2024 5th Sunday of Lent
‘Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say: Father, save me from this hour.’ These words of Jesus tell us so much about him and what he is about to do. When he admits, “my soul is troubled”, he is saying: “I am afraid.” He knows what lies ahead and he is afraid. Who wouldn’t be. If you knew that danger lay ahead, imprisonment, beatings, torture, solitary confinement and death, wouldn’t you be afraid? Jesus acknowledges his fear but he doesn’t allow that fear to win. Instead, he sticks to his resolve, he will go into Jerusalem come what may.
This is a story about one man whose love is so great that he is prepared to go through anything in order to do his father’s will. Now, you might ask yourself: what kind of Father would allow his son to go through such horrible things. Surely, if the father loved his son then he would do all in his power to prevent any harm coming to his son. But he doesn’t. On the contrary. He is actually asking his son to go through hell. He is not a sadist. He is just the opposite; he loves his son so much that he, the father, must be crucified when he sees what we will do to his son. Jesus, the son, believes in his father. He knows what the father wants of him: to give up his life in order to prove the Father’s love for all humanity. Jesus tells us, “when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all people to myself.” Could he have doen anything else? If God wanted to prove his love for us then the answer has to be no: no man can have greater love than to give up his life for his friends. Jesus was willing to die out of love both for his Father and for us.
Love is the key. It makes sense of something that apparently doesn’t make sense: who wants to die? Who would go through so much in order to save us. Who was the philosopher who said: “Love has its reason, that reason doesn’t understand.” But the lover understands. Jesus is about to die out of love for us. When we know this, then his love is planted in our hearts. Jeremiah, the prophet, speaking for the Lord said, “Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts.” The heart is where God is. God is love. And he wants to give us that love. That means that we too will, in some way, want to be like the one we love. We too will suffer, and we will do so, if not willingly, at least, accept it as part of God’s loving plan for us. Love changes us. It makes us think differently, it makes us act differently. Other will not understand. To them, suffering in silence, turning the other cheek, suffering humiliation does not make sense. But that is because they do not have that love of God in their hearts.
We are fast approaching the most important time in the year. At time when Jesus willingly offers up his life for us. He does this to change us; to make us better. He wants to touch our hearts so that we understand how much we are loved. No man has greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. Well, this is what Jesus is about to do. Love is his way. Love is his word. Love is his gift to us all. Yes, we don’t deserve it, but it is a gift; not something we can deserve. A gift, freely given, but one that will change our lives.
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