The Fifth Sunday of Lent (Hebrews 5:7-9) : The Priesthood of Jesus and Our Priesthood

I remember a story my grandmother told me last December when I visited her. The story was about a little bird that was trying to fly to warmer climate in order to escape the winter cold. On the way the bird encountered a snow storm. It grew so cold that the bird fell to the ground in a farm. The bird was about to freeze to death when a cow passed by and dropped cow manure on him. The cow manure was warm on the bird and prevented the bird from freezing to death. Soon the bird felt so comfortable in the warm manure that he began to sing. The farm cat heard the bird singing in the manure, dug the little bird out of the manure and ate him. The moral of the story is: Not everyone who drops manure on you is your enemy, and not everyone who digs you out of the manure is your friend.

Suffering can bring salvation to the sufferer as well as to others. Today's 2^nd reading from Hebrews tells us that "although he was a Son, Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him" (Hebrews 5:8-9). In other words, Jesus' suffering was beneficial both to him personally (he learned obedience) and to others (he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him). Suffering and privations, when accepted as Jesus did, can become one of the best things that can happen in the lives of believers.

Among the books of the New Testament it is Hebrews which best develops the doctrine of Jesus Christ as the eternal high priest who stands for humanity in our dealings with God. He gives two main reasons why Jesus and Jesus alone fulfills the conditions for this priesthood. One is that it was God Himself who chose him for the office. "For no one can become a high priest simply because he wants such an honour. He has to be called by God for this work, just as Aaron was" (Hebrews 5:4). Jesus was specifically chosen for the office when at his baptism a voice was heard from heaven which said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).

The second qualification that Jesus has for the priestly office is that he has experienced the bitter realities of the human condition, including suffering and death. Hebrews alludes to Jesus' experience in the Garden of Gethsemane where the man Jesus "offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission" (Hebrews 5:7). To understand what Hebrews says here regarding the reverent submission of Jesus and that he was heard by the Father, we need to look again at Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Jesus' prayer in the Garden was made up of two petitions. One of the petitions is conditional: "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me;" the other is absolute and without conditions: "yet not what I want but what you want" (Matthew 26:39). The second petition overrides the first. One can, therefore, say that in Gethsemane Jesus made only one prayer, a prayer of total submission to the will of God. This is his one prayer that was heard: God's will was done in his suffering and death. Ultimately even his prayer to be saved from death was heard when God raised him from the dead to live and reign with Him in glory for ever.

Why is it necessary for the priest to pass through the school of pain and suffering? It is so that he will be "able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness" (Hebrews 5:2). There is no trial or suffering that we are going through that Jesus cannot understand. He understands our struggles and deals gently with us because he himself had to go through similar trials and temptations.

As we stand at the threshold of Holy Week, the church reminds us that we are called to be not only beneficiaries of the priestly life and death of Jesus, we are called also to be priests with Jesus after his example. There is a theological saying that "All are priests, some are priests, only one is a priest." Reflection on the unique priesthood of Jesus should lead us to reflect on the ministerial priesthood to which some are called by ordination as well as the universal priesthood to which all the faithful are called in baptism. As we step into Holy Week, may our prayer to God be "Your will be done in our lives," just as Jesus prayed in Gethsemane.

The Fifth Sunday of Lent: Unless a Grain of Wheat Dies (John 12:20-33)

The Greek philosopher Socrates is regarded as one of the wisest men of all time. This man who lived between 470 and 399 BC devoted his life to exposing ignorance, hypocrisy and conceit among his fellow Athenians and calling them to a radical re-examination of life. "The unexamined life," he said, "is not worth living." He challenged popular opinions regarding religion and politics as he sought to bring people to a better understanding of virtue, justice, piety and right conduct. He attracted many followers, especially among the youth. But those in power arrested him, tried him and sentenced him to death. He was charged with false teaching regarding the gods of the state, propagating revolutionary ideas and corrupting the youth of Athens. His family and friends wanted to intervene to overturn the sentence but he would not let them. He had the option to go into exile from Athens but he would not take it. Instead he accepted to drink the poison hemlock and die. Subsequent generations of Greeks came to regard Socrates as a martyr for truth. They resolved never again to persecute anyone on account of their beliefs.

