5th Sunday of Lent
My dear parishioners,
God is Good!!! All the time!!! And all the time!!! God is Good!!!
In the first reading, prophet Jeremiah was quite familiar with the hardships of speaking up for God. His book is filled with personal reflections on the suffering he endured as a spokesman for the truth. But in this reading, Jeremiah looks ahead to a brighter future.
Greeks are now coming to inquire after Jesus. The world attracted to Jesus is expanding beyond the Jews and is now including the gentiles. It is fitting that the first two Jewish disciples, Philip and Andrew, are instrumental in the calling of the first gentile disciples. All this provides Jesus an opportunity to reflect on the arrival of his hour and the meaning of his death.
The hour has come. Jesus declares that his hour has come. This hour is when the Son of Man is to be glorified. Jesus unfolds the meaning of glorification through a saying about a grain of wheat needing to die before it produces much fruit. Glorification, therefore, refers to Jesus’ death which will produce much life in the community of faith. It is necessary for Jesus to lose his earthly life in order to bring about the reality of eternal life. This is a pattern not only for Jesus but also for the disciples of Jesus. As Jesus goes, so go his disciples.
The urgency of the hour. Jesus declares that he is concerned about the hour but not because he fears it. Everything now hinges on the coming of this hour. This is what Jesus has been moving toward since his ministry began. This moment is urgent because of all that it brings with it. So, unlike the synoptic Gospels where Jesus seems to want to be preserved from this moment, in John’s Gospel Jesus embraces it fully. It is the purpose for which he came.
A voice came from heaven. Jesus earnestly prays for the Father to glorify his name. Immediately, a divine voice is heard which brings together the past, present, and future self-revelation of God in Jesus. This, of course, leads to a misunderstanding on the part of the people who also heard the voice. Some thought it was thunder while others connected it with an angel. Jesus indicated that the voice was intended for the sake of the people. This is the time of judgment which the people will bring about depending on whether or not they accept and believe God’s self-revelation in the person of Jesus. All of this will be accomplished when Jesus is lifted up on the cross which will bring about at the very same time his death and his glorification, the ultimate fulfillment of his hour.
Excerpts from “Sunday Homily Helps”, is used by permission of Franciscan Media. www.FranciscanMedia.org.©2018. All rights reserved
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Aloysius