Word to the Wise
Sunday, March 17, 2024 - 5th Sunday of Lent - B
[Jer 31:31-34; Heb 5:7-9; John 12:20-33]But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives how to know the Lord. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the Lord, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more. [Jeremiah] "Sir, we should like to see Jesus." [John]
In salvation history, God has shown a continual desire to "make a deal" - a covenant - with humanity. God started with Adam and Eve, who broke the covenant. Then there was the rainbow covenant with Noah. Then there was the one with Abraham and then with Moses. The one with Moses was put into writing on tablets of stone. Again and again the Chosen People forgot the covenant and went their own way. The existence of the written law - the Torah - did not guarantee compliance. What guarantees compliance is the faithful heart, and Jeremiah promised a new covenant that would not be a written one on stone but on the heart.
When some Greeks come to see Jesus, he tells them that, like a seed that is transformed into a plant, they have to give their whole identity to God in faith. It is the relationship in faith that makes for fidelity to God's covenant. Simple compliance to a written law is not enough. There must be love of God and neighbor. If we want to see Jesus, that love of God and neighbor is the key.
On Ash Wednesday, we heard God, speaking through the prophet Joel, exhort us to "rend your hearts and not your garments." If the love of God and neighbor is not written in our hearts, then the words on the pages of the Catechism and the Code of Canon Law are just that - words! Words can only describe love, not substitute for it. The ultimate love of God is expressed in a person - Jesus Christ. If his teachings are written in our hearts, then their expression in writing and print become a proclamation and not just legislation. AMEN