5th Sunday of Lent (B)
1st week, alternate cycle.
Texts taken from the “On Your Word” Missal, March-April 2021.
As time and life pass, we draw ever closer to the heart of the liturgical year: only eight days remain until the beginning of Holy Week. Today’s readings remind us how faithful God is to his promises and that his final word is forgiveness and mercy. The Lord promises us: «Where I am, there also will my servant be». In every act of service carried out alongside the Lord, who was the first to become a servant, we are given the opportunity to share in his reign of love, his royal dignity, and his glorious life. This is not about relying on our heroic attitudes, but on the constant and heartfelt invocation of the Spirit whom Jesus promised to anyone who desires to follow in his footsteps.
FIRST READING
From the book of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 31:31-34)
Behold, the days are coming - oracle of the Lord - when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, a covenant they broke, though I was their Lord. Oracle of the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days - oracle of the Lord -: I will place my law within them and write it on their hearts. Then I will be their God, and they will be my people. They will no longer teach one another, saying: «Know the Lord», because all will know me, from the least to the greatest - oracle of the Lord - for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more. - The word of God.
Commentary on the first reading
On this final Sunday of Lent, we hear God’s promise fulfilled in Christ Jesus. The law written on stone will be written on human hearts when the paschal exodus is accomplished, the passage from death to life, liberation from the slavery of sin through Jesus’ death and resurrection. People who have always sought to know the divine, groping in the dark, can now, through the Son, know God’s love and allow the power of this love to overcome every fear and resistance and convert even the hardest hearts. It is the power of forgiveness, the mercy of God that saves us. And this is not merely a personal matter; it is also the history of the Church: the new people belonging to God are born. This means that in the Church, no Christian should be afraid of losing their autonomy and freedom by obeying God’s word, but should be happy to belong to him, as spouses are happy to belong to one another, to unite and bind themselves together, forming a bond that is not frightening but is a sign of great and faithful love.
SECOND READING
From the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 5:7-9)
In the days of his earthly life, Christ offered prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to God, who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his complete surrender to him. Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. - The word of God.
Commentary on the second reading
At the center is the figure of the Christus patiens, the suffering Jesus, united with our humanity. Everyone experiences, at certain moments in life, great suffering, and it can feel as though something is tearing inside the heart, a pain that causes «loud cries and tears». Jesus chose to share human fragility, but he showed us how to live through this suffering while remaining in the Father’s love. He gave us an example through his «complete surrender» into the Father’s hands, which did not spare him physical death - a sign of Jesus’ full brotherhood with humanity - but brought him back to glorious life at Easter, a sign of his divinity. Surrender means complete trust, but also total adherence to the Father’s loving plan of love and salvation for all humanity. He surrendered because he knew with certainty that the Father would hear him, but also because he wanted you not to feel alone and abandoned in suffering. He wanted you, too, to be able to trust and pass through the darkness with him and as he did, reaching the light. Jesus loves you and wants you to be saved.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to John (Jn 12:20-33)
At that time, among those who had gone up to worship during the festival were some Greeks. They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him: «Sir, we wish to see Jesus». Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them: «The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you: unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves their life loses it, and whoever hates their life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. If anyone wishes to serve me, let them follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor them. Now my soul is troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But it was for this very reason that I came to this hour! Father, glorify your name». Then a voice came from heaven: «I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again!». The crowd standing there and hearing it said that it was thunder. Others said: «An angel has spoken to him». Jesus said: «This voice has not come for my sake but for yours. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw everyone to myself». He said this to indicate the kind of death he was going to die. - The word of the Lord.
Commentary on the Gospel of the day
Some pagans who are in Jerusalem for the festival go to Philip and ask to see that famous rabbi. Philip, somewhat uncertain because the request goes against Jewish law, goes to Andrew for advice, and together they go to Jesus. They know that this time, too, the Teacher will probably go beyond the letter of the law and give an answer full of meaning: not common sense, but the profound meaning of life. And indeed, Jesus takes the opportunity to reveal through a comparison the meaning of his passion and death. His death is a sowing, in which the seed must fall to the ground, die, and give rise to a new plant that multiplies the seeds in the ear. True death is the sterility of those who do not give, who do not spend their lives, but want to preserve them in an obsessive pursuit of their own well-being. We generate life not only when we bring a child into the world, but also whenever we desire abundant life, for ourselves and for others, and seek to give it through the creative power of love. «And I, when I am lifted up from the earth», like the serpent lifted up by Moses, «will draw everyone to myself». You, too, will be able to see him on the cross as he gives his life; but will you let yourself be drawn to him?
