Road to Emmaus Fifth Sunday of Lent

Mar 25, 2009

First Reading – Jer. 31:31-34

Responsorial Psalm – Ps. 51:3-4, 12-13, 14-15

Second Reading – Heb. 5:7-9

Gospel Reading – Jn. 12:20-33

The hour of Jesus

One of the main themes in John’s Gospel is the "hour of Jesus" (cf. 2:4; 4:21, 23; 5:25, 28; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23, 27; 13:1; 16:2; 17:1).

From the contexts of these various passages, which include this Sunday’s Gospel, a number of truths emerge. The hour will be:

1. A time of suffering.

2. A time when hands will be laid on Jesus.

3. A time when Jesus will be lifted up.

4. A time of glory.

5. A time for belief for some and perhaps unbelief for others.

6. A time for the Father’s will to be done.

7. A time for the dead to come to life.

8. A time for judgment.

9. A time for conversion.

10. A time for martyrdom.

11. A time of love.

All of this is pointing ultimately to the Paschal Mystery of Jesus, and his time of self-offering. The hour begins in the upper room at the Last Supper, with the celebration of the Passover, and continues on with his passion, death, Resurrection and Ascension.

The instance that we encounter in this Sunday’s Gospel, however, marks a crucial turning point in how the hour is being referenced. Up until chapter twelve we hear Jesus use terminology like, "My hour has not yet come," or "the hour is coming, and now is."

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However, when these Greeks come during Passover time looking for Jesus, he now says, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified" (Jn. 12:23).

This obvious turning point is because of what is being manifest. Gentiles are coming to Jesus, thus beginning the fulfillment of what was promised long ago.

As I have said in my commentary dealing with the readings on the Feast of Epiphany:

"One thing that must be made explicit is that God always intended to be the Father of all nations. It’s only as a result of sin that there begins to be a particular emphasis on a particular people. Beginning with Adam, God’s first human son, God wanted a special relationship with all of Adam’s progeny.

This is also the case with Abram/Abraham. God’s plan is for all nations to come into his covenant family.

1. God says to Abram, "I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves" (Gen. 12:3). God intends for all families to be blessed.

2. God also changes Abram’s name, which means exalted father, to Abraham, "For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you…" Gen. 17:5b-6).

3. Then the promise of worldwide blessing in Genesis 12 is upgraded to a sworn covenant oath by God. "By myself I have sworn, says the Lord…I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply you descendents as stars of heaven…and by your descendents shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves…" (Gen. 22:16a, 17, 18).

Then there are the prophets. Throughout the prophets there is the promise to gather the nations into the covenant family of God."

One example of this, which is pertinent especially because these Greeks are coming to worship God on Passover, is found in Isaiah. Isaiah says, "And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, every one who keeps the Sabbath, and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant – these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer…for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples [nations]. Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered" (56:6-8).

Also in Isaiah we read, "In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek, and his dwelling shall be glorious" (11:10).

We see then the importance of the conversion of the Gentiles for what God has been planning to do in Christ. This is even more manifest when at the foot of the cross, and the dead body of Christ, the centurion says, "Truly this man was the Son of God" (Mk 15:39).

The grain of wheat

Within the context of Jesus’ encounter with these Gentiles and Jesus’ proclamation that the hour has come, he goes on to speak about the grain of wheat needing to fall to the ground and die in order to bear fruit (cf. Jn. 12:24-7). Here, of course, he is speaking of the offering of his own life.

Steve Ray, however, notes an important aspect of the Old Testament background in his commentary, St. John’s Gospel. He says, "An interesting area of study is the history of the feast of Pentecost in the Old Testament. This feast, though now a celebration of the anniversary of the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, was originally a harvest celebration – rejoicing in the first fruits of the harvest (Ex. 23:16; Lev. 23:10). This festival was to take place on the fiftieth day after Passover (Pentecost means "fiftieth day")" (245)

Ray continues, "Jesus now refers to himself as the grain of wheat that must fall into the ground and bear much fruit. Corresponding to the feast of the Harvest (Pentecost), Jesus was killed and buried at Passover, and fifty days later at Pentecost, as the Jews were celebrating the feast of the Harvest, a great harvest was reaped by the Holy Spirit. We read in Acts 2:1, ‘When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place." The Holy Spirit fell upon the 120 in the upper room, and shortly after Peter preached the Gospel and ‘those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls’ (Acts 2:41). Interestingly enough, three thousand were executed on the first Pentecost at Mount Sinai (Ex. 32:28). On the new Pentecost three thousand would be added. The first fruits of the harvest were reaped at Pentecost as the feast of the Harvest was celebrated in Jerusalem. Jesus died as a ‘grain of wheat’, and then, fifty days later, the great harvest began" (245-46).

Jesus’ suffering, death, Resurrection and Ascension will indeed bear abundant fruit.

"When I am lifted up"

In last Sunday’s Gospel (Jn. 3:14-21) Jesus spoke about the Son of Man being lifted up. He also spoke of being lifted up in John 8:28. Once again we hear Jesus say, "…and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself" (Jn. 12:32). John then comments, "He said this to show by what death he was to die" (Jn. 12:33).

This expression would bring to the mind of the original readers of John the opening line of a very important prophecy of Isaiah, which is commonly referred to as the Suffering Servant Song (52:13-53:12). This prophecy reads like it could have been written right after Jesus’ death and Resurrection.

The Song opens, "Behold, my servant shall prosper, he shall be exalted and lifted up…" (Is. 52:13). This suffering servant will be "despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (Is. 53:3).

The Song then goes on to proclaim that this servant will suffer, not because of anything he did wrong or sins he committed. He is supremely innocent. He will suffer for the sins of others.

"Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, struck down by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed…and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Is. 53:4-6).

It is this very reality we will begin to enter into next Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion when we begin to celebrate the wondrous mysteries of Holy Week.