Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Jesus said to them,
"When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will realize that I AM,
and that I do nothing on my own,
but I say only what the Father taught me.
The one who sent me is with me.
He has not left me alone,
because I always do what is pleasing to him."
-John 8:28-29
On the Fifth Sunday of Lent, the Church entered into a new phase of our Lenten journey: the period traditionally called “Passiontide.” In many places the crucifix, statues, and other sacred images have been covered in purple cloth, as a sign of even greater austerity and expectation in the days leading up to Holy Week. More important than this optional symbol, however, is the change in tone we find in the readings and orations of the liturgy. In the preceding weeks of Lent, we have had almost no references to the passion and death of Jesus (highlighting, instead, on themes of discipleship and baptism). Now, that focus shifts and the liturgy invites us to begin to reflect more intentionally on the Mystery of the Cross as we look toward Holy Week and the Paschal Triduum.
We see this especially in the words of the Preface of the Passion of the Lord (I), which is prayed on these days:
It is truly right and just,
our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Lord, holy Father,
almighty and eternal God.For through the saving Passion of your Son
the whole world has received a heart
to confess the infinite power of your majesty,
since by the wondrous power of the Cross
your judgment on the world is now revealed
and the authority of Christ crucified.And so, Lord, with all the Angels and Saints,
we, too, give you thanks,
as in exultation we acclaim:Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of hosts…
This “authority of Christ crucified” is clearly evident as we hear Jesus teaching with his full ascendency, breaking open for us the mystery of his own suffering and death.
L'élévation de la Croix by James Tissot (1886-1894)
In the Gospel proclaimed today, Jesus harshly denounces his critics, the Pharisees, because of their inability to see and understand what his life and mission were all about. Lacking faith and openness to his message, Jesus says that they will “die in their sins,” because, as Pope Francis has observed, “they did not understand the mystery of Jesus, because their hearts were closed and they were not capable of opening up a little, to try to understand that mystery which was the Lord” (Homily, April 4, 2017).
To try to help them move forward and to see him with transformed sight, Jesus looks back to the story of the “Saraph Serpent” that we hear in today’s First Reading. Just as the power of God was revealed when Moses raised up the bronze serpent in the desert—a sign of death that brought salvation—Jesus’ critics would come to know the saving power present within him when he himself would be lifted up on a cross, fulfilling what had been prefigured so many centuries before.
Here, the mystery of Christ and the Cross come together in a way truly confounds expectations and which demands more than a child’s “Bible story” understanding of Jesus. Today, the liturgy and the words of Scripture, draw us more deeply into the meaning of the salvation won for us by Jesus’ suffering and death. Here we can recall the words from Psalm 102 proclaimed in today’s Mass:
Let this be written for the generation to come,
and let his future creatures praise the LORD:
"The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die."
Set aside a few moments today to simply be present to the Mystery of the Cross, an instrument of unspeakable torture which becomes a royal throne and the “holy height” where death is ultimately destroyed and the Savior’s divinity is most fully revealed.
Grant us, we pray, O Lord,
perseverance in obeying your will,
that in our days the people dedicated to your service
may grow in both merit and number.
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 Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
