The Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year B)
"The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
Whoever loves his life loses it,
and whoever hates his life in this world
will preserve it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me,
and where I am, there also will my servant be.
The Father will honor whoever serves me.”
—John 12:24-26
On the Fourth Sunday of Lent, we heard those beloved words from the third chapter of Saint John’s Gospel: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, / so that everyone who believes in him might not perish / but might have eternal life” (3:16). God’s loving mercy—freely given to and for us in the Father’s gift of the Beloved Son—was the golden thread tying together each of the readings of last Sunday’s liturgy. Building on this theme, the Readings for this Fifth Sunday of Lent invite us to continue our reflection on the power of God’s love, as we turn our attention to the promise and meaning of salvation.
The idea of salvation or of Jesus as Savior is one that many people find challenging. As a Catholic growing up in Eastern Tennessee, I was frequently—and often with some hostility—confronted by evangelical friends and family members who asked if I had “accepted Jesus” as my “personal Lord and Savior” or if I had “been saved.” However, as a member of a religious community named for the Savior—the Society of the Divine Savior—the image of Jesus “the Savior” is both an inspiration and challenge for how I understand my call to be an “apostle for our times.” As our founder, Blessed Francis Mary of the Cross Jordan, reflected,
“How little attention we pay to this truth: we must be holy. In his great mercy the Divine Savior has called us to be conformed to his image; he called us to be like him as much as possible; to be holy. He has called us so that already here [on earth], through holiness, our work everywhere may be accompanied by blessings, happiness and salvation, and one day we may enjoy the glory of the saints in heaven.”
-Chapter Talk, April 20, 1894
As we reflect on how this theme is at work in this Sunday’s liturgy, we might ask ourselves what is meant by salvation and what it means to call Jesus our Savior.
“At the kernel and center of his Good News, Christ proclaimed salvation, this great gift of God which is liberation from everything that oppresses people but which is above all liberation from sin.”
—Pope Saint Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, no. 9; image “Christ Carrying the Cross” by El Greco (1580)
The root of our words “save,” “salvation,” and “savior” is the Latin word salus which means “safety.” The idea here is, as Thomas Groome has observed, that we “are saved from danger, threat, oppression, and so forth; but,” Groome continues, “salus also means for good health, being safe, and thriving” (from Will There Be Faith: A New Vision for Educating and Growing Disciples).
To say it more simply, we are both saved from and saved for.
This understanding of salvation is woven throughout Scripture, particularly in the story of the Exodus, in which God saved the People of Israel from slavery, saving them so that they can serve him in freedom as his Chosen People. Mary sings of God’s gift of salvation in the Magnificat and even the name of Jesus—Yeshua—means “God saves.” Groome reflects, “Salvation is the ultimate triumph over evil, making possible fullness of life for all and for the whole cosmos. ‘Eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and it has not entered the human heart; what amounts to the fullness of salvation in Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:9).
This gift of salvation—and gift of a Savior—is freely given. And yet, as we have been reminded so often during this Lenten season, this gift also comes with responsibility. Not only have we been saved from the destructive powers of sin and death, we have been saved for the fullness of life in Christ.
Our faith, obedience, work for justice, and service are a response to the Savior’s gift. After all, Jesus’s teaching is very clear: “Whoever serves me must follow me, / and where I am, there also will my servant be” (John 12:26).
By your help, we beseech you, Lord our God,
may we walk eagerly in that same charity
with which, out of love for the world,
your Son handed himself over to death.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for the Fifth Sunday of Lent
