Walking with Jesus: Fifth Sunday in Lent B

Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 5:7-9; John 12:20-33

Have I ever made an agreement with anyone? The first agreement I made was when I signed my name on a contract to buy my first new car. I was a deacon in the seminary, months away from ordination. A salesman came to the seminary and brought a few cars to entice us. After I signed my first thought was, would I be able to afford the monthly payments?

My excitement over getting my first car waned as I realized how much it would cost to keep it up. One of the professors compared “our signed agreements” to the covenant God made with the people in the Old Testament. I didn’t like the comparison. It was hard work keeping up the payments as it was hard work for the Israelites. So many times they reneged. I never did. I learned another life lesson. The Israelites were being taught life lessons in preparation, as a people, for the coming of Jesus as the Messiah. The final covenant was the cross of Christ on Calvary. Have I ever looked at what Christ agreed to do to keep His end of the bargain? Has my Lent been affirming my part of this covenant? I look to the readings to go deeper into my commitment to the Lord.

The first readings for Lent have focused on God’s covenant relationships with His people. It starts with the new covenant with Noah after the flood with “every living creature.” The purpose of this covenant was to heal the broken world by attending to the human heart and its commitment to God. The readings continue with the promises to Abraham and then to those that come after the Exodus. God would be their God; we and our ancestors in faith are to be obedient to God’s covenant. All ages have continually struggled with the covenants. In the first reading today, Jeremiah gives a beautiful description of the new covenant from God’s side: “I will place My law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No longer will they have need the Lord, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.” [Jeremiah 31: 33-34]

If the people had listened to Jeremiah’s message and acted on it, their kingdom would have been transformed into something as beautiful as a “finely crafted piece of pottery.” But they don’t accept Jeremiah. He is mocked out and laughed at and is threatened with death a number of times. After Mount Sinai, the tribes accept the terms of the covenant relationship with God. They promise to be a holy people. God gives them every advantage to become a people setting the standard for spirituality for all other tribes, by their love and dependence on God and acceptance of all. But again, the people continue to fail to live up to the Mosaic covenant. Today, Jeremiah looks forward to a covenant relationship that will be taught to future generations. Its fruitfulness will not come from outside laws but from the human heart. Devotion to God will be continued by a spirit of gratitude for God’s mercy and forgiveness. God is with us … always … unconditionally … Jesus proved this on Calvary. How am I living this covenant relationship? Has my Lent helped?

St. Paul tells the Hebrews that as Jesus walked the Earth He accepted suffering and death out of obedience to God. Because of His own experience of suffering, Jesus can sympathize with us in our pain and suffering. His death became the source of our salvation. This was His total obedience to the Father. Jesus’ mission, given by the Father, proves by His actions that we all are God’s children. God has freed us from our sins. Through this covenant, God has continued to teach us that He is our God. He loves us. He cares for us. He is always with us. Jesus died just to show and affirm this love. Where am I in my love for God?

John has just described Jesus’ final entry into Jerusalem, where He will meet His ultimate faith declaration: crucifixion. Seeing that some Greeks are trying to arrange a meeting with Jesus, the religious leaders are worried that the “whole world” is swarming to Jesus’ side. Jesus is saying that the Messiah has come to save not just the Israelites but all people. So John takes this opportunity to reflect on the meaning of Jesus’ death. This very moment of His death is the moment of His glorification and exaltation. Jesus tells them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” [John 12: 23] Without death there is no glorification. This is the entire reason for the Incarnation. Jesus emptied Himself completely for each one of us. This shows His personal relationship with each of us: It was done just for you and me. He is leading us to eternal life with God. This is God’s plan, not an impossible path but one filled with God’s grace and Jesus’ examples and teaching on love ... and proving it by His death and our redemption.

So I reflect on:

• Lent, a time of renewal of our Covenant relationship with God, is a time to empty ourselves of our egos, our wants and expectations in order to regenerate our lives to love, forgiveness, helpfulness, mercy and response to all those in need. Do I see why God has blessed me with special gifts so I can respond?
• So many are crushed under the weight of their crosses. Can I help?

Sacred Space 2021 states:

“In every death, there is life — this is the big message of Lent and of Easter. The grain of wheat will die and will through death nourish us with food. In the death of relationships, of health, of faith, and all that may be dear to us there is always the invitation to deeper life. In our final death is the call to everlasting life.”