Fifth Sunday of Lent – Year B
First Reading (Jer 31: 31-34). The prophet Jeremiah reassures people that God has not abandon them, but that God will soon make a new covenant with them with laws written in their hearts.
Second Reading (Heb 5: 7-9). Christ became the source of eternal life for us through his suffering.
Gospel (Jn 12: 20-33). To those who follow Jesus, his death brings them life.
Homily
Unless a grain of wheat dies, it cannot bear fruit. This is the key sentence in today’s Gospel. I would like to paraphrase it this way: unless we swallow our pride and ego, we cannot bear fruits for God. We are called to die to ourselves if we want to produce good results in all areas of our lives. If Jesus did not die to himself, we would not have life eternal. We must be willing to trust God and put ourselves in his fatherly hands. This means, we must admit our guilt and seek God’s divine help.
We believe in a God of life, love and peace. God promises a new covenant through prophet Jeremiah after the old covenant was broken by the people. This time God says, “Deep within them I will plant my law, writing it on their hearts”. This reminds us of the use of heart as the engine of the body. Once the heart stops to function, the whole body stops too. This helps us to realize that God’s covenant is for the whole person, body, mind, heart and soul.
The second reading taken from the book of Hebrews presents us with the relationship of suffering and love. Christ is about to give his life up for us to be saved-sacrifice driven by the love of humankind. He (Jesus) learnt to obey through suffering. So we too must learn to obey through suffering.
In the Gospel, Christ tells us that a grain of wheat must fall and die in order to bear fruits. Jesus himself did practice what he preached and so we too are to follow in his footsteps to produce fruits. We all have the mandate through baptism to evangelise and win souls for Christ. Unless we proclaim high that Jesus is the Lord, our faith in Him is dead.
