{"id":710,"date":"2019-05-10T11:40:55","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T11:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=710"},"modified":"2019-05-10T11:54:48","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T11:54:48","slug":"7-april-2019-c-fifth-sunday-of-lent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=710","title":{"rendered":"7 April 2019 (C) Fifth Sunday of Lent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A. The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue with Questions\nof the Day. <\/strong>Beginning of a new Age with God\u2019s mercy.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A. The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Reading<\/em>\n(Isaiah 43:16-21). See, I am doing a new\ndeed, and I will give my chosen people drink.<\/em> This reading forms part of\nGod\u2019s discourse to his people Israel\nduring their exile in Babylon\nthrough the prophet known as Second Isaiah. The same prophet spoke to them many\ntimes on the same subject: the Lord their God was about the save them and to\nlead them back through the desert to their native land. The lengthy discourse\nfrom which this passage is taken begins with these words from God: \u201cBut now\nthus says the Lord, he who created you O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do\nnot fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by my name, you are mine.\nWhen you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers,\nthey shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall be burned,\nand the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One\nof Israel,\nyour Saviour\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            In one sense this redemption is a new departure, a new\nexodus, similar to that from Egypt,\nbut these texts stress that the journey from Egypt\ncannot be compared to this new journey westwards from Babylon. In this present reading God speaks\nin a general way of the journey from Egypt, which he presents as have directed\nhimself \u2013 through the sea, a path through the great waters, putting chariots\nand horses in the field to have them snuffed out like a wick. But that was only\nthe beginning of Israel as a people, and she had now no need to recall these\npast events, in view of the new deed God was going to perform for them, a new\ndeed that was beginning to emerge for them, with a new journey from Babylon to\ntheir homeland through the desert and the marvels that would accompany it. God\nwas about to form a new people for himself, a people that would sing his praises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsorial Psalm <\/em>(Psalm 125[126]). What marvels\nthe Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Reading<\/em> (Philippians 3:8-14). Reproducing the pattern of his death, I have\naccepted the loss of everything for Christ. <\/em>The apostle Paul was a prisoner,\nprobably in Ephesus,\nwhen he wrote this letter to the Philippians. In the letter itself, immediately\nbefore today\u2019s reading, Paul warns members of the Church at Philippi to be on\ntheir guard with regard to certain persons, especially Jews or Jewish Christians\nwho were, apparently, attempting to introduce Jewish customs, maintaining that\nthey themselves were the true people of God and priding themselves in bodily\nmatters, in the flesh, and in circumcision. Paul in reply to their claims makes\nclear that he himself has more reason that they to be confident in the flesh,\nand he lists his genuine Jewish credentials \u2013 a Pharisee, with regard to\nrighteousness under the law blameless. But Christians are the true\ncircumcision, who worship in the spirit of God and boast in Christ and have no\nconfidence (basis for boasting) in the flesh, on bodily or material grounds. He\ncontinues by saying that whatever gains he had from his Jewish origins and\npractices he had come to regard as loss because of Christ.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

            This\nchange came about at his encounter with Christ on the Damascus road. In today\u2019s reading he calls\nthis change in his life as the supreme advantage of coming to know Christ Jesus\nas his Lord, not just a detached knowledge but a personal acquaintance. This\nencounter with Christ was not a once-off experience. It was continuous and when\nwriting this letter he says that all he wanted was to know Christ and the power\nof his resurrection and to share his sufferings by reproducing the pattern of\nhis death. That encounter with Christ and with God\u2019s grace was a major event\nfor Paul, when Christ took hold of, \u201ccaptured\u201d, him. But that divine call, and\nits call for perfection, did not take away Paul\u2019s free will. He had to\ncooperate with the grace of God in his journey towards perfection. He\ncontinues, he says, to try capture the prize for which Jesus captured him.\nReflecting on his life, on the course he had run, Paul says that he had not as\nyet attained perfection. The goal he had before him was the glory of heaven and\nlife with Christ in the next life. Reflecting on the end of the missionary\njourney of his hero and icon, the author of ther Second Letter to Timothy puts\nthese words on Paul\u2019s lips: \u201cAs for me, I am already being poured out as a\nlibation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight,\nI have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved\nfor me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will\ngive me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his\nappearance\u201d. In this letter to the Philippians the hour of Paul\u2019s departure had\nnot yet come, but still he had intended to forget the road he had travelled, a\nlong missionary road, and to advance on the road that lay ahead before him and\njourney along it until he reach the appointed goal, and race for the finish, to\nthe prize that God calls him and all believers in Christ to. But in all this\nhis righteousness will not be that of his former self, that of the Jewish Law,\nbut the righteousness that comes with belief in Christ, that comes from God and\nis founded on faith.