Who are the important people in our world? Who are the great people in our country? It depends on what you mean by ‘important.’ These are some of the people in our world who receive glory and renown and fame and publicity: - pop stars, sport stars, successful business people, company directors, billionaires. Are they the really important people in our world? There are other people who are not famous; they are people caring for sick relatives, people suffering crosses without grumbling, those giving encouragement to others, those who bring the love of God to others, those who witness to Jesus in small ways. Are they the really great people in our world? I think they are. Think of a pop song or a great goal scored during a championship or a successful business deal. It will not last into eternity. Think of an act of kindness to someone who is ill; that will last into eternity. Even if there is a truckload of flowers at a funeral, they will wither, they will not last. But if you say even just one Hail Mary for the deceased, even though you will never see it, that Hail Mary will last into eternity.

What about Jesus? At the wedding in Cana Jesus said his hour had not yet come but in today’s Gospel he says his hour has come,

“Now the hour has come
for the Son of Man to be glorified.” (John 12:23)

What is this hour of glory for Jesus? It is his passion and death! That is the hour of glory for Jesus in John’s Gospel, his passion and death! Why? Because if a grain falls on the ground and dies it yields a rich harvest (John 12:24). The hour of glory for Jesus is his passion and death because when he is lifted up from from the earth he will draw all men to himself (John 12:32). Jesus’ glory is not what the world thinks glorious because the world does not see as God sees. Who would have thought that Jesus, son of the Father, the Messiah, would have to suffer? Yet that is precisely how he was “perfected” as the second reading reminds us today:

Although he was Son, he learnt to obey through suffering; but having been made perfect, he became for all who obey him the source of eternal salvation. (Heb 5:8-9)

Through Isaiah God says,

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts
and your ways are not my ways,
declares Yahweh.
For the heavens are as high above earth
as my ways are above your ways,
my thoughts above your thoughts.” (Isa 55:8-9)

In Psalm 147:10 we read,

“God’s delight is not in horses
nor his pleasure in warrior’s strength.
The Lord delights in those who revere him,
in those who wait for his love.”

Sometimes we give the glory to what is strong and powerful, but God delights in those who revere him and wait for his love. In one of the accounts of the call of David (1 Sam 16) God said to Samuel to go to Jesse of Bethlehem and anoint one of his sons as king of Israel. When Samuel saw Eliab, Samuel thought this must be the one but God said to Samuel,

“Take no notice of his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him; God does not see as humans beings see; they look at appearances but Yahweh looks at the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7)

When Samuel saw Abinadab God said it was not he, when Samuel saw Shamah God said it was not he. When Jesse had shown all his sons to Samuel, Samuel had to ask Jesse if he had any more sons because he knew none of these was the one God had chosen. Oh yes, there was one more, the youngest looking after the sheep, David. David’s own father, Jesse, had forgotten about him, but that forgotten son David was the one God asked Samuel to anoint. God does not look at appearances, God looks at the heart. Do we give glory to what appears great or do we give glory to what is great?

In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul wrote, “God chose those who by human standards are fools to shame the wise; he chose those who by human standards are weak to shame the strong…” (1 Cor 1:27) Do we hold successful people up on high while God delights in those who do his will? In Matt 6:33 Jesus says, “Seek the kingdom of God first.” Some in the world look down on those who stay at home to rear their families but the greatest work any mother could do is to rear her family. Pope John Paul II has said mothers who stay at home to rear their families should be given an income.

Who does Jesus consider to be great? He says,

“Unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies,
It remains only a single grain;
But if it dies,
It yields a rich harvest.
Anyone who loves his life loses it;
Anyone who hates his life in this world
Will keep it for the eternal life.” (John 12:24-25)

Who are the really great people in our world? Who are the really great people in our country? In Psalm 147:10 we read,

“God’s delight is not in horses
nor his pleasure in warrior’s strength.
The Lord delights in those who revere him,
in those who wait for his love.”

What is the hour of glory for Jesus in John’s Gospel? It is his passion and death because through his passion and death he will draw all people to himself. As we continue our journey through Lent and draw near Holy Week, let us ponder on Jesus, the grain of wheat who fell on the ground and died but yielded a rich harvest. As we die to ourselves during Lent through our penance, may we produce a rich harvest and celebrate that harvest during the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night.

“Unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies,
It remains only a single grain;
But if it dies,
It yields a rich harvest.
Anyone who loves his life loses it;
Anyone who hates his life in this world
Will keep it for the eternal life.” (John 12:24-25)

EXPLANATION: The Epistle to the Hebrews was written by some disciple of St. Paul, who wrote under the influence of the preaching and writings of the great Apostle of the Gentiles. This letter was written to Jewish converts as the title (given in the 2nd century), and especially the contents, clearly indicate. The author's purpose is to confirm the converts in the Christian faith which they have accepted. To do this, he proves from the Old Testament that Christ was the promised Messiah, that all the rites and ceremonies of the Old Testament were but shadows and types of the future true liturgy of the Church. The high priest in the Old Testament went into the Holy of Holies on the day of atonement to intercede for his own sins and the sins of the people. The new High Priest, Jesus, has entered into heaven to intercede for us (he had no sins of his own) and his prayer will certainly be answered.

