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Year - B

Homily for Fifth Sunday of Lent

READ: (Jer 31: 31-34; Heb 5: 7-9; Jn 12: 20-33)

REFLECT: Seek for Salvation and Fullness of life in GOD…

Dear friends, we are in the fifth Sunday of lent. The liturgy of the word invites each one of us to underscore the importance of obtaining salvation and fullness of life in God. We all of us have a deeper longing and desire for safety and security; we all of us seek for fullness of life and joy and not fifty-fifty pattern of life that has no proper grounds. If we want to seek or search for the salvation, which is a permanent saving act of God and fullness of life, which is a store full of blessings in abundance from God, then we need to seek the right person, God and the ways and means that he offers us. The readings of the day give us such ways and means by which we can obtain salvation and fullness of life in God through Jesus Christ. Therefore, based on the liturgy of the word I would like to share with you three points of reflection;

1. Remain in the covenant:

We all of us know that there are many covenants in the bible, by which God affirms the bond that exists between God and his people. In and through the covenant, the Lord affirms to be faithful, generous, loving and merciful to his own people that God created. In the Old Testament, we explicitly find four covenants that God established with his people Israel. They are those that God made with Noah, Abraham, Israel and David. These covenants are made with a special bond and love. However, the people of Israel have taken the covenant of God for granted and have become wayward children of God by ways disobedience and disloyalty. Yet, God continues to give a warm and loving embrace to his people, so that they realize the unconditional love and mercy that God has poured on them abundantly.  Therefore, the Lord gives the covenant now, which is going to be long lasting in their life. That’s the focus of the first reading today from prophet Jeremiah.

In the first reading, through the mouth of prophet Jeremiah God speaks to the people and makes a new covenant, a covenant that no more would be written on stones or tablets but in the hearts of the people. That’s why the Lord says, “I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts. I shall be their God and they shall be my people.” Further, the Lord says that he would forgive the iniquity of the people Israel and will remember their sin no more. So we see a God, who takes initiatives at all times to keep his own people close to his heart with a warm embrace and full of joy. In all the covenants, if we could see the underlying fact mentioned is that God always wishes to be with his people and God is always faithful, loving and merciful. It brings us to realization that laws are not to be registered in mind rather laws are be registered and written in heart, because heart has the power to change and renew life. Heart is the deep-seated storage of love; heart always looks for love and loyalty but whereas mind seeks only reasons. The heart, which is the storage of love seeks no reasons but love itself. Therefore, it is not the knowledge of the law rather the knowledge of the Lord, his relationship with us as loving and forgiving.

Further, in today’s first reading from Jeremiah, we see that God differentiates this new covenant from the former covenants that were given at the time of the Exodus. The former laws or covenants were written on tablets of stone. They were broken. This new covenant would be written directly on their hearts. So that they may not forget the law of the love of God and keep God close to their heart. The forgiveness and love of God is manifested powerfully in the covenant, because what becomes a barricade for human persons from knowing God is the lack of love and forgiveness. The Lord gives his people freely such power of love and forgiveness to make them understand how loving and kind-hearted God is.

All the more, the love and forgiveness of God gives us a glimpse of who God is and how he acts upon our iniquities and sins. Therefore, what is required from our part is an understanding the covenant and remaining in the covenant that God established. By understanding and remaining in the covenant that God established, we build a strong bond of relationship with God. The strong bond of relationship enables us to love God and others genuinely. So let us remain in the covenant, reestablish our relationship with God and renew our lives in God always.

2. Submit to God in obedience:

We hear in the letter of St. James, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you,” (James 4:7). Yes, when we submit to God in utter obedience and confidence, he takes care of us, the events we are involved in and the project we have planned for. God helps us not just to flee or escape from the chaos and crisis rather helps us to overcome the sufferings and crisis we might go through, because we have surrendered to God ourselves, our plans, projects and the happiness and the pains involved in it. Submitting to God in obedience means, “I surrender all,” entrusting into his divine care and providence and do what his divine will wishes of me to do or to be. It is like, all that I am, all that I have, all that I wish and desire for, I totally submit unto the care of God in full confidence. Therefore, submission of oneself to God in obedience requires that we listen to God’s voice, obey his words and follow his commands. That’s what the second reading portray to us a message from the life of Jesus and his total submission in obedience to the will of his heavenly Father.

The second reading from the letter to Hebrews we hear of salvation that was dawned to each one of us by the suffering and death and obedient will of Jesus manifested on the cross for love of us dying for us to raise us on high. Jesus, during his life time was in close association with the heavenly Father, giving God the glory and honor belonged to God, therefore, Jesus was heard by the Father at all times. That’s why even in the midst of humiliations, accusations, sufferings and pain, Jesus learned to obey God the Father, fulfilled God’s will and became the source of salvation for us. Submitting to God in total obedience is a quite painful thing for us all, if we are not united with God in prayer and supplications. Submitting to God in total obedience was possible for Jesus, because he relied on God, focused on God and strengthened the bond of relationship with God.

Today’s bible verse from the letter to the Hebrews, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death,” remind us of the agony and the pain that Jesus went through in the garden of Gethsemane and praying to the heavenly father in all earnestness, “Father, If possible take away the cup of suffering, nevertheless not my will but your will be done.” It shows that Jesus never wished to deter from doing God’s will, even at the point of death. It is because, Jesus was closely united with God, the Father in all circumstances.

