Thoughts on Sunday’s Lessons for April 3, 2022 (Lent 5C)

First Reading: Isaiah 43:16-21

The whole world, it seems, is divided into Marthas and Marys, and most of us know which one we are. In Sunday’s Gospel, we hear the familiar story of these two friends of Jesus and their differing ways of showing their love, as Jesus progresses toward Jerusalem and the Cross.

Christ in the House of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus (c.1577). Oil painting on canvas by Jacopo Bassano (1510-1592). Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. (Click image to enlarge.)

Each of Sunday’s readings touches on the idea of progress toward a goal. In the first reading, Isaiah envisions the people in exile, defeated and hopeless, unable to get up; “extinguished, quenched like a wick.” But in God there is hope for new ways, the prophet assures us. God will make a path in the wilderness and create rivers in the desert, protecting God’s chosen people and bringing them home.

Psalm: Psalm 126

Psalm 126 is one of a series of hymns known as “Songs of Ascent” that may have been sung as the people approached the Temple in ritual procession. Celebrating the people’s return to Jerusalem from exile, the Psalm echoes the Isaiah passage: It reminds us that God’s redemption can turn our tears into shouts of joy even though life’s burdens once seemed to be more than we could bear.

Second Reading: Philippians 3:4b-14

Once a proud Pharisee and persecutor of Christians, Paul thought he had a lot to boast about. But once he felt that he knew Christ, everything changed. He has lost everything that he had before, and all that is now rubbish to him, he says in his letter to this Greek convert community in Philippi. Having gained righteousness from God through faith in Jesus, his new hope rests in the resurrection. As Isaiah advised Israel, so Paul urges the Philippians: Forget what lies behind you. Press on toward the goal of resurrection and life through God’s call in Jesus.

Gospel: Gospel: John 12:1-8

Our journey through Lent with Jesus is nearing its end. In John’s Gospel, Jesus has just raised Lazarus from the dead, and now the high priests are worried. Jesus’s miracles are getting too much attention, and the clamor might upset the hated Roman rulers. They decide to kill him if he shows his face in Jerusalem during Passover. Of course, that’s just where Jesus is headed. But first, as told in Sunday’s Gospel, he stops in Bethany to visit Lazarus, Mary and Martha, and Martha shows her love by bathing his feet extravagantly with a costly perfumed oil. Profit-minded Judas objects, but Jesus says, “Leave her alone!” The oil is for his burial, Jesus says, reminding them, “You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”