By the time of Jesus the Greeks had become among the most broad-minded people in the world. Various religious and philosophical traditions flourished among them and vied for popularity. We see in today's gospel that among the huge crowds that had come to Jerusalem for the Passover feast were some Greeks. It did not take these Greeks long to see that all was not well in Jerusalem. So they came to see Jesus. Why did they come to see Jesus? Although John has somewhat spiritualised the story, thereby giving the impression that they came to seek admission into the "body" of Christ (John 12:32), it is more probable that they came to alert Jesus to the seriousness of the danger surrounding him and to suggest to him to flee with them to Greece, the land of freedom. The response that Jesus gives to their request shows that it has to do with his impending death and that he has chosen to stay and face it rather than seek a way to escape it.

Many people see death as an interruption in their life and mission. But Jesus saw death as a fulfilment of his life and mission. Many times in the past the people had planned to entrap him but Jesus always escaped from their hands because "his hour had not yet come" (John 7:30; 8:20). But now his hour has come. "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.... And what should I say -- 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour" (John 12:23, 27). Jesus uses the parable of the grain of wheat to explain that by shying away from death when the hour has come, one only reduces one's life and mission ("remains just a single grain") whereas by giving oneself up to death when the hour has come, one enhances it ("bears much fruit"). In this way Jesus flatly refuses to seek any help, human or divine, to prolong his earthly life beyond his Father's will. The voice from heaven confirms that this decision is indeed God's will and that for Jesus, the faithful servant of God, death and glory are indeed two sides of the same coin.

This must have been a powerful story of encouragement in the faith for the persecuted early Christians to whom John wrote. It shows that it is only through Jesus' submission to an undeserved death that they now have the benefit of faith and salvation. But then it goes on to remind them of the words of Jesus that his followers must follow in his steps even unto death. "Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also." (John 12:25-26). Where is Jesus? Jesus is in glory. But to get there he had to pass through the gates of death in faithfulness to God's will. That is his story. That also should be our story.

Solemnity of Saint Joseph: St Joseph, the ideal husband of Mary

In Christian tradition, Joseph has been given a much lower profile than Mary. One reason for this is that, whereas we give the title “Mother of Jesus” to Mary, we reserve the title “Father of Jesus” to the heavenly Father, in our bid to highlight the divinity of Jesus. A second reason has been our reluctance to call Joseph “husband” of Mary, in a bid to highlight the virginity of Mary. Today, Vatican II has tried to correct this imbalance by presenting Joseph for what he really was: husband of Mary and father of Jesus. Joseph was husband and father in a real, if not in a biological, sense. This understanding is brought out in the preface of the Mass of St Joseph, which we celebrate today:

He is that just man, that wise and loyal servant, whom you placed at the head of your family.

With a husband's love he cherished Mary, the virgin Mother of God.

With fatherly care he watched over Jesus Christ your Son, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The word “husband” is generally understood today as a man that is bonded to a wife. Originally, however, the word simply meant “master/owner/caretaker of a house,” without a direct reference to a wife. Husband was a function, more than a relationship. Joseph was the husband in the Holy Family of Nazareth. He cared for and provided for the Holy Household. This was a responsibility which he carried out in a heroic manner. And so, as Christians, we can all look up to St Joseph as the ideal husband and father. Many qualities qualify Joseph to be a role model for a Christian husband and father.

• Joseph was a just man (Matthew 1:19). He was the kind of man that all Christian men are called to become.
• He was compassionate. When he suspected his wife of infidelity, he planned to divorce her quietly rather than denounce her publicly and expose her to public shame and penalty.
• He was a man of prayer and deep communion with God. He always sought God’s will and guidance and often found it in his dreams.
• He was a man of obedience to God’s word. Whatever he knew to be God’s will be promptly did, whether it was to go back to his wife or to emigrate to a foreign land.
• He was a care provider. When Jesus went missing, Joseph went back to Jerusalem looking for him. When Jesus’ life was threatened he took him with his mother and escaped to safety in Egypt, bringing them back to Israel only when he knew it was safe to do so.
• He was a man alive to his spousal and parental duties, doing all he could to protect and care for his wife and his child. He made sure he got the child circumcised, named and presented to the Temple as and when due.
• He was a man who respected his wife and gave her the space to exercise her initiative. In the temple in Jerusalem, it was Mary who spoke up and not Joseph.
• He was a patient man. He must have felt betrayed when he discovered that Mary was pregnant. But he did not act rashly or take matters into his own hand. He remained patient and sought divine guidance in the situation. Similarly, when the boy Jesus followed his mind and stayed back in Jerusalem only to be found after three days, Joseph did not smack him as many fathers of his day would have done. He reminded himself that “Boys must be boys” and quietly took him back home.
• He was a man who led his family by example rather than by precept. A marriage success rule for men says, “When you are wrong, apologise; and when you are right, keep silent.” Joseph followed this rule. That explains why no words of Joseph’s are recorded in Scripture.
  

