[stephenkhoo]

LIVING OUR LIFE WITH PASSION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ JER 31:31-34; PS 51:3-4,12-15; HEB 5:7-9; JN 12:20-33 ]

“We should like to see Jesus.” This was the request of the Greeks, Gentile proselytes to Judaism. They came to Jerusalem to offer worship. But as they were Gentiles, they could only worship at the outer court where the merchants did their trade. Having seen Jesus purifying the Temple and chasing out the merchants, they must have been impressed by the courageous act of our Lord and found something in Him, especially when the Lord said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (Jn 2:19) and “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.'” (Mt 21:13; cf Isa 56:7)

Indeed, like the Greeks and the Israelites in exile, many are seeking the Ultimate Meaning and Goal in life. We might have money, power, fame and all the luxuries of life, and yet, our life is empty and meaningless. This clearly shows that we are more than material beings only but we have a soul that thirsts for spiritual fulfillment. Hence, the search for life ultimately must end up with the search for God. This is what Jeremiah sought to assure the Israelites in exile when he said, “it is the Lord who speaks. Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I will be their God and they shall be my people. There will be no further need for neighbour to try to teach neighbour, or brother to say to brother, Learn to know the Lord! No, they will all know me, the least no less than the greatest – it is the Lord who speaks – since I will forgive their iniquity and never call their sin to mind.”

A day would come when all men and women would come to know God intimately, regardless of race. Everyone would have direct access to God. As the Lord told the Samaritan woman, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (Jn 4:23f) The request of the Greeks to see Jesus anticipates the time has come when the Good News would be proclaimed to all the Gentiles and salvation will be given to all, regardless whether they were Jews or otherwise. And it would also be the end of the Temple worship as well.

To find life it is therefore necessary to follow the way of our Lord. Jesus lived His life passionately. To speak of Jesus’ passion signifies two realities, His passion for His Father’s will and His passion for a sinful humanity; but it also signifies the way to redeem humanity, which is through His passion on the Cross. This is what the Lord meant when He prophesied, “Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you most solemnly, 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. Now sentence is being passed on this world; now the prince of this world is to be overthrown. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all men to myself.” The evangelist commented, “by these words he indicated the kind of death he would die.”

The passion of Jesus on the cross is the cause of salvation for humanity. His cruel and unjust death on the cross, instead of being a tragedy, is the instrument for our salvation. His raising on the cross fulfilled the prophecy of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah, “See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him, his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness – so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.” (Isa 52:13-15) Indeed, upon contemplating on His passion and death on the cross, humanity would come to understand God’s love.

This is what the Church wants us to contemplate as we approach Holy Week. On this last Sunday of Lent, the Church prepares us for the passion of Christ, His love for us and His sacrificial death on the cross. This Sunday in the Old Liturgy was called Passion Sunday and the 5th week of Lent was called Passion Week. This is the week when our statues and icons in the church would be covered with a veil, and unveiled only at Easter Vigil with the crucifixes at the end of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday. The spirit of the Passion Week is still celebrated on the 5th week of Lent although we no longer call it as such, since the entire season of Lent is a contemplation of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection.

Nevertheless, the practice of veiling the crucifixes and statues is but a means to help us enter into our selves, looking into our sinfulness that blinds us to the reality and the presence of God. In other words, by covering the veil, we are entering into the spirit of the early church, when sinners were “excommunicated” from worship until they repented of their sins. But the reason for excommunication was in order to wake the person from the gravity of his sins and not to cut him off forever; and to draw him back to God and the Christian community. So too, when the crucifixes and statues are covered, it is hoped that, like the Greeks, we too will long to see the face of Jesus. For this to happen, we are invited to focus on the fundamental act of Christ’s death for us on the cross, leading us to appreciate the love not just of Jesus alone but His Father. As the Lord said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (Jn 3:16f)

Contemplating on Christ’s passion on the cross would invite us to imitate His self-giving to humanity. Christ’s passion is real because He underwent suffering as a man. This is what the second reading underscores. “During his life on earth, Christ offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to the one who had the power to save him out of death, and he submitted so humbly that his prayer was heard.” Whilst John’s gospel does not have the narrative of Jesus’ passion in the Garden of Gethsemane, John made it clear that Jesus had to suffer like every man, fearful of what was ahead of Him. “Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say: Father, save me from this hour? But it was for this very reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Jesus was troubled at the thought of the passion ahead of Him. But He did not withdraw just because of the sufferings ahead of Him.

Because of His passion for His Father, He was willing to go through that passion so that His Father would be glorified. Jesus did everything so that humanity will come to know the unconditional love of His Father, His mercy and forgiveness. Looking at Jesus going through His suffering as a man, doing divine will with His human will, we can no longer say that we suffer alone or that God does not understand our suffering. God embraced our suffering in Christ to show us the way to glorify God by our suffering. “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.” We too must be perfected through our suffering.

How, then, are we to suffer in such a way that God is glorified and we are glorified in Him? We must, as the Lord said, die to ourselves, our selfishness, our ego, our pride, our attachments. The Lord said, “I tell you most solemnly, 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. If a man serves me, he must follow me, wherever I am, my servant will be there too.” Indeed, only when we die to ourselves, like the Lord, can we find life and give life to others. The world is what it is today only because great men and women have sacrificed their lives, their wealth and their talents for the service of the community. Unless we are ready to spend our life in service of others, we will rot and lose meaning and purpose trying to live for ourselves. The only way to live fully is to live for others and for God. In death, we will find fulness of life.