Seek Him Whose Death Restored Our Life!

 (Homily 5^th Sunday of Lent –Year B)

     Once again, the theme around which revolves the readings of today, is the Cross. No doubt, from the lenses of the Old Testament, we can opine that the Cross is the instrument through which the New Covenant is established; a covenant in which God’s law is written by the Spirit in the heart of man and woman, and not on tablets of stones. Be that as it may, it is upon such consideration, that the responsorial psalm could be seen as a prayer in view of such a renewed heart. Yet in a more practical manner Jesus in the passage of the epistle to the Hebrews offered his Gethsemane prayer. Above all, the gospel captured it vividly well, for the event that gave rise to the renewal of our hearts is the fulfilment of his hour (passion, death, resurrection and ascension). Indeed, his death is like the proverbial grain of wheat, He bears fruit by the surrendering of his life. He surrendered his life to renew us, He gave himself up that we might be taken up, renewed and reinstated. His death restored our life!

     The first reading (Jer. 31:31-34) from the prophecy of Jeremiah talked about a future time when God will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. This covenant will be different from the one He made with the people when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. He maintained that the exile was a punishment as a result of the people’s unfaithfulness and infidelity, in breaking the Old Covenant. The old covenant was made at a location namely, mount Sinai. It was written on stone and had to be read to the people from time to time to remind them of God’s ordinances and what He expects of them. Contrarily, the New Covenant is to be located and written in the hearts and minds of each and every one. It is at this backdrop that the prophet looked forward to the advent of a New Covenant, which the Lord will make with his people. In the New Covenant, God will write his laws and ordinances, in the hearts of his people, and no longer on tablets of stone. This dimension of internalization of God’s law made the people to “know” Him. Here, knowledge corresponds with obedience, thus obedience to God’s law. This passage of Jeremiah’s prophecy is believed to be one of the passages in the Old Testament where the New Testament is explicitly mentioned. Indeed, in his experience and journey of faith, St Paul saw the fulfilment of that prophecy in the covenant which was enacted by the blood of Christ, and which in turn gave rise to the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit into the hearts of the faithful (cf. 2Cor. 3:6-7).

     The psalmist in the popular psalm Miserere (51), envisaged Jeremiah’s prophecy into his prayer, whereby under the new covenant the hearts of believers will be inwardly transformed, for the forgiveness of their sins. He says “create a pure heart for me, O God; renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Ps. 51:10). This creation of a pure heart and renewal of spirit is in connection with the New Covenant.

     The second reading from the epistle (Heb. 5:7-9) to the Hebrews is a concatenation of both theological and ethical exhortations. The first deals with the heavenly high Priest, Christ. The author uses the event of Gethsemane to illustrate that truly Christ is the high priest. At Gethsemane Jesus offered his prayer to the Father. And indeed, the prayer at Gethsemane was heard, not that Jesus was saved from death as he prayed, but through and with his death and resurrection he was made perfect. It is important to note here that, “perfection” doesn’t mean moral perfection, rather the attainment of a goal or a destiny. His goal was to become our High Priest. Jesus served as a mediator between God and his people, reconciling them through his self-sacrifice. And finally, the author says he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him- this is the ethical import of this passage- obedience to the W(w)ord of God.

     The Gospel (Jn. 12:20-33) speaks of Jesus in the holy city for the last time. There were many people in the holy city, there were the simple people who gave him a festive welcome shouting “hosanna” (Jn. 12:13), there were the Pharisees and other Jewish authorities who wanted to eliminate him, because for them he was subversive, thus an obstacle to their plans. There were also the Greeks who were curious to see Jesus, they heard of his person and mighty works, the most recent was the raising of Lazarus.

     In today’s Gospel St. John continued his discourse on the theme of the Cross, but this time around he employed the use of metaphors: “grain of wheat” and being “lifted up” to communicate to his listeners about the “hour” of the Son of man. At the beginning of this passage we are told that some Greeks went to Philip and made a request thus: “we want to see Jesus”. And afterwards Philip went and told Andrew, and both of them went to tell Jesus. And upon hearing the request of the Greeks, Jesus began his discourse which is not unconnected with the request of the Greek. Unknown to them he introduced a new way of life, a new logic of existence: “that it is only through death that life comes”. In that bid, Jesus narrated a story about a grain of wheat which was a revelation of his imminent redeeming death and glorious resurrection. They wanted to see Jesus, whether out of curiosity or a quest for more wisdom, their desire in itself is inspiring. And as such, we may well ask: how many of us seek truly to see Him today?

