FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT, YR B
Jer 31:31-34; Ps 51;
Heb 5:7-9; John 12:20-33
THE HOUR HAS COME
The gospel today recounts Jesus’ last journey to Jerusalem. He enters Jerusalem triumphantly and this will lead to his arrest, passion and death but more importantly his victory.
The “hour” is a central theme in the gospel of John. At the beginning of the gospel, at the wedding feast at Cana, when Mary asked Jesus for a miracle, Jesus said, “My hour has not yet come”. But when the Greeks came to look for him, he declared, “The hour has come”.
In the Old Testament, one of the signs of salvation would be that the Gentiles will come to conversion and this will be seen in their seeking for the God of Israel. In Isaiah 2, we read, “And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (Is 2:3).
In this search of the Greeks, Jesus sees that “The Hour” or “His hour” has come.
We hope and pray for many things for ourselves. For this reason, we must be attentive to the happenings in our lives and around us so that when the “hour” comes, we will seize it and make maximum use of it. When we are attentive, we will never miss our own moments of grace, breakthrough and fulfilment.
Jesus’ Hour is a time of salvation and more importantly glorification.
In the Old Testament, the Glory of God was the splendour and power of his presence and the worship associated with it, whereas, in the New Testament, it is the passion and death of Jesus that is seen as the glory of God. His voluntary embrace of the cross and death is the ultimate act of praise and glory to God the Father. This is because by His death and resurrection, Satan is defeated forever and his power is broken. Jesus uses Satan’s own strength against him. When he (Satan) thought he had finished with Jesus, Jesus overturns the tables and gains victory.
We must also allow our lives to be spent for the glory of the Lord. This means that we must learn to embrace the hardships and pains of our responsibilities and bear persecution.
In our most difficult and painful moments, we should look up to Jesus; something good will surely come out of it.
Paul says, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. (2 Cor 4:8-10).
May we not miss our “hour” when it comes and may our lives bring praise, honour and glory to God.
God bless you.
