Gospel Reflection for March 17, 2024 – 5th Sunday of Lent

Sunday Readings: Jeremiah 31.31-34; Hebrews 5.7-9; John 12.20-33

Jesus spoke to Philip and Andrew. “The hour has come when the Son of Man will be glorified. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it will bear much fruit.  Those who love their lives will lose them. Those who hate their lives in this world will keep them to life eternal.  Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be.  The Father will honor whoever serves me” (John 12.23-26).

Jesus is about lifting people up—on the last day and every day. Jesus’ resurrection is that promise of new life. Both the bible and Catholic social teaching obligate us to lift up people who are poor, to include our brothers and sisters in our economic and social life.

The grain of wheat metaphor in John’s gospel uses the transforming process we call growth to help us understand all Jesus’ death and resurrection promises us. In the growth process, warmth and moisture swell a seed poked down in the soil until the life secreted within it bursts its hull.

Actually, the seed does not fall into the earth and die but rather germinates. It swells with more life than the seed can hold. A new sprout pushes above ground into light at the same time roots spread out underground in search of nourishment. With rain and sun, a grain of wheat sprouts into a stalk, grows tall, heads out, and produces new grains of wheat a hundredfold.

The short life cycle of seeds dramatizes all that happens in the longer human life cycle. The planting that we do in loving our children, teaching our students, being faithful in our relationships often takes years to flourish and bear fruit.

  • Who sowed the gospel in your life? Who sowed Jesus in your life?
  • With what part of the life cycle of seeds do you identify?
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