Fifth Sunday of Lent
Today's Mass Readings
I believe in paradox. I remember standing at the railway station, waving goodbye to my parents. I was barely seventeen. My conviction that I was called to be a priest cost me my family. And at 17 that was not easy. I burst into tears as I saw the train pull away. I would not see my family for two years. At that moment I was afraid. I saw my mother and father tears roll down their cheeks and because I could not bear it no more, I looked away. It was at that exact moment that I felt this strange strength inside me. It was rather paradoxical – that this moment of separation would also turn out to be the moment of the confirmation of my call. I believe in paradox. We are into the fifth week in Lent. The readings are no more dealing with superficial things. They are dealing with issues that lead us right into the passion, suffering and death of Jesus. However, Jesus’ suffering and death is presented as a paradox. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains but a seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit” (Jn 12:22). That self sacrifice… that willingness to let go… that dying… that is the key. Once we get understand that paradox, Christian life takes on a new meaning. Life itself takes on a new meaning.
I have three points to talk about today.
1) In the Old Testament, God is known for God’s power and might. Do you remember the liberation of Israel from slavery in Egypt and its settlement in the Canaan? The entire process is an exercise of God’s immense might in favour of Israel and against its enemies. Moreover, if only Israel would remain faithful, God would strengthen Israel’s power, weaken its enemies even more and decimate its enemies – even little babies. There is no paradox here. On the contrary, the God whom Jesus introduced is a God of paradoxes. Look at the Cross! On the Cross power lies in powerlessness. Here enemies are not destroyed; they are forgiven. Here love is not measured; it is freely given. Here one’s life is not preserved at the cost of other people’s lives; it is sacrificed for others. The gospel is a gospel of paradox.
2) Believing and living the paradox in our lives involves some pain. The second reading opens our eyes to pain in Jesus’ life. As the author of the letter to the Hebrews tells us, “In the days Jesus was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death...” (Heb 5:7). Jesus’ suffering was not merely the pain of his physical crucifixion. His real pain was the pain of obedience to the Father’s will. His pain came from the submission of his will to God’s cause. His pain came from the realization that God and God’s cause is greater than his own life. But in the very submission of his will and in the pain of that submission Jesus became the source of salvation for all (Heb 5: 11). Here in lies the paradox. Our pain too comes from this realization – that God and God’s cause is greater than us. Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Archbishop Romero, Sr. Dorothy Stang, Mother Teresa, John Paul II - their lives became subservient to God’s will of salvation for all. My dear friends, to forgive when we hurt is painful, but paradoxically, it can become the cause for salvation. To give when we do not have enough is painful, but paradoxically, it can become the cause for salvation. Dying to self is painful, but paradoxically it is the most salvific force. However, to do this we have to believe that Jesus and his teaching is bigger than our own life. That is the meaning of paradox.
3) Let us talk about the grain that must die. Look at this gain of rice. This seed has to die for it to be alive again and produce more seeds. Imagine this seed is the forgiveness and acceptance that you show to someone who does not deserve it. Imagine this seed is the time you make for someone when that someone knows you don’t have much. Imagine this seed is the money your share when you yourself have very little. Imagine this is the understanding and compassion you show when you are yourself in pain. What do you imagine will happen? In all probability you have changed the other person’s life. Imagine all the other lives that can be changed by that one life.
On this fifth Sunday of Lent, what do you think God is saying to us? As I said in the beginning, we are not dealing with superficial things anymore. “Unless a grain of wheat...,” is as real as it gets. This week, will you accept the very paradox that we worship on this altar? Will you hear the call of Christ on as he submits his life to the Father’s will? Will you accept the power of Christ’s paradox in your life? Will you be this grain of wheat? Are you ready to let the paradox of Christ’s life take on new meaning in your life? If you are and are willing, say “Amen.”
- Fr. Satish Joseph