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Gospel <\/em>(John\n8:1-11). If there is one of you who has\nnot sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.<\/em> This text is part\nof the biblical canon, as other parts of the Bible, but does not appear to have\nformed part of the original Gospel of John. It is not found in the oldest texts\nof John\u2019s Gospel, or in many ancient translations of John. Stylistically it is\ncloser to the Gospel of Luke than of John, and in some texts is found in Luke\u2019s\nGospel rather than that of John. Quite possibly it originated as an independent\npiece, which was later inserted into different Gospels. Regardless of this, it\nforms part of inspired Scripture, with a permanent message from Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            With regard to its text and the reference to what Moses\nordered in the Law concerning adultery, the Pentateuch (Leviticus 20:10;\nDeuteronomy 22:22-24) has the following: in the case of adultery between a\nmarried man and a married woman both are to be put to death; in the case of\nintercourse in a town between a man and a young woman, a virgin, engaged to be\nmarried, both are to be stoned to death. But it is likely that there was\nfurther legislation on these matters in later centuries. Jesus gives no reply\nto the question put to him on the matter by the scribes and Pharisees. What\nsignificance to be given to Jesus writing on the ground (mentioned\ntwice, before and after Jesus\u2019 words) is not clear. There may be a reference to\nJeremiah 17:13: \u201cThose who forsake you shall be recorded in the earth\u201d. Jesus\u2019 words\n\u201cThe one of you who has not sinned\u201d may be an invitation to them to reflect on\ntheir own personal lives, in keeping with what Jesus said on another occasion\non passing judgment (Matthew 7:1-12), ending as: \u201cIn everything do to others as\nyou would have them do to you: for this is the law and the law and the\nprophets\u201d. Jesus told the woman that he was not going to condemn her, but tells\nher not to sin any more. It can be gathered from this that she has repented, or\npossibly even that Jesus had forgiven her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue with\nQuestions of the Day: <\/strong>Beginning of a new Age with God\u2019s mercy. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In current\ndiscussion of political and Church matters mention is often made of the advent,\nor expectation, of a new era and today\u2019s liturgical readings give us ample\nmaterial for reflection on these issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The vision of a new age, a new era,\nis good and welcome, and the Bible presents ample information of God\u2019s own\ndesire for such a vision. God himself had put such a vision before his chosen\npeople on many occasions. But it is also good to remember that such visions of\na new and better age have not always, indeed only rarely, been fulfilled,\nbecause such fulfilment of a divine plan depends also on historical circumstances\nand human cooperation. This was true in a special way with regard to the\nprophecies made to Israel, and for this reason have remained as an incentive\nfor believers and others down through history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            One great message from today\u2019s\nGospel reading is that of divine mercy, with the beautiful example of this in\nJesus\u2019 stance with regard to the woman committing adultery and Jesus\u2019 words on\nthe matter. The Church herself currently lays special emphasis on divine mercy\nand on how necessary this message is for our own day for both Church and state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Both the Old and New Testaments are\nfull of references to God\u2019s mercy, and to evaluate this evidence it is not\namiss to situate the teaching in its fuller biblical and theological context.\nGod is God, the God of mercy and the Holy One, and very often the references to\nGod\u2019s mercy are connected with God\u2019s patience, and the call to repentance from\nsin in contexts where God is addressing his people Israel, or individual members of\nit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            In other texts God speaks, or is\nspoken of, as the Father in heaven who loves all and cares for everyone. As\nJesus himself say with regard to the love of one\u2019s enemies (Matthew 5:43-48): \u201cYou\nhave heard that it was said, \u2018You shall love your neighbour and hate your\nenemy\u2019. But I Say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute\nyou, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun\nrise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the\nunrighteous. Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect\u201d. The\nheavenly Father loves the entire human race, in the whole world, today, whether\nthey believe in him, or are indifferent about his very existence, or who deny\nhis existence or detest the very mention of his name. It is important that the\nentire human race show mercy to one another, to immigrants, migrants, the\nmarginalized, the handicapped. It is good that this belief is held by the great\nmajority of the organized world, while it is sadly lacking among others, as is\nevident in the terrible wars and in other ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The voice of God and of Jesus is\nconstantly urging all, individuals and nations, to create and maintain the\nvision of a better world, where mercy is central, with patience if fulfilment\nof the vision is delayed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following readings\nfrom Year A may also be used as alternative readings.