In the days...flesh: That is while he was here on earth in his human nature.
prayers...tears: Our Lord's Agony in the Garden was caused by the thought of the torments and sufferings which were about to befall him. He prayed to his Father "who was able to save him from death." This prayer, as is clear from St. John (12: 27-32; 17:5; Acts 2: 25-31) and from the present context ("he was heard"), was not a request to be saved from the cruel death which he saw awaiting him, but from the lasting hold of death. In other words, he was praying for his glorious resurrection and exaltation.
sin...obedience: In his human nature he obeyed his Father's plan for redemption, and learned the full meaning of that obedience in his intense sufferings.
being...perfect: That is, being exalted in glory. After he had endured the torments of his passion and death he became the:
source...salvation: Through him all men are now heirs of the eternal kingdom of God if they:
obey him: Each one must apply the means of salvation won for him by Christ. In other words, if he is to reach his eternal inheritance he must carry out the commandments of Christ and live his Christian life in all sincerity.

APPLICATION: When we are asked to live as true Christians we are being told to be obedient to the will of a heavenly Father who wants us to go to heaven. It is through obeying that divine will that we shall be working toward our best and truest interest. We all have sins and failings to atone for; we all have weaknesses and evil inclinations which we want to overcome. Hence the need for the self-mortification which living the true Christian life imposes on us. God gave us the marvelous gifts of intellect and free-will and we are all––-without exception––-tempted to dislike being ordered or commanded by another. We can easily get, the foolish idea that we are masters of our own destiny, whereas the truth is that our eternal destiny depends on God's good-will toward us. That good-will is promised and secured, by those who obey him.

This reading from Hebrews today sets before us the inspiring example of the perfect obedience of Christ, who was the Son of God. He had no sins, he had nothing to atone for, eternal happiness was his by virtue of his sonship. Yet God the Father asked him to undergo the tortures and torments of crucifixion in his human nature for our sakes, and he obeyed! This is the sublime model of perfect obedience, the unparalleled example of complete submission to God's will. It is set before us in this short reading. How could we be expected to imitate the perfect Christ? Yet St. Paul not only says we are expected to do so, but commands his Philippian converts to do so when he says. "In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus . . . who was divine but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave, being born in the, likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even death on a cross (Phil. 2: 5-8). St. Paul and his disciple, the author of Hebrews, call on Christians to imitate the obedience of Christ. In doing this they are asking no more than he himself asked when he laid down the condition for discipleship: "if any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Mt. 16: 24, see today's gospel also).

The truly sincere Christian must be ready to suffer torture and crucifixion, if called on for the sake of Christ. Many have done so but true obedience for most of us consists in carrying our own crosses, our sicknesses, our loneliness, our struggles for earthly existence our sorrows and bereavements. These may not lead to the Calvary of martyrdom, but they lead us over very rough roads––-roads, however, which bring us, in God's good time, to the reward won for us on Calvary.

Are we on that rough road of true obedience, or have we sought the smoother path of giving in to our weaknesses? Lent is a suitable time to examine ourselves and then to return to the road of true obedience if we have strayed off it.

Christ the Lord  We are on the verge of Christ’s passion. Jesus knows exactly what is going to happen to him. “His hour” has arrived. He will suffer ignominy, public humiliation, abandonment by his closest companions, betrayal at the hand of an intimate friend, rejection by the very people he came to save, supreme and drawn-out physical torture, even a kind of separation from his Father – and then he will die. By announcing this to his disciples beforehand, he demonstrates to them that he suffers it willingly for the sake of the Father’s glory and the eternal Kingdom. Thus, Christ’s passion signifies the unbreakable strength of his divine love, the ultimate freedom shown forth by obeying God’s will under the most trying circumstances. It is the reversal of Adam’s tragic weakness that led him to give in to temptation and disobey God’s wise commands. Now the “passing sentence on this world,” now, through the unshakable love and trust that he will demonstrate by his obedience unto death on a cross, “the prince of this world [the devil] is to be overthrown.” We are on the verge of the climax of human history.

So that the crowds will grasp meaning of this pivotal moment in human history, the Father himself audibly affirms what the Son is going to do. Jesus was speaking to the people, but he must have looked up as he addressed his Father. His listeners had been focused on Jesus throughout his impassioned speech, and suddenly, as he lifts his gaze and utters his prayer to the Father, they hear a voice from heaven respond! It must have been a shock – exhilarating to those who had already come to believe in Jesus and disconcerting to those who doubted him. Jesus Christ is the champion of the human race, the savior of mankind, the everlasting Lord; he knows it; the Father knows it; how deeply do we know it?

In the 1st reading, what will be some of the differences between the “old covenant” Jeremiah prophesies, and the “new covenant”? Who will be included?