Sunday, April 6, 2003
5th Sunday of Lent

1st Reading: Jer 31:31-34

The time is coming-it is Yahweh who speaks-when I will forge a new covenant with the people of Israel and the people of Judah. It will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. For they broke my covenant although I was their Lord.
This is the covenant I shall make with Israel after that time: I will put my Law within them and write it on their hearts; I will be their God and they will be my people.

And they will not have to teach each other, neighbor or brother, saying: 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the greatest to the lowliest, for I will forgive their wrongdoing and no longer remember their sin.

2nd Reading: Heb 5:7-9

Christ, in the days of his mortal life, offered his sacrifice with tears and cries. He prayed to him who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his humble submission. Although he was Son, he learned through suffering what obedience was, and once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for those who obey him.

Gospel: Jn 12:20-33

There were some Greeks who had come up to Jerusalem to worship during the feast. They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip went to Andrew and the two of them told Jesus.

Then Jesus said, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.

"Those who love their life destroy it, and those who despise their life in this world keep it for everlasting life.

"Whoever wants to serve me, let him follow me and wherever I am, there shall my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

"Now my soul is in distress. Shall I say: 'Father, save me from this hour'? But, I have come to this hour to face all this. Father, glorify your Name!" Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it and I will glorify it again."

People standing there heard something and said it was thunder; but others said, "An angel was speaking to him." Then Jesus declared, "This voice did not come for my sake but for yours; now sentence is being passed on this world; now the ruler of this world is to be cast down. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all to myself." With these words Jesus referred to the kind of death he was to die.

Commentary

In the gospel of John, the idea of Jesus' "hour" is a rather curious one. It represents two things at once, two things that simply cannot be separated from each other, namely, glory and suffering. The "hour" for the evangelist is both the "hour of glory" and the "hour of suffering" for Jesus. The very moment of his passion is also the moment of his greatest achievement, the high point of his ministry of doing the Father's will. Hence he speaks of the grain of wheat which must fall to the ground and dies, but in its falling, it bears much fruit. For countless generations before Jesus, humankind had suffered and found very little meaning in their sorrows. Life was a long litany of misery and pain, a "valley of tears." This seeming absurdity of life was captured by the writer of the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament who bewailed the pointlessness and vanity of life. In Jesus, however, this human condition is finally redeemed. For the first time in the history of humanity, suffering was not something absurd, meaningless, and pointless. Jesus' passion and death made certain that henceforth, even the most sorrow-filled existence would mean something, would have a point and a purpose to it. After the death of Christ, humankind could make sense of what before seemed senseless. After the death of Christ, human suffering, if it was seen as sharing in the passion of Christ, gained a meaning and value far beyond what any human before could ever have imagined. Henceforth, our pain and sorrow are redeemed, not only because they represent our participation in the suffering of Jesus, but more importantly, because they represent Jesus' participation in our own. We do not suffer alone, for Christ will always be there with us.

Read also: • Gospel Reflections by Fr. Gerry Pierse, C.Ss.R.
          • Biblical Commentaries from Diario Biblico

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