\n
\n<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings). <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Reading<\/em> (Ezekiel 37:12-14). I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live.<\/em> In this reading we\nhave part of the vision which the prophet Ezekiel had during the Jewish exile\nin Babylon in\nthe sixth century B.C. The exiles were saying: \u201cOur bones are dried up, our\nhope is lost; we cut off completely\u201d. The Temple\nhad been burnt to the ground, the Holy City of Jerusalem destroyed and Judah\ndevastated. Metaphorically speaking the people were, so to speak, as good as\ndead, buried, in the grave. In this present reading God says to them that such\nis not the case. He is going to open their graves, to raise their corpses from\nthe graves, put a new living spirit within them, thus giving a new life to this\ndespondent people, with the promise to return them to their native soil of Judah. The text\nspeaks of the resurrection of the people of Judah in exile, from the death of\ndespair to new life. Bodily resurrection of the individual is not envisaged.\nThis belief will become clear in Israel only about the year 200 B.C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsorial\nPsalm <\/em>(Psalm 129[130]).\nWith the Lord there is mercy and fullness\nof redemption.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second\nReading <\/em>(Romans 8:8-11).\nThe Spirit of him who raised Jesus from\nthe dead is living in you. <\/em>The opening verses of this reading are rendered\nmore literally in The New Revised\nStandard Version<\/em>, in conformity with the Greek original, as follows: \u201cThose\nwho are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the\nSpirit (or: spirit, with a small s), since the Spirit of God dwells in you\u201d.\nPaul makes a contrast between the \u201cflesh\u201d and the \u201cSpirit\u201d (or \u201cspirit\u201d, with\nsmall \u201cs\u201d if the Holy Spirit is not intended). By \u201cflesh\u201d he means the body,\nweak human nature, and the mind or mindset that is contrary to God and the\ndivine, and is inclined towards sin. The sense comes across in the different\nwording of an earlier (1967) edition the Jerusalem\nBible<\/em>: \u201cPeople who are interested only in unspiritual things can never be\npleasing to God. Your interests, however, are not in the unspiritual, but the\nspiritual, since the Spirit of God has made his home in you\u201d, a rendering\nsomewhat modified in the later (1985) edition of that same rendering, as:\n\u201cThose who live by their natural inclinations can never be pleasing to God\u201d.\nThose who live by the \u201cflesh\u201d, in Paul\u2019s sense of the word, those interested\nonly in unspiritual things, those who live by their natural inclinations, cannot\nplease God. It is different with believers who have the Spirit of God dwelling\nin them, the Spirit that gives new life. As Paul will say a few verses after\nthis present reading (8:14): \u201cAll who are led by the Spirit of God are children\nof God\u201d. Paul envisages the body dead because of sin, dead because it is\ndestined for physical death, and is an instrument for sin. But within that same\nbody there is another force, a power towards life, which power is the Holy\nSpirit given to those who have been justified through faith in Jesus Christ.\nGod the Father, by his almighty power, raised Jesus from the dead, and the\nSpirit of that same Father dwells in believers, a pledge that God, through that\nsame Spirit, will give life to the moral bodies of believers, spiritual life\nhere on earth and the fullness of life in the hereafter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gospel <\/em>(John 11:1-45). I am the\nresurrection and the life.<\/em> This lengthy Gospel reading is in line with what\nwe have read in the Lectionary texts over the past two Sundays, readings all from\nthe Gospel of John, texts in which Jesus avails of a human occurrence to\nexplain aspects of the mystery that is his own person and mission. Thus we have\nthe episode of the Samaritan woman and the well of Jacob, symbolising the water\nthat he was to give (the Holy Spirit); the curing of the man born blind, and\nJesus as the light of the world, and today the raising of Lazars and Jesus as\nthe resurrection and the life. Jesus was friendly with the family of Bethany\n(Mary, Martha and Lazarus), Bethany a village about three kilometres from Jerusalem. On hearing of\nLazarus\u2019s illness Jesus said that this sickness would not end in death but in\nGod\u2019s glory, and that through it the Son of God (that is, Jesus himself) would\nbe glorified. He does not go to Lazarus immediately, but allows him to die.