Are we ready for radical transformation?
The readings for the fifth Sunday of Lent all hinge on this
question. Jeremiah shares God’s promise
to make a new covenant with the house of
Israel and the house of Judah, one written not on stone but on their hearts. The newness, in other words, is
internal: the radical transformation
that will take place will penetrate us so deeply that the Lord will fill us,
will suffuse our whole being with his love.
Create in me a clean heart, the
psalmist sings in Psalm 51, sustain in me
a willing spirit. If we empty
ourselves, opening ourselves to that radical transformation, we can be filled
with God’s abundant mercy, loved into
(new) existence once again, transformed, radically, by God’s love.
The coming of Jesus adds a whole new set of images to the notion of radical transformation: unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, he tells the disciples in John’s Gospel, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Jesus himself died, the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, to become the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him; we, in turn, must also die – to self, to sin, to all that is transitory – following Jesus through death, so that we can rise to new life, and bear fruit. Christianity calls us to radical transformation: our whole life leads up to this moment of transformation, to salvation. Are we willing to die so that we, too, can rise, and be transformed?
The coming of Jesus adds a whole new set of images to the notion of radical transformation: unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, he tells the disciples in John’s Gospel, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Jesus himself died, the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, to become the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him; we, in turn, must also die – to self, to sin, to all that is transitory – following Jesus through death, so that we can rise to new life, and bear fruit. Christianity calls us to radical transformation: our whole life leads up to this moment of transformation, to salvation. Are we willing to die so that we, too, can rise, and be transformed?
This post is based on Fr. Pat's Scripture class.
Image source: Wordle
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