this gospel presents himself as a man from heaven. We have to prepare to climb the heights with him on the next two Sundays. We are to see him lifted high on the cross next Sunday. Then, we will see him lifted higher still in his resurrection on Easter.