Scripture Study for
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Jeremiah 31:31–34 / Psalm 51:12a / Hebrews 5:7–9 / John 12:20–33
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Understanding the Word
By Dianne Bergant, C.S.A.
Although Jeremiah was a southern prophet who prophesied long after the collapse of the northern kingdom, his message was full of promise for both northern and southern kingdoms. He announced that in the future time of eschatological fulfillment, both kingdoms would be united once again in a new covenant. The old covenant included laws inscribed on stone tablets; the law of the new covenant will be written on their hearts. Each individual will be directed from within. This will require total openness to God and the ability to discern God’s will from a myriad of possibilities.
The passage from Hebrews states that Jesus endured torment of body and anguish of soul. He can fully understand human distress and the desire to escape it. He can speak to those in affliction as one who himself was ravaged by sorrow, but who nonetheless clung fast to God’s will. From a human point of view, he is one with the human condition. From God’s point of view, he is the one who can show others how to accept with docility circumstances over which they have no control. Just as he learned to accept God’s designs in his life, so now he teaches others to do the same.
The Gospel reading reports the approach of “some Greeks.” This mention of Greeks suggests the inclusion of the Gentile world in the salvation brought by Jesus. Jesus replies to their approach with an announcement: His hour has come! This is both the hour of his glorification and the hour that he dreads. The relationship between his anguish and his exaltation is demonstrated through the image of the grain of wheat that must die if it is to rise. The interior struggle that Jesus endured is revealed in his prayer. Should he ask to be preserved from this hour of anguish/exaltation? But it was for this hour that he came into the world in the first place. Therefore, he accepts it.