Homily for March 25, 2012 (5Th Sunday of Lent)

Homily for March 25, 2012 (5th Sunday of Lent)

Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51 (v.v.); Hebrews 5:7-9; John 12:20-33

Several years ago Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California published his best-selling book entitled, The Purpose Driven Life. It has sole over 30 million copies. It had a biblically-based message, was filled with great examples, and was designed to be read over the space of 40 days. It also began with a clear and challenging sentence:

“It’s not about you.”

I thought of that sentence and Pastor Warren’s book as I reflected on Jesus’ discourse in today’s gospel reading. As he and his disciples prepared to celebrate the Passover, the great Jewish feast of liberation and the movement from slavery to freedom and from death to life, Jesus realized that the end of his mission on earth was fast approaching. “The hour has come,” he announced, “for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

Those words must have created some real excitement for many of those who first heard them. “Well finally,” some may have thought, “Jesus is going to show us that he really is the Son of God. He’ll destroy our enemies, restore our nation to its former glory, and usher in a new era of power and prosperity for the people of Israel!”

But just as quickly as he proclaimed his impending glorification, he also must have shocked or at least mystified them with this: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” It wasn’t about him.

We live in a world in which many seek celebrity, notoriety, fame, and fortune; and they’re willing to do almost anything to achieve it. Others seek political, social, or economic power; and they, too, are willing to do almost anything—good or bad—to get it. They have a purpose; and they’re very driven; but in the end it’s all about them.

Jesus, by contrast, came to his hour for the purpose of his Father’s glory. Even when he said, “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself,” it referred to the death he would die in fulfillment and consequence of the mission his Father had given him. That mission was to bring to fruition the prophecy of Jeremiah in our first reading. God promised that the old covenant—one written on stone, based largely on mutual obligations, and limited to a particular people—would be replaced by a new one written on human hearts, based on mutual love, and open to all.

As we near the end of another Lenten season, we are invited to seek glory—not as the world does but as Jesus did: in service to his Father and to others. May we do so like the author of Psalm 51, with clean hearts, steadfast spirits, joy and a willingness to follow God’s call not only to serve but also to be transformed. So many are trying to get the bread; but we are asked to live as grains of wheat: for our families and friends, for our communities, for our church, for our world, and for our God. +