HOMILY FOR FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR B. 21.03.2021.

We sacrifice for love

Readings: Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51; Hebrews 5:7-9 and John 12:20-33. 

WHAT WE DO FOR LOVE! 

 

The season of lent is gradually coming to an end and the readings expresses this with the tone of the kerygma. It expresses the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. Christ giving his life for our sake is a clear manifestation of his love for us. As his followers, we have entered into covenant with him, but the question is, are we ready to sacrifice ourselves for him and others?

 

The first reading speaks of the glorious promise of the new covenant. The Lord says through the prophet Jeremiah, “The days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah… I will be their God and they shall be my people… I will forgive their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” God reveals the beautiful plan of redemption he has for Israel through series of covenants. Since the fall of man, God made constant efforts to save man despite our unfaithfulness. Because of his love for man, he entered into covenant with Abraham, Moses, David and the prophets. On various instances, man broke these covenants. Yet, God never relented in his salvation plan for man.

 

Today, God promises us through the prophet Jeremiah a new covenant and the laws of this covenant will be written in our hearts. In his tirelessness to save man, he promise to forgive our iniquities and never to remember our sins if we adhere to the promise of the new covenant. The plan of redemption and forgiveness of sins through the new covenant is fulfilled in the person of Christ. This was the prophecy of Jeremiah in today’s reading, which prefigures the passion, death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ as the new covenant. Christ rightly tells us at the last supper, he says, “Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and many, for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.” This new covenant does not envisage only sinless people, but people who knows how to love and forgive.

 

The second reading from the letter to the Hebrews helps us understand better what the new covenant entails. It entails the kerygma. The letter says, “Christ offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears…” This letter speaks of the agony of Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he said to the disciples, “…my soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.” He prayed saying, “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not my will but your will” (Mt 26:36-39). This is also reflected in today’s Gospel when he said, “My soul is troubled.” This proved to us that Christ also faced the challenges and difficulties of humility and obedience, yet he obeyed perfectly. He who is God and the Son of God, learnt obedience through suffering, which was the sacrifice he made to establish the new covenant. Therefore, suffering is inevitable in life, particularly for Christians. Just like Christ, through it, we will be made perfect. So we must learn from Christ that we cannot run away from sufferings. As he obeyed through suffering, he became the source of salvation to all who obey him. 

 

The tone of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection is present in the Gospel of today when he speaks of his hour. When Christ speaks of his hour, we recall at the wedding feast at Canan, he said to his Mother, “Woman, my hour has not yet come.” This expression of ‘hour’ is generally used in John to refer to the time of Christ passion and death. In today’s Gospel, Christ made it clear that the ‘hour’ has come for the Son of man to be glorified. Something may be in God’s will but not yet His hour or time to actualize it. This speaks of the difference between our time and God’s time, which is chronos and kairos as we have in John 7:6, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.” The kairos is God’s suitable time or moment to save his people. This hour has come for Christ to pay the price of our sins with his blood as the new covenant Jeremiah spoke of, and the glorification Christ speaks of was the glory of the cross. The cross the world sees as disgraceful became graceful with the death of Christ on it.

 

In light of this grace, he was ready and willing to accept the cross and face death when he said, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruits.” Invariably, his death and burial was necessary for his glorification. If Christ our head did not run away from the cross, we too should be ready and willing to die with him so we can be glorified with him. However, it is quite unfortunate that many Christians do not want to follow this step of Christ to the cross, but want the glorification only. We claim to love God so much but not interested in sacrificing our pleasures for God. Love is sacrifice and God has expressed this love to us in Christ. 1 John 4:8 tells us “God is love.” If we love God, let us stand for what is true, just and holy, no matter what it will cost us. Each time we do so, we die with Christ and we will certainly rise up with him. May these words bear fruits in our lives through Christ our Lord. Amen!

 

Happy Sunday!

Fr. Ken Dogbo, OSJ