Sunday Reflections
5th Sunday of Lent year B
Without death there is no life
1. ✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 12:20-33
Among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. These approached Philip, who came from Bethsaida in Galilee, and put this request to him, ‘Sir, we should like to see Jesus.’ Philip went to tell Andrew, and Andrew and Philip together went to tell Jesus. Jesus replied to them:
‘Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you, most solemnly,unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies,it remains only a single grain;but if it dies,it yields a rich harvest.
Anyone who loves his life loses it;anyone who hates his life in this worldwill keep it for the eternal life.
If a man serves me, he must follow me,
wherever I am, my servant will be there too.
If anyone serves me, my Father will honour him.
Now my soul is troubled.
What shall I say:
Father, save me from this hour?
But it was for this very reason that I have come to this hour.
Father, glorify your name!’
A voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’ People standing by, who heard this, said it was a clap of thunder; others said, ‘It was an angel speaking to him.’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not for my sake that this voice came, but for yours.
‘Now sentence is being passed on this world;
now the prince of this world is to be overthrown.
And when I am lifted up from the earth,
I shall draw all men to myself.’
By these words he indicated the kind of death he would die.
2. The history of the Biblical people of Israel shows that from destruction comes rebirth and from death life is found. God made a series of covenant with them and each time the covenant was broken without delay. The last of these covenants was severely broken that God had to abandon them to the punishment that their deeds deserved. God allowed all the foundations that guaranteed his relationship with them to be destroyed: the land, the temple, the ark of the covenant, even the people were carried off to exile in Babylon. This happened during the time of prophet Jeremiah. Knowing the God of Israel, Jeremiah immediately foretold the birth of a new and better covenant. That was the first reading of today (Jer 31:31-34). This new covenant will not be tied to a race, it will be universal. It will not be tied to a location, a temple or written laws. It’s basis will be the human heart. It would not need experts because God will himself be the teacher of the new religion. He will write the laws in human hearts.
3. Today’s gospel marks the beginning of the realization of the prophecy of Jeremiah concerning a new covenant. The principal mission of Jesus is to bring the entire universe to reconciliation with God. His mission is not just for the Jewish race, who even today have not adhered to his teaching. The gospel begins with a visit from some Greeks. Jesus saw in the visit a sign of the realization of his universal mission. He saw it as the coming of the long awaited time and he declared:”Now the hour has come for the son of man to be glorified. I tell you solemnly, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains a single grain, but if it does, it yields a rich harvest. Anyone who loves his life loses it…”
4. Jesus makes it clear that the new covenant will demand a sacrifice that is equivalent to falling and dying but the death will be followed by a better life. It will be a means of glorification. Jesus was both happy and afraid. He was confused but he knew that he must make the sacrifice. “Now my soul is troubled, what shall I say:Father save me from this hour? But it is for this very reason that I have come to this hour. Father glorify your name.” He went further to announce that by dying he will draw humanity to himself and in this way inaugurate a new kingdom: “When I am lifted up I shall draw all to myself.” This gospel pericope invites us to the core principle of christianity. It is a religion founded on sacrifice which has sacrifice as its identity. Nobody can claim to be a Christian if he/she is unwilling to make sacrifices for a better world.
5. Today the world want a Christianity without a cross, they want a crown without the rugged cross. Men of God coach their followers on how to bribe God in order to avoid the cross. They call it seed sowing. Today’s gospel is also talking of seed sowing but through the cross, a seed sowing that made a man to give up his life for the good of others. Any seed sowing that does not follow the model of Christ is simply an attempt to bribe God. It only works for the man of God into whose coffer the seed is sown. Jesus invites us to make sacrifices. To give what we have for the good of others. Many Christians have forgotten that the seed sowing is lifting up those who are bowed down. “If you remove from your midst the yoke of oppression, the accusing finger and wicked words, if you share your food with the hungry …then your light will rise in darkness.”(Is58:9-10). Here is a seed sowing that must bear abundant fruit.
6. As the Lenten season draws to a close, open your eyes and imitate those Christians who have been feeding the poor, paying school fees for the less privileged, settling hospital bills and cancelling debts. Such are the sacrifices that may be hard to undertake but which will never go without rewards, such is the Christianity that you are called to practice today. Join the moving train. Die so that you may have a new life.