Today it becomes difficult for all of us to submit in total obedience to God, because we are not united with God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit in prayer and supplications. Prayer and petitions to God is path that develops intimacy and trust. Once, intimacy and trust is developed with God, the real bond of relationship with God becomes stronger. With a strong bond of relationship we will be able to rely on God and totally leave unto the care and the providence of God. Submission to God in obedience is a clear sign that one works for the glory of God and not for one’s own glory and honor. Again, submission to God in obedience become another impossible road to travel on for us because our own desires, wishes, dreams and plans become the first most important thing and not the wishes, desires and plans of God. Let us realize that Jesus won salvation for us by his total submission in obedience to God’s will, if we want to obtain salvation, we need to submit totally in obedience to God’s will. For such a disposition, we need to focus on God and God’s ways, be united with God in prayer and supplications. I am sure, such disposition would give us the grace to submit ourselves to God’s will in obedience and obtain salvation that God has inaugurated in Jesus Christ.

Pope Francis very beautifully tells us, “When it comes to salvation, God does not seek any form of compensation and offers it freely to those in need of his love. God asks for nothing in return but “love and faithfulness. Salvation isn’t bought; you simply enter the banquet.” Yes, God has already paid the price for our salvation in and through Jesus Christ by his death. What we need to give to God is our love and faithfulness, which could be obtained through prayer, gaining intimacy and establishing genuine relationship with God. May God bless us to obtain salvation through our love and faithfulness we show to him all the days of our life.

3. Deny oneself to affirm love for Christ in life:

I just got a wonderful meaning of what it means to be denying oneself in Google, while I searched for. The following is the definition: “Self-denial is an act of letting go of the self as with altruistic abstinence; the willingness to forgo personal pleasures or undergo personal trials in the pursuit of the increased good of another. Yes, we deny the self, not to disown or harm the self rather we do deny oneself with a intention of helping the other and doing good to the other. This is what Jesus did for us all. Christ denied himself to affirm the love of God that was manifested in his self-denial. The love for the Father and the love for us God’s children made Jesus to give up his life, so that we gain eternal life. That’s what the gospel reading of the day reveal to us that in the self denial of Christ, there is a self-affirmation of God’s love for us is manifested in Christ.

In today’s gospel reading of the day, Jesus speaks of the ‘hour,’ and ‘glorification’. The ‘hour’ that Jesus is speaking of is the ‘hour’ of his nearing death and the ‘glorification’ that Jesus speaks of is the glory that Jesus would give to the Father by his death and the heavenly father would acknowledge the glory that’s given by Jesus to God, his Father. In the gospel of John, the word ‘hour’ has a special significance. It indicates to the glorification of Jesus on the cross. That’s why Jesus says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” The suffering and passion, crucifixion and death on the cross that Jesus would undergo are its indication by the word ‘hour.’ Immediately, after speaking of the hour that was to come, Jesus speaks of the grain of wheat falling and dying, bearing much fruit. That’s what Jesus tells us in the Gospel reading, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” It indicates that Jesus’ death would bear much fruit in abundance, bringing many to salvation that God has inaugurated in and through Jesus.

Pope Francis, while reflecting on the above bible verse from the Gospel of John, very beautifully points out, “Let us try to think of a grain or a small seed, that falls upon the soil. If it remains closed within itself, nothing happens; but if instead it splits open, it germinates and then gives life to an ear of wheat; it sprouts, then becomes a plant, and the plant will bear fruit. Jesus brought new hope into the world and he did so in the manner of the seed: he became very small, like a grain of wheat; he left his heavenly glory in order to come among us: he “fell into the earth”. But this still was not enough. In order to bear fruit, Jesus experienced love to the fullest, allowing himself to be split open by death as a seed lets itself split open under the ground.”

Yes, Jesus’ death was an ultimate means raising many who had fallen short of sin and death. The death of Jesus has brought the entire humanity, the joyful hope, the experience of freedom and the free offer of salvation to its fullness. Today, the self-denial of Jesus demands from us that we too need to make self-denial. The self-denial is our move from selfishness to selflessness; the self-denial is our movement from revenge to reconciliation; the self-denial is our movement from hatred to love; the self-denial is our movement from stinginess to generosity; the self-denial is our movement from unholy addictions to holy ways of living; the self-denial is our movement from gossip to speak good of the others or appreciate the good works; the self-denial is our movement from waywardness to ways of God; the self-denial is our movement from slavery of sin to gift of salvation.

Definitely, we all of us might go through a lot of hard process in our self-denial, because giving up one’s own self for the sake of the other and for the good of someone is not that easy, although its noteworthy or praiseworthy. But, it requires courage, grace and strength from God. Jesus could make this self-denial on the cross, because he was completely immersed with God in prayer, united in God with his thoughts and intentions. If we wish to make self-denial, we need to draw strength and nourishment from God. Self-denial hurts but heals when it’s done with an intention of doing good for the other. Let us deny ourselves to affirm our love for God and love for one another. I am sure, whenever we deny ourselves for the sake of good and goodness; we remind the world of the self-denial that Jesus our Master had made. Such self-denial on our part creates deeper impact and inspires others to be Christ-like in life, bringing many closer to God. So let us deny ourselves to affirm God in our lives.

RESPOND:

Do we understand the covenant that God has made with us, an everlasting covenant sealed by the death of Christ and remain firm in the covenant that God has established for good and love of us?

Do we submit all that we are and all that we have to God in total obedience to obtain God’s grace and favor?

Do we deny ourselves for the good of the other and for the love of God, affirming our faithfulness and love for God and others?

Let us remain in the covenant of love that God has established, submit everything unto God in utter obedience and deny ourselves to affirm our love for God and for one another.  Amen. 

God bless us all! Live Jesus!

Fr. Ramesh George MSFS

rameshvkmsfs@gmail.com

9500930968