A Homily - The Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year B)

First Reading – Jeremiah 31:31-34 ©

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 50(51):3-4, 12-15 ©

Second Reading – Hebrews 5:7-9 ©

Gospel Acclamation – John 12:26

The Gospel According to John 12:20 – 33 ©

 

(NJB) 

 

Listen!

 

In times of conflict and despair it is right to speak in terms of hope; this is the role of the prophet.

And yet it is wrong to view conflict as divine punishment, or a favorable resolution of the conflict as divine favor.

God, the creator of the Universe, God has made all that is and all people in it free. We are absolutely free from divine coercion. With whatever wisdom we possess we set our own course and reap the consequences of our actions, consequences that are not meted out by God or any such divine agency, but through the laws of nature and prevailing social norms.

Know this!

With God there is never justice without mercy; contrition is like a cleansing rain or a healing balm, when we seek forgiveness from God, we are looking for something that already found us.

We are all sinners…animals, no different than the wolf or the lion, except insofar as our consciousness reaches out to the infinite, seeking counsel with God, who is present at our core. God speaks to us there, from our innermost being, and in the divine presence we receive  the grace to quiet the wolf and the lion within us, to overcome our animal nature and live a life governed by the dictates of conscience.

Do not look for God’s hand in the tribulations we suffer here, do not assign credit to God for the rewards you enjoy on earth. Both the good and the bad come like the wind, fleeting and ephemeral, sometimes a blessing at other times harmful.

Remember,

There is no crime that God has not forgiven.

God made every single one of us and has destined each of us for eternal life; therefore walk in justice and pursue the good joyously, exercising mercy with humility; knowing that whatever we suffer here is temporary, that all things will pass away.

Consider the Gospel reading for the day, be wary of propaganda and mindful of myth.

The reading for today does a disservice to the memory of Jesus, who was not killed for the “glory” of God, or to fulfill some divine purpose.

His death was a political murder, it was ordinary skullduggery and any suggestion otherwise undermines the truth, which as Christians we are committed to.

Be mindful.

The blessings of God are not transactional. All of God’s children, all people in all times, all people in all places are the subjects of God’s love and mercy. There is not a single person left out of the divine plan; any suggestion otherwise circumscribes the power of God, restricts the super-abundance of God’s love truncates and diminishes the good news.

God does not intervene in the world or interfere in human affairs, like Zeus or Jupiter or Jove are said to have done, as even the Abraham, Moses and David is said to have done. God is not the Thunderer; any such attestations are a disservice to the faith.

God does not come to us as a king, but as a loving friend, a brother, a sister, a parent; God comes to us in the form of a stranger, the meek and the marginalized, in the poor and the hungry.

Know this.

There is no power in this world other than God. There is no divine agency apart from the gency God directs. When the Gospel writers wrote about the “prince” of this world, and the sentencing of this devil that is yet to come...they were making it up.

They were trading on their own fears and promoting their own boogey-men.

Be at peace.

God has no enemy, and the only enmity we face is the enmity we engender in our own hearts. We ourselves are our own undoing…if we should fall apart, the divine spirit will put us back together.

First Reading – Jeremiah 31:31-34 ©

I Will Write my Law in their Hearts

See, the days are coming – it is the Lord who speaks – when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel (and the House of Judah), but not a covenant like the one I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant of mine, so I had to show them who was master. It is the Lord who speaks. No, this is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel when those days arrive – it is the Lord who speaks. Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I will be their God and they shall be my people. There will be no further need for neighbour to try to teach neighbour, or brother to say to brother, ‘Learn to know the Lord!’ No, they will all know me, the least no less than the greatest – it is the Lord who speaks – since I will forgive their iniquity and never call their sin to mind.

 

Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 50(51):3-4, 12-15 ©

A pure heart create for me, O God.

Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.

  In your compassion blot out my offence.

O wash me more and more from my guilt

  and cleanse me from my sin.

A pure heart create for me, O God.

A pure heart create for me, O God,

  put a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from your presence,

  nor deprive me of your holy spirit.

A pure heart create for me, O God.

Give me again the joy of your help;

  with a spirit of fervour sustain me,

that I may teach transgressors your ways

  and sinners may return to you.

A pure heart create for me, O God.

 

Second Reading – Hebrews 5:7-9 ©

He Learned to Obey and He Became the Source of Eternal Salvation

During his life on earth, Christ offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to the one who had the power to save him out of death, and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard. Although he was Son, he learnt to obey through suffering; but having been made perfect, he became for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation.

 

Gospel Acclamation – John 12:26

Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!

Whoever serves me must follow me, says the Lord; and where I am, there also will my servant be.

Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!

 

The Gospel According to John 12:20 – 33 ©

If a Grain of Wheat Falls on the Ground and Dies, it Yields a Rich Harvest

Among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. These approached Philip, who came from Bethsaida in Galilee, and put this request to him, ‘Sir, we should like to see Jesus.’ Philip went to tell Andrew, and Andrew and Philip together went to tell Jesus. Jesus replied to them:

‘Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

I tell you, most solemnly, unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.

Anyone who loves his life loses it; anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for the eternal life.

If a man serves me, he must follow me, wherever I am, my servant will be there too.

If anyone serves me, my Father will honour him.

Now my soul is troubled.

What shall I say:

Father, save me from this hour?

But it was for this very reason that I have come to this hour.

Father, glorify your name!’

A voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’ People standing by, who heard this, said it was a clap of thunder; others said, ‘It was an angel speaking to him.’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not for my sake that this voice came, but for yours.

‘Now sentence is being passed on this world; now the prince of this world is to be overthrown.

And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all men to myself.’

By these words he indicated the kind of death he would die.

 

The Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year B)