     To that important request of those Greeks, Jesus responded with words dense in meaning and eye-opening. He began to tell them about a grain of wheat and being lifted up. In that bid, he made two great pronouncements: ●That a grain of wheat must die if it has to bear fruit. ●That it is only by being lifted up will Christ draw all men to himself. As if he were to say to them: if you want to understand me, look at the grain of wheat; if you want to see me look at the Cross. Indeed, the grain of wheat and the Cross are the humble synthesis of his personality. As we can observe out rightly in the passage, even though Jesus was talking about his death, the emphasis is not on the verb “to die” rather on the verb “to bear” (to bear much fruits). In the image of the grain of wheat we behold another dimension of the Paschal mystery: Fruitfulness. Indeed, from his death and resurrection the living water of grace, the new covenant, the Easter community emerged. In Him “death has been swallowed up in victory” (1Cor 15:54). Jesus invites us to become grain of wheat, thus to die to our sinful behaviors, pride and false self-image in order to rise to new life in Christ. Therefore, the emphasis is not on death but on life, for through His death we are restored to life. The reality behind the grain of wheat is its capacity to die and germinate, thus producing new life. That is what Jesus did for us. Secondly, to see Jesus we have to look at the Cross, as Jesus opined “when I am lifted up I will draw all men to myself”. Truly we become authentic Christians by attraction. The Cross has a formidable force of attraction. The Cross attracts us not with miracles and signs, but with the beauty of love. Jesus is a victim of love and for love. In his love from his kingly throne on the Cross he will draw all men to himself. More than that, the Father is the propelling force of this attraction, for Jesus says “No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me” (Jn. 6:44).

     Besides, the emphasis of Jesus on the grain of wheat and being lifted up, invariably points to the universality of salvation that will spring up from the Cross Event. The rejection of the gospel by the Jews accelerated the entrance of the gentiles into the sheepfold of Christ. His death and resurrection were necessary so that Pagans could adhere to the faith too. In John’s parlance, therefore, the grain of wheat has to die before it can bring forth fruit and that is the wining of Gentile converts. And the Son of Man has to be lifted up, “lifting up” in Johannine parlance alludes to crucifixion-resurrection. As such, the verb “to lift” in Greek is “hypsòo”, it has a double meaning: elevation on the Cross and exaltation. The verb seems to have been taken from the fourth song of the suffering Servant of Isaiah: “Look, my servant will prosper, will grow great, will rise to great heights” (Is. 52:13).

     Another important element present in today’s gospel is the “hour”. Without mincing words, the “hour” in the fourth Gospel stands to signify the whole event of Jesus’s death tout court, his Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension into heaven. It is the hour of the Cross. The hour of the defeat of the prince of this world (Satan) and thus the victory of God. It is the hour of the paschal sacrifice. Death cannot have the last words over Him. The hour of the glorification of the Son of man is connected to his uplifting on the Cross. Unlike in other biblical passages, in this passage, Jesus did affirm that the hour has come. For instance, at the wedding in Cana Jesus said his hour had not yet come (Jn. 2:4), elsewhere when they wanted to arrest him, the evangelist said that “his hour had not yet come no one laid a hand on him” (Jn. 7:30) but in today’s Gospel he says his hour has come: “Now the hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified” (Jn. 12:23), What is this glory that Jesus is talking about? It is his Passion and Death in the parlance of the author of the fourth Gospel. The logic behind this is: “if a grain falls on the ground and dies it yields a rich harvest” (Jn. 12:24). The second reading captured this logic well, for in the words of the apostle, “Although he was Son, he learned to obey through suffering; but having been made perfect he became for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation” (Heb. 5:8-9).

     Towards the end of the Gospel, as Jesus was speaking and praying to the Father a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again”.  Indeed, this voice of the Father serves as a seal to what Jesus was talking about. Let us not forget that in all the important moments in the life of Jesus, there is always this voice from above, the voice of the Father, not only to reveal him, but also to give credibility and seal to his words. For instance, at the episode of his Baptism (Mt. 3:17; Mk. 1:11; Lk. 3:22); at the event of his Transfiguration (Mt. 17:5; Mk. 9:7; Lk. 9:35). Indeed, we can say once again regarding the request of the Greeks, that to see Jesus is to see the Father, for Jesus says “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and still you do not know me? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (Jn. 14:9). There is another interesting annotation in the last paragraph of today’s Gospel. Jesus vehemently affirmed that “now the prince of this world is to be driven out” (Jn. 12:31). Who is this prince of the world? It is Satan, to whom St. Paul referred to as the “god of this world” (2Cor. 4:4). But once when Jesus is lifted up he will draw all men to himself, thus he will recover (cf. Col. 1:13-14) all the Children of God as he conquers the Devil. Remember the word of God says “This was the purpose of the appearing of the Son of God, to undo the work of the devil” (1Jn. 3:8).

     Above all else, however, in the school of Jesus, Lent is a season of self-denial for love of God and our neighbors. Jesus denied himself to the point of accepting death on a Cross, a sign of his kenotic love. Therefore, in this season our efforts should not only be limited to the denial or removal of certain dishes, rather let it be creative and fruitful in forgiveness and the resolve to live as those who have received God’s mercy, for we are called to be subjects and objects of God’s mercy. Secondly, another important lesson we need to learn is from the Greeks who sought to see (to know) Jesus Christ. Do we really seek to see him? For his word assured us, “If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me” (Deut. 4:29). The Greeks, the gentiles did and found him. You too can find Him, only if you search for him. Interestingly, with the coming of Lord Jesus Christ we see the inverse movement, it is no longer the people in search of Him, but Jesus is in search of us, for in the book of Revelation He says “Look, I am standing at the door, knocking. If one hears me calling and opens the door, I will come in to share a meal at that person’s side” (3:20). Dear beloved in Christ, as we journey along in our Lenten sojourn, remember “If today you hear his words, harden not your hearts” (Ps. 95:7; Heb. 3:15).

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)