FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT CYCLE B March 17, 2024
From the outside, in the sight of the
world, what Jesus is subsequently to undergo and endure looks nothing
like being glorified. It is quite the
opposite of glory. In the view of the
world it is betrayal, false condemnation, injustice, torture and an agonizing
death. And yet Jesus declares
that the hour has come for Him to be glorified.
Either Jesus is delusional and is not
connecting with reality, OR Jesus sees much differently and much deeper than
the view of the world.
So, the issue for us today is, how
do you see? How do you see your
life, how do you understand the meaning and purpose of life? What is most fundamentally real for
you? Is life all about getting stuff,
owning and having, avoiding pain and seeking pleasure, taking care of yourself
as best you can? That is the message our
society gives us all the time.
But there is another, radically
different way of understanding ourselves and what is the purpose of life.
In our first reading this
morning/afternoon, the Prophet Jeremiah gives us God’s promise of a new way of
being in the world. We heard: “But
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those
days, says the Lord. I will place my law
within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall
be my people.”
This is a law that comes from within
us, not an external set of laws and rules that comes from without.
We must be trained in this interior law. In our second reading today, from the Letter to the Hebrews, we hear about Jesus,“Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered;’ This obedience is a very special sort of obedience. It is not like the obedience a dog learns in obedience school, nor like military obedience which is all about carrying out orders. Rather, this obedience is a choice to conform your will to the will of the one who gives the commands, because the one commanding is the beloved. The motivation of this obedience is love.
Jesus seeks His glorification not in
getting and gaining and winning, but rather Jesus seeks glorification in being faithful
to His Father’s Will. Fidelity, not
possessing, is the way to glory.
This was NOT easy nor simple for
Jesus. As we hear Jesus testify in the
Gospel today: “I am troubled now. Yet
what should I say, “Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to
this hour. Father, glorify your
name.” //
We are members of the Body of
Christ. We are called to follow where He
has gone: not necessarily to a cross and crucifixion, but rather to that
interior obedience to God’s Will for us.
It will not be easy. It involves sacrifice, the sacrifice of my
personal will to follow the Will of God the Father for me. Everyone of us needs to die to our
selfishness, to the part of our person that screams “me, me, me”, and accept
that we are so deeply and completely and powerfully loved by God, that we can
lovingly surrender our own will to follow God’s Will for us.
That is what Jesus did. He has shown us the way. And the way leads to Easter, and the fullness
of life. Thanks be to God!
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