5th Sunday of Lent year B | Homily for 17th March 2024

 

My dear friends today we celebrate the Fifth Sunday of Lent and the readings present to us plenty of paradoxes which challenge modern thought. The first reading taken from the prophet Jeremiah gives us an insight into the New Covenant. Jeremiah, also known as the weeping prophet was called to his prophetic ministry around the time when King Josiah began leading the nation in a great reform from the widespread idolatry. However, these reforms were not enough to save the people from the impending exile. Today’s text is addressed to the people in exile who faced physical and spiritual devastation. Not only had they lost their Temple, land and King they also felt that they were abandoned by God and He no longer loved them. Israel broke the original covenant by its repeated disobedience—by unfaithfulness to Yahweh—by going after other gods. With the original covenant in tatters, the Israelites are helpless to restore it. Only a new covenant can save them. Therefore, Yahweh is taking the initiative to establish the new covenant. In the face of uncertainty about the future, Jeremiah proclaimed the emergence of new possibilities, a new covenant with new ways of relating to God. He emphasizes individual or personal responsibility instead of collective responsibility for their behaviour. (Jer 31:29-30)

Unlike the old covenant, the new covenant does not have to be passed on from one generation to the next. It is not written on tablets of clay or stone which can be broken but on the hearts of the people. It is interesting to note that in the ancient Hebrew world, the heart was where we not only feel feelings but also think thoughts and where we make choices. So the concept of the “heart” is best understood as the “inner person or inner self”. Jeremiah is speaking of a day when Israel will obey God’s law not out of any compulsion or fear but out of love for God. Israel’s desire to be faithful and obedient will spring not from some external restrictions, but from the inside. The passage of the new covenant provided comfort in the face of despair and hope for a continued relationship with Yhwh, even amid exile. We also come across a profound divine promise -  “I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.” (Jer 31:34). The image of God that emerges from this passage is one of a comforter, who forgives and restores a broken relationship, even though the people were at fault. For Christians, as Jesus fulfils both the conditional Sinai covenant and the unconditional Davidic covenant, the new covenant is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

The words of comfort in Jeremiah speak to all of us who are suffering in the world today. The season of Lent is an invitation to reflect on our relationship with God. Do we observe the commandments and spiritual duties out of a sense of obligation or do we observe them out of love for God? A heart-to-heart relationship with the Lord and unconditional divine forgiveness is at the core of this new covenant.

In the second reading taken from the book of Hebrews, the author highlights Jesus’ dual identities as the Son of God and High Priest. As a priest, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications. The stress is on Jesus’ humanity as a flesh-and-blood historical figure whose moral character was formed through life experiences. Jesus learnt obedience through his experience of suffering even though he is God’s Son. His intimate relationship with God does not make him immune from either suffering or obedience. Instead, his mission as High Priest involves obedience to God’s designs by suffering to death. Jesus is made complete by his death and exaltation to heavenly glory, so that he now serves as high priest forever at God’s right hand making Him both the source and the goal of eternal salvation.

In the gospel taken from John, the Greeks who come up to Philip were most likely Greek-speaking Jews from the diaspora who began following Jesus after he had raised Lazarus from the dead. At the same time, some scholars hold them to be Greek-speaking gentiles from the Decapolis. The visit of the Greeks is important as it signals the coming of the hour of Jesus. There are three earlier references in this Gospel to the Greek hōra (ὥρα) or hour of Jesus (Jn 2:4; Jn 7:30, Jn 8:20). In each of these cases Jesus says that his hour has not yet come. Now, finally, Jesus announces that his hour has come. Jesus’ reply to Philip and Andrew is a discourse on the meaning of his death.  Jesus introduces two paradoxes  - ‘The seed must die if it is to bear fruit’ and ‘Those who love their life will lose it, but those who hate their life will keep it.’

The text should not be taken literally to mean that happy people will lose their lives and sad people will keep them. The literary device used here is hyperbole—an exaggeration is made for effect. The text implies that the people whose lives are centred on self will lose them because the Father will not honour them (Jn 12:26). Instead, people whose lives are centred on the service of Jesus even at the cost of sacrifice - will keep them because the Father will bless them with eternal life. The key to glory is servanthood. To be Jesus’ disciple is to follow him and to become a servant even as he became a servant. Jesus’ ultimate destiny is to return to the Father, however, the process by which Jesus will be glorified will begin with the cross. The servant-disciple can expect to experience suffering along the way. And at the end of the passage we have the third paradox- God will honour the servant rather than the ruler.

It has been my personal experience that whenever we have organized any outreach programmes, or rural exposure programmes where the youth sacrifice their comforts and experience life in simplicity and service, they come back much fulfilled having experienced a joy which they could not get from the things of the world. Today, the message one receives from everywhere is opposite to what the gospel tells us. The measure of success is the amount of money one earns. Social status is determined by the amount of money one spends on luxury items and celebrations like weddings and one’s self-worth is measured by the luxury items one possesses. The gospel alerts us to the seductive powers of the world. There can be no compromise – we cannot serve two masters. As we enter into the final days of Lent, we are challenged to create a new counter-narrative. A new narrative based on the gospel values of sharing and serving. I pray that we all may truly experience the new covenant in our hearts, in our inner selves. May God bless us all.