Joseph was indeed an ideal husband. Today God’s Holy Family is the Church. No wonder St. Joseph is today invoked as patron of the universal church. Patron is another word for husband, understood as a function of watching over, caring for and protecting those that God has placed under one’s charge.

St. Joseph has an important message for all Christians, especially for men. For men who have been called by God to be husbands and fathers, do we try to exercise our spousal and fatherly responsibility in the family with diligence as Joseph did? For those who have been called in any capacity to be spiritual fathers of the people of God, do we care for and nourish the family that God has entrusted into our care or do we do our ministry like business-as-usual? Through the example and prayers of St Joseph, may we have the patience, courage, wisdom and strength to be ideal caregivers and providers for the families, natural and spiritual, that God has placed in our charge.

Fourth Sunday of Lent: Rejoicing in God's Love

"Rejoice, Jerusalem! Be glad for her, you who love her; rejoice with her, you who mourned for her" (Entrance Antiphon -- Isaiah 66:10-11). Why does the church invite us in the middle of the penitential season of Lent to rejoice? The story of a little incident that took place in Mainz in 1456 when Gutenberg was printing the first printed Bible can help us with the answer.

The printer had a little daughter, Alice, who came into the printing press and picked up a discarded sheet with only one line of print. That line of print read: "God loved the world so much that he gave..." Now, those were times when popular religion was a matter of living in fear and trembling before the awesome wrath of God. So Alice put the paper in her pocket and kept on thinking on the fact of God being so loving, and her face radiated with joy. Her mother noticed her changed behaviour and asked Alice what was making her so happy and Alice showed her mother the sheet of paper with the printed line. Her mother looked at it for some time and said, "So, what did God give?" "I don't know," said Alice, "but if God loved us well enough to give us something, then we need not be so afraid of Him."

What is love? What does it mean to say God loves us? To understand what the Bible means by God's love we must bear in mind that whereas the Greek language has three different words for three different types of love English has only one. In Greek we have (1) eros meaning romantic love (like the love between a man and a woman that leads to marriage), (2) philia meaning fellowship love (like the love for football which brings people together to form a fan club), and there is (3) agap or sacrificial love (like the love that makes a mother risk her own life for her yet unborn child). In romantic love we long to receive, in fellowship love we long to give and take, in sacrificial love we long to give. Now, with what kind of love does God love us? God loves us with agap or sacrificial love. "God loved the world so much that He gave." That is one big difference between God and us: God gives and forgives, we get and forget. Giving is a sign of agap. This is the kind of love God has for us. This is the kind of love we should have for one another. This is the kind of love that is lived in heaven. And where this kind of love is absent, what you get is hell.

A certain saint asked God to show her the difference between heaven and hell. So God sent an angel to take her, first to hell. There she saw men and women seated around a large table with all kinds of delicious food. But none of them was eating. They were all sad and yawning. The saint asked one of them, "Why are you not eating?" And he showed her his hand. A long fork about 4ft long was strapped to their hands such that each time they tried to eat they only threw the food on the ground. "What a pity" said the saint. Then the angel took her to heaven. There the saint was surprised to find an almost identical setting as in hell: men and women sitting round a large table with all sorts of delicious food, and with a four-foot fork strapped to their arms. But unlike in hell, the people here were happy and laughing. "What!" said the saint to one of them, "How come you are happy in this condition?" "You see," said the man in heaven, "Here we feed one another." Can we say that of our families, our neighbourhood, our church, our world? If we can say that, then we are not far from the kingdom of heaven.

Today the Church invites us to reflect on God's love for the world and to be joyful because of it. God loves each and everyone of us, so much so that He give us His only son. Today we are invited to say yes to God's love. It is sometimes hard to believe that God loves even me, But I believe it because I know that God loves unconditionally; no ifs, no buts. Then we can love God back and enter into a love relationship with God. Then, like little Alice, our faces will radiate the joy of God's love. Then we shall learn to share God's love with those around us. Then we shall learn to give to God and to one another.