Fifth Sunday of Lent (C)

Is 43:16-21
Ps 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
Phil 3:8-14
Jn 8:1-11

"It all depends on how you look at it." Hello, I’m Franciscan Father Greg Friedman, and this is the "Sunday Soundbite" for the Fifth Sunday of Lent.

What I mean by that saying is that the knowledge and perspective we bring to any experience determines how we feel about that experience. For example, those old enough to remember the postwar era might recall scenes of big, modern factories belching smoke—hailed as a sign of prosperity. Now, we may look at such scenes with a sensitivity to environmental issues; our perspective is different. It all depends on how you look at it.

This Sunday's Scriptures invite a similar change of perspective: Isaiah urges the people to forget about the Exodus-event, the passage through the Red Sea. Instead, the people are to take notice that God is doing something new. Paul tells the Philippians how knowing Christ has caused him to consider everything else as "rubbish." And Jesus himself turns accusation into forgiveness with a simple phrase inviting the scribes and Pharisees to look at a sinner from the perspective of their own sinfulness.

Lent is a time to alter our way of looking at ourselves and our world. What surprises await us this week, as we re-orient ourselves, based on our coming to know Jesus Christ.

Scripture:

•I open your graves and have you rise from them…I will put my spirit in you that you may live, (Ezekiel 37:13,14)

• My soul looks for the Lord more than sentinels for daybreak. More than sentinels for daybreak, let Israel look for the LORD… (Psalm 130:6)

•…the One who raised Christ from the dead will give life…through his Spirit dwelling in you. (Romans 8:11)

•I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live… (John 11:25)

Reflection:

•Have you kept a night watch and waited anxiously for the dawn?

•Are you keeping watch (prayer, fasting from material satisfaction and serving others) and waiting for the Lord?

•What does it mean to die to the world (live in the world but not of the world) and live in the spirit of Christ?

•How does the Spirit of life change your life?

It is evident that discipleship is a wide and flexible concept…by the tradition as embodying the ideals of the active and contemplative life. But notwithstanding all this variety, there is a proportionately common element, the norm of which is given in Christ. All are held to: 1.) self-abnegation, 2.) humble service, 3.) generosity towards the needy, and 4.) patience in adversity.¹

No follower of Christ must be so taken up with external activities as to forget the “one thing necessary” (Luke 10:42) namely, to be inwardly transformed by the knowledge and love Christ brings into the world.