March 18, 2018

5th Sunday of Lent B Jeremiah 31: 31-34; Hebrews 5: 7-9; John 12: 20-33 When we were young, we thought we would go on forever. Sometimes we still feel the same way. When we feel this way, often we are shocked back into reality when someone close is struggling with death. This past year I have experienced the sufferings and death of four of my friends. I also have been deeply involved with five families as they witnessed the passing of a loved one. One is never ready for death, whether it is sudden or expected. I had the privilege to be with these families as they planned the funeral services. They shared what was special about their loved one and what they will miss most of all. We’ve laughed and cried, supported each other and hugged. Somehow the awareness of love lost and love experienced brought us through. The need for companions during paralyzing grief lifted us to know that love is still present and love is still sharing and caring.Somehow this translates to the experience of God’s presence and His caring. We have just heard three readings from Jeremiah, Paul writing to the Hebrews and John’s gospel sharing that life will have times of trials, but in Christ we are assured that the trial is not our final future. God has a plan for each person, the plan of forever in heaven with Him. And how does God tell this story…by sharing the final days and hours of Jesus’ time with us. Today’s gospel from John tells what happened immediately after Jesus’ Palm Sunday procession into Jerusalem. Some Greeks had come to the Holy City for the celebration of Passover. They wanted to see Jesus and find out more about Him. And Jesus says, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Jesus is reflecting on His upcoming sufferings, passion and the meaning of His death. He is saying this while no one around Him wants to believe this or listen to a person who says ‘I’m dying.’ Jesus continues by explaining what it means to ‘be glorified’. He uses the common example of a seed of wheat needing to die before it produces much fruit. The people who grew their owns crops in their family gardens knew all about this. Jesus is telling us that ‘glorification’ refers to His death which will produce much life in the community of faith. People will finally realize how much God loves them. They will realize that God cares and is totally present. They will realize that Jesus continually spoke of God’s love and how He wants each person to be with Him forever. The way to go there is the way of love: following the teaching and total example of Jesus. This is eternal life. So Jesus is very concerned now, there is an urgency of the ‘hour’ not because He is afraid but that everything from all time has hinged on this hour. This is the time of the fulfillment of God’s eternal plan. Jesus does not want to avoid these final hours but to embrace them fully for it is the purpose for which He came. Do I let GOD DIE FOR ME? Or do I wish He wouldn’t die like this? Jesus then prays to the Father. “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.’ Then a voice came from heaven. ‘I have glorified it and will glorify it again.’” This brings it all together: all that Jesus has been preaching, the divine presence in all the miracles, the love and care and persuasive gentle leading of all of us to the Father and Eternal Life. And the people misunderstood this. Jesus clarified what was going on. “This voice did not come for My sake but for yours. Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.” How will the people respond? How do I respond? Are they going to accept and believe in God revealing Himself in the person of Jesus? Do I then accept Jesus as my Lord and God? Is my life changed because of my new found faith? Or do I continue on in my same way of living accepting what Jesus said only when it is convenient? And Jesus continued, “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” But do I want to be lifted up to be with the Lord…or do I expect to ‘sneak in the back door when God isn’t looking?’ Jesus is the one who is leading us and bringing us to heaven. Do I allow God to lead me and change my living to one of loving and forgiving? Can we learn from our own mistakes and misadventures? Can we learn from our ancestors in faith? Jeremiah today is looking forward to a bright future. God had made a covenant with the people of Israel on Mount Sinai. God remained loyal, the people did not. The conditions of the covenant were intended to help the people remain consistent and loyal partners. But they ignored these conditions being totally disloyal to God. They forgot the great gift when God delivered them from Pharaoh’s Egypt. They liked their freedoms but remained slaves to their own sins. They consistently failed to observe the covenant and this led to the collapse of the kingdom. They had to learn the hard way that God was their only master. God is God, I am not. The people failed to be faithful, God did not. They became prosperous and forgot the poor and forgot God. They placed their faith in other gods in idols (like the ‘world, the flesh and the devil’). These led to their own self-destruction. God sent prophets to remind them, but they rejected them. But when they found themselves in deep trouble, they came running back to God. God restored them. THE LESSON: God continues always to stand ready to restore us, to bring us closer to Himself. Do we allow Him to do this? Connections ,the newsletter of ideas and images for preaching the Sunday Gospel states, “Jesus holds up the grain of wheat in today’s Gospel as a symbol of hope in the wake of our own catastrophic experiences and traumatic transitions. Christ-like love demands change, risk and a certain amount of ‘dying,’ but if we are willing to risk loving and allowing ourselves to be loved, Christ promises us the harvest of the Gospel wheat: in our willingness to nurture the ‘grain’ with our oneness to God’s grace and the compassion of others, there will always be second chances, opportunities too begin again, and new plantings and endless harvests. Only by loving is love returned, only by reaching out beyond ourselves do we learn and grow, only by giving to others do we receive, only by dying do we rise to new life.” So I reflect on: • How have I experienced God’s intimacy in my life? Have I ever shared this? When I do, I open up the opportunity for another to share how God touches them. • When has God’s mercy freed me to be more merciful with myself and others? • I can learn from the example of Jesus’ sufferings so that my own losses, grief experiences and sacrifices open up my heart so God can do something new in my life. Do I allow this? • Am I allowing God to do something new with me these remaining Lenten days? Sacred Space 2018 states: “The humble wish of the Greeks is to see Jesus. Lord, that is my wish also. That is why I give this time to prayer. May I see You more clearly, love You more dearly, and follow You more nearly, as the ancient prayer puts it. Jesus, in this time of prayer I imagine You putting a grain of wheat into my hand. You and I talk about what it can mean. When I next eat bread, it will have a deeper significance for me. When I share in the Eucharist, I will try to be aware that it means Your own life, which is blessed, broken, shared, and consumed for the life of the world.”