5th Sunday of Lent B
Jeff Bagnall • 9 March 2024
In last week’s first reading from the history book called Chronicles mention was made of the prophet Jeremiah; in our reading this week from that prophet ( Jeremiah 31:31-34), we have the only explicit mention in the Old Testament of the New Covenant – a new pact of God with and for humanity in relationship with God, though Ezekiel expresses a very similar idea ( 11:19 || 36:26). The pattern of much of the history of the people descended from Abraham repeats again and again: God makes a covenant, – a promise, a command or an arrangement with conditions, and the people default on their obligation – are unfaithful, or just forgetful; disasters beset the people, usually trouble from neighbouring states; yet God renews His contract with them again and again.
The prophets have the difficult and thankless job of encouraging and lifting the spirits of the people again and again, as well as berating their inadequate response to God. At the time of Jeremiah the ‘top’ people have been captured and taken into Babylon in exile; they feel quite depressed and let down by God, so there is need for a message of a new beginning.
We realise this when, year by year, we go through the attempt to renew or refresh and re-invigorate our commitment to God in Christ during Lent and with the celebrations of Easter. It seems it is no different from the times of the Old Testament – yet, with the strength from Jesus Christ, a fellow human being of ours, we can – let us affirm we will! The responsorial psalm (from Psalm 51) is quite appropriate to these sentiments, it is sometimes called the ‘miserere’ from the first word of the Latin version (numbered psalm 50 there).
In the book of Hebrews, ( Heb 5:7-9), the author is trying to express the ‘new’ situation that the Christians are in; and trying to do it in the language that they would understand. They might well be converts from the Jewish religion, perhaps living in Egypt and in the context of a culture and a view of life influenced by Greek thought and civilisation. Because of the literary style and intricate thought system, it would be best suited to well-educated Christians, knowledgeable of the Old testament and presently living their faith without much difficulty.
In the last decades of the first century it presents the new and unique priesthood of Christ: a man with the appropriate priestly qualities, i.e. he can represent others (all other humans) since He became one of us, he has an empathy with the troubles and difficulties of being a good human (a righteous person) in an unsympathetic environment for he was tempted and had his agony in the garden of Gethsemane, and he has been appointed by God Who says to His disciples (and that includes us), “this is my beloved Son, listen to Him.”
The gospel reading is John 12: 20-32. Up to this point in this gospel the ‘hour’ of Jesus has not come – as He told Mary in the story of the wedding feast of Cana ( John 2:4) when she looked for a miracle from Him. Also in this gospel apart from His dealings with the Samaritan woman (chapter 4) Jesus has confined all His activity to the Jews, but now we hear of Greeks wanting to see Jesus – and ‘seeing’ in this gospel often means coming to believe. Is it this that triggers Jesus’ words “now the hour has come?” He goes on to speak of the pattern of His life and death, which is one of self-denial and service of the other.
The followers of Jesus must adopt this pattern in their lives too – it is a scary thing to do. And the writer alludes at this point to the agony prayer of Jesus in Gethsemane, a prayer to be freed from this ending of His life, but the prayer is answered in a different way. (In this Gospel there is no account of the agony in the garden as in the other three gospels). His lifting up on the cross is also a lifting up to a new risen life, to the glory of God and to encourage all to ‘follow’ Him. Where He is we should be, and except when we are in sin, where we are, Jesus is there in us, with us and for us!
Read the Jeff's Jottingsabout the covenant
Jeff Bagnall was a lecturer for many years at Craiglockhart College teaching RE to many future Catholic Primary teachers.
The first part of the book of Exodus lives up to the meaning of its title – exodus means going out; it is about the plight of the Israelites in Egypt, the early life of Moses and the miraculous escape from slavery into the desert and on the way to the promised land. But then we read of the establishment of the covenant between them and Yahweh. But this is an account put together after much retelling, adaptation and development. During that time the rules by which the people should live became established and were put together in the form of a book they originated at the time of Moses and the Book is attributed to him ( Exodus 24:1-7 ). The first reading for today is taken from this book shortly after the Ten Commandments were given at Sinai. Among all the ways that those in covenant with God should live is this definite section about how to treat immigrants – foreigners living in your land. We notice also the strong image of God as a strict ruler who in anger will deal harshly with those who let him down. Ideas about God also develop with time.
The first reading is a very upbeat announcement of the good times that the Lord will bring about for all nations. This is not just about the freedom of the Jews who have been in captivity, but it is a universal message of good times, with plenty of all the fruits of the earth and no fear of troubles. The destruction of death might be seen by Christians as the announcement of life after death, but when this message was first delivered, probably in the 6 th century BC, it meant no more will enemies kill each other. All these wonderful gifts from God are, however, delivered to all peoples “on this mountain,” a phrase that initially refers to the city of Jerusalem which is centred upon and around a prominent hill in the countryside; though the phrase was used symbolically to refer to all the people of Israel. So we see in this passage the basis for a future view of what God will do for all people on earth, but with the restriction of it being centred on the people of Israel; it is the vision of a prophet who sees the future darkly, reading it from the worldly state of affairs that he interprets from the standpoint of his assured belief that his is also the god of those who share his faith. We know ourselves that many of us Christians are caught in similar limitations in our vision of God’s relationship with the whole world and its people.