Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent

March 21, 2021
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas

Jeremiah 31:31-34
Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 14-15
Hebrews 5:7-9
John 12:20-33

In today’s Gospel, some Greeks approach Philip in Jerusalem and ask to see Jesus. Some scholars tell us that seeing Jesus meant that they wanted to become part of His group of disciples. So, Philip went to Andrew and Andrew brought him to Jesus. Why Philip went to Andrew first, we are not sure but at the very least it indicates the ministry of the Apostles and the importance of them working collaboratively for and with Jesus. But when they get to see Jesus, He gives a strange answer to what seems to be a simple question.

Instead of yes or no, He launches into a discourse about why He has come and what this means for His followers to truly be His followers. “Unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat, but if it dies it produces much fruit” (John 12:24).

This certainly applies to Jesus and His upcoming passion and death that we will proclaim liturgically next Sunday and on Good Friday. Saint Paul tells us in his Letter to the Philippians that for Jesus, as the Son of God, becoming human was a kind of death, a self-emptying: “Though He was in the form of God … He emptied himself and took the form of a slave being born in the likeness of men.” How many times did Jesus have to die to Himself for others while He was still alive? Jesus is a perfect example for us who have daily opportunities for self-denial and shouldering our crosses so that others in our families or among our neighbors may have life. “Unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat, but if it dies it produces much fruit” (John 12:24).

We know that this saying also applies to changes in our own lives as Catholics and disciples of Jesus — to letting things go and being converted from sin and selfishness. We live our lives, learn to relate to those with whom we live and work, perform our responsibilities and develop our routines. Yet, before too long we find ourselves becoming the center of those relationships, tasks, and routines. We cling to things that we have acquired … to our memories … to our opinions … to our personal way of life. One year becomes two and then five, and so on and soon we have habituated a sinful life. “Unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat, but if it dies it produces much fruit” (John 12:24).

As disciples of the Lord, we are called to decide and to choose freely to make a committed change in our lives for Christ and His Gospel. We are called to the willingness to change our hearts by receiving the grace of acceptance that God freely offers in the gift of His Son Jesus, including His death on a cross and to follow that commitment with concrete actions of love. That can only happen if, prior to our projects and schedules and routines, we can let go of ourselves as the center, the focus, the hinge around which our lives turn and recognize that Christ and His Gospel rightfully have pride of place in our lives. The practices of Lent — fasting, prayer, and almsgiving — are the tools of conversion that we use to lose ourselves but their effectiveness as tools of conversion depends upon finding Christ and His cross to replace our self-will. Every day we are offered little opportunities to die to ourselves, of not getting our own way, of being prepared for the physical death that will one day come for us. And every time we die to ourselves, the glory of God shines through our hands and our hearts and our lives and assists others in their own paths of conversion. As Saint Therese of the Child Jesus wrote in her autobiography, “I prefer the monotony of obscure sacrifices to all ecstasies. To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul.”

At first reading, it seems that Jesus did not answer the question of the Greeks about belonging to His followers. He does not say, “yes” or “no” because to do so would be to replace the Father’s mission of salvation with a different plan, to replace His Church and communion of disciples with a clique or an elite club. Jesus rather responded to the question of the Greeks by exemplifying His own obedience to the Father’s will in accepting the cross. In so doing, Jesus offers an invitation to the Greeks and to us as disciples to follow Him to do as He does and to love as He loves. “Unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat, but if it dies it produces much fruit” (John 12:24).