Fifth Sunday of Lent A March 17, 2024
Fifth Sunday of Lent A
March 17, 2024
So often in life the first impression we have of an individual rarely gives us the full picture.
For example, when we hear about the Apostle Thomas, we immediately give him the name “doubting Thomas” because after the resurrection of Jesus he asks for proof of the resurrection by touching Jesus’ wounds of the crucifixion. Yet in the gospel from today it is Thomas who says, “Let us also go to die with him.”
When I hear the name of Martha, I hear the words of Jesus earlier in the gospel when he says to Martha,” Martha you are concerned with many things…. Mary has chosen the better option, and it will not be taken from her.” The picture of Martha is that she is the bad sister while it is Mary who sits and listens to the Lord. Yet, in today’s gospel it is Mary who sits at home weeping and Martha who says. “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”
Thomas, Martha, Mary, Lazarus, you, and I are challenged to have faith in the words of Jesus, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
For the last three weeks we have been hearing from the gospel of John. These readings are given to us as we continue our journey to Easter and belief in the resurrection. The story of the Woman at the well spoke about how faith becomes living water that encourages us to have faith in Jesus. As this faith grows, we develop living water in our lives.
Last week we heard about a man born blind. The issue became who sinned and caused the man’s blindness and who sinned in performing a healing on the sabbath. We discover blindness is not simply about the inability to discern objects, but blindness can be blindness to the truth of seeing a person for who they really are. The blind men in this story are the temple officials who are blind to a miracle and blind to seeing that healing is more important than laws.
Today we encounter faith and faith in resurrection.
We all can relate to the experience of losing a loved one. Death is a challenge to our faith; we like Martha and Thomas are invited to have faith in the promises of Jesus. We have faith in resurrection. Faith in resurrection has an effect on our lives. When we place faith in resurrection we come to live in a different way.
This is how Carlo Carretto puts it:
"When the world seems a defeat for God and you are sick with the disorder, the violence, the terror, the war on the streets; when the earth seems to be chaos, say to yourself, 'Jesus died and rose again on purpose to save, and his salvation is already with us.' . . .. . .
"Every newly-opened leper-hospital is an act of faith in the resurrection.
"Every peace treaty is an act of faith in the resurrection.
"Every agreed commitment is an act of faith in the resurrection.
"When you forgive your enemy
"When you feed the hungry
"When you defend the weak
"you believe in the resurrection.
"When you have the courage to marry
"When you welcome the newly born child
"When you build your home
"you believe in the resurrection.
"When you wake at peace in the morning
"When you sing to the rising sun
"When you go to work with joy
"you believe in the resurrection."
We go forth to like Thomas, Martha and Mary to place faith in the resurrection.
I have long thought that the Church gives us the two Gospel passages we hear today — the account of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem and the account of his Passion and death — for very practical reasons: this is the last Sunday before Easter when we will celebrate Christ’s Resurrection and not everyone is able to attend and celebrate the Triduum liturgies during Holy Week. Therefore, the Church places these two critical Gospel passages together so that we hear and experience them in a regular Sunday Mass setting — literally, to ‘fit them in’ before Easter. But there is another equally, if not more, important reason we are to experience these Gospel passages together. And I honestly don’t know if the Church intends this reason or not, but I believe the Holy Spirit intends it. These two Gospel passages remind us as much as any passage that Jesus Christ, while fully Divine, is also fully human. He is like us in all manner except one, in committing sin. He therefore shares with us the experience of the full range of our humanity. In these two Gospel passages we experience Christ moving from triumph to tragedy, from soaring to suffering: the triumphant, soaring entry into Jerusalem and the suffering and tragedy of His Passion and crucifixion. Christ’s human experience is also our human experience, for do not we all experience triumph and tragedy, soaring and suffering? Therefore, we do not have a God and Savior who cannot sympathize with our human experience, but rather one who shares it with us! And we have a God and Savior who not only soared and suffered for us, but soars and suffers with us. Not just two thousand years ago, but right here, right now, in every minute of our lives. For what did Jesus promise? “I am with you always , until the end of time.” (Mt 28:20) When we soar and triumph, Jesus is with us, by our side. And when we suffer and experience tragedy, especially, Jesus is with us, by our side. We are encouraged to give thanks to God in our triumphs and soaring. And we are invited to unite our suffering with Christ’s suffering and offer it up for whatever or whomever is in need. Christ’s suffering was not pointless, and united to His, neither is ours. We offer it up, trust, and hope. Sisters and brothers, that hope comes from our knowledge of the rest of the Gospel story that we will experience with Christ: that His triumph and tragedy, His soaring and suffering does not end in death, but in the glory of Easter Resurrection.
5 th Sunday of Lent C April 6, 2025 Often someone will approach me and ask if I can do x y or z on such and such a date. I am not always good and knowing my schedule in the future, so I will say, “send me the dates and I will get back to you.” Sometimes they will send me the dates, sometime not. If I say yes, I may find I have a conflict. This is a stalling tactic giving me time to discern how to respond. This is what Jesus does as he writes on the ground. He knows the Scribes and Pharisees are using the woman to trap him, so he bends down to scribble in the dust to have time to answer them. When he does answer them, his statement is not about the woman’s actions, but about the motives of the accusers. He knows they hope to trap him. If he suggests the woman be released, he has broken the Mosaic law, if he suggests she be stoned he will be in trouble with the Romans. So, he focuses on the motive and state of the accusers. In our first reading we are reminded that God is doing something new. Jesus does something new. He doesn’t focus on what the law says, but he focuses on what is in the heart of the accusers. Mosaic law says that those caught in Adultery, both the man and the woman should be killed. Here we only have the woman. We are told she was caught in the act, but where is the man? For the season of Lent, we have been piling stones in our desert. These stones are the Character defects we wish to reform in this season. They are not for killing others but given to God to use to build us into a new creation. Jesus allows the woman to become a new creation. He refuses to condemn her, He encourages her to sin no more and to go free from the accusations of the temple officials. Have you been like the woman accused by others? How did you experience the forgiveness of your God? When have you been like a Scribe or Pharisee pointing the accusatory finger at another? Cast aside the stones you have wanted to hurl at the other and look inside your heart and see how God’s forgiveness has made you a new creation.
After Moses has his conversation with God in the Burning Bush, Moses asks God for what name he should use in referring to God. God gives the vague answer, “I am who I am.” Asking for someone’s name is a common occurrence. When we refer to someone with their name, we honor them. We all like to be referred to by name. This is one way we honor a person. Not all of us are good at remembering names, but when we do remember and use the name of the other person, we honor them. One of the names for God is taken from our psalm, “The Lord is kind and merciful”. God is also patient. The parable from the gospel about the fig tree is a parable about God’s patience. God, being the gardener, is willing to wait a year for fruit. God works the same for all of us. God is patient with us. Not everyone comes to faith in the same way or the same time frame. Some take less time, others more. When we see a new face in church we don’t ask “What took you so long?” or “Where have you been?” We simply say, “Welcome! It is good to have you here.” We ask and learn the name of the new person and we speak to him or her each week using their name and making them feel welcome. Maybe you have been a fig tree or known someone who is or was a fig tree. This is a good reason to give thanks to the patient nature of God. Remember the kingdom is in the future and now.