\nLazarus had been dead already four days when Jesus reaches his tomb. Jesus told\nMartha that her brother Lazarus would rise again, at which words Martha makes a\nprofession of faith in the resurrection, but at the last day. This leads to\nJesus\u2019 reply, which is the high point\nof the narrative: \u201cI am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in\nme, even though he dies he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will\nnever die\u201d. This leads to a profession of faith by Martha in Jesus as the\nChrist (the Messiah) and the Son of God. There are also a number of other\npoints made in the lengthy reading which we need not enter into here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B.\nReflection & Dialogue<\/em><\/strong>: The power of the Holy Spirit and of grace within us is\nstronger that our human weakness.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes\nJesus is accused of having ha d little understanding of the weakness of human\nnature, as for instance in his total ban on divorce. In one sense the mission\nhe gave to his followers to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth\nwas also a difficult one. The early Church understood this mission exactly as\nJesus had intended it. The Church, the Christian community, in its teaching and\nin its following of the Gospel, was to be a new light for the surrounding pagan\nworld. Writing to the Corinthians Paul well describes this noble mission, as\nwell as the human weakness of those who bear witness to it (2 Corinthians\n4:6-7): \u201cFor its is the God who said, \u2018Let light shine out of darkness\u2019, who\nhas shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God\nin the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that itmay be made clear that this\nextraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us\u201d. Similarly, when\nwriting to the Philippians (2:12-13), he reminds them how Christ humbled\nhimself, taking on the form of a slave, going on to exhort them to work out\ntheir salvation in fear and trembling, because the work of salvation is a\ncooperation between the believer and God, and it is God who is at work in\nbelievers enabling them both to will and to work for his good pleasure.\nSalvation is not just through human endeavour. In the letter to the Romans, as\nis clear from today\u2019s second reading, Paul lays stress on the weakness of human\nnature and its inclination to sin, but only to highlight Christ\u2019s victory over\nsin and its deadly power, a victory of the Holy Spirit over human weakness.\nWhere sin increased there grace abounded all the more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Turning from Paul to our own day,\nthe Church is often criticised for its numerous rules, as if rules were\neverything. Such a criticism if often justified, but sometimes the censures are\ndirected not against specifically Church rules as such but directives which are\npart of the teaching of Christ and of the Gospel. In this case, when it is a\nmatter of the message of the Gospel being proclaimed by the Church, what is\ninvolved is not the rules as such but these as part of the Christian way of\nlife, a life to be lived under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and with the\ngrace of God. The life of the Church, even given its human limitations, cannot\nbe understood without the dimension of the Church as part of the mystery of\nsalvation being taken into account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Among a number of Catholics today\nthere probably is an element of Pelagianism, which really never left the\nChurch. What is meant here by Pelagianism is the reliance on the power of human\nnature alone, unaided by grace, to live the moral Christian life. Christian\nliving requires recognition of human weakness, of the inclination to sin, and\nof the need of God\u2019s grace. It calls for humility and for prayer to recognise\nwhat God\u2019s will is in given circumstances and for the strength to act\naccordingly. Paul stresses this point again and again, and we would do well\ntoday to listen to his voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            With regard to dialogue with the\nworld of our own day, with its occasional calls for reform in the Church and\nsuch like: the reforms in question at times are in matters relating to Catholic\nteaching which is considered out of date, not in conformity with perceived\nvalues of our day, or with human freedom as perceived in a secular society. In\nthe discussion of such questions, points made above could usefully be borne in\nmind, centring around the light of the Gospel, the power of the Holy Spirit and\nof grace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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