Fifth Sunday in Lent, Cycle C
The marvelous, amazing grace of God is the most significant unifying factor within this series of texts selected for us for next Sunday.
Psalm 126
In this community lament during a time of depression, suffering, and weeping, there is no reference to the causes of the suffering of the people. All of the emphasis is on release from suffering and on restoration of the harvest by the grace of God. Release from suffering and the restoration of the harvest are attributed to the good favor of the Lord. Since during the distant past and during the recent past the Lord has done great things to relieve suffering, it is the fervent prayer of the community of faith that the Lord will again graciously relieve suffering and provide a bountiful harvest in the near future. An elaborate healing service or at least a specific prayer for healing would be very appropriate for this occasion next Sunday.
Isaiah 43:16-21
The grace of God shown in the parting of the waters to make a path through the sea for the slaves being freed from bondage will be repeated as God does a new thing for the Israelites who have been exiles in Babylon. The Lord, the Creator and Redeemer of Israel, will make a path through the wilderness, will provide rivers of water for the people to drink as they pass through the desert on their way back to Jerusalem. Even the wild beasts will honor the Lord and will not harm the people. In their gratitude, the people will praise the Lord, the king of Israel.
Philippians 3:4b-14
In this very personal section of his letter to the Philippians that is most likely the last letter written by Paul himself that is included within our Newer Testament canon, Paul wrote that he had gladly given up all of his own previously attained egoistic claims in order to receive a mystical relationship with God in Jesus the Risen Christ. Therefore, for Paul the most important prize accessible was the prize of the upward call of God in Christ, the righteousness of God accepted by faith. This righteousness for which Paul was striving through faith in Christ is a gift, given by the amazing grace of God to those whom God in Christ has made God’s own.
John 12:1-8
Within the unifying theme of God’s grace, John 12:1-8 can be seen to be a testimony that Jesus was with us for a brief time in physical form in order to help, to heal, and to raise Lazarus and us from the dead as an undeserved act of the grace of God. Mary responds to Jesus and to this grace of God as we also should respond to Jesus and to the grace of God, by loving actions of appreciation and devotion. Judas Iscariot, on the other hand, is resentful of Mary and complains that Mary’s action is a waste of valuable physical resources. The Johannine tradition interprets Judas Iscariot’s action as evidence that Judas was a thief and that he was periodically using the resources of the group around Jesus for his own purposes.
