{"id":1567,"date":"2015-03-22T13:04:38","date_gmt":"2015-03-22T17:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1567"},"modified":"2015-03-22T13:04:38","modified_gmt":"2015-03-22T17:04:38","slug":"5th-sunday-in-lent-year-b-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/5th-sunday-in-lent-year-b-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"5th Sunday in Lent, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

5th<\/sup> Sunday in Let, Year B<\/a>
\nJeremiah 31:31-34
\nHebrews 5:7-9
\nJohn 12:20-33
\nMarch 22, 2015<\/p>\n

Do we really want<\/em> Jesus to be part of our lives?<\/p>\n

One might be inclined to say I won\u2019t be here in church if I didn\u2019t but how far does our desire to know Jesus go?\u00a0 Is there something we are holding back on?<\/p>\n

From the beginning God has always had a relationship with His people but the nature of the relationship has changed.\u00a0 It has been based on \u201ccovenants\u201d.<\/p>\n

God made a covenant with Abraham that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars.\u00a0 Abraham believed in faith.<\/p>\n

Then God formed a covenant through Moses with all of Israel.\u00a0 This covenant was based on the Ten Commandments written on stone tablets.\u00a0 The people were to keep the commandments and in exchange God would watch over them and care for them.<\/p>\n

It seemed simple.\u00a0 The Israelites had clear commandments of what they must do but they failed and fell into sin.<\/p>\n

The prophet Jeremiah tells us God will offer a new covenant in our hearts.\u00a0 This covenant is based on love, specifically the love that Jesus shows us when He dies for us on the Cross.<\/p>\n

What does the new covenant require of us?\u00a0 Love of God.<\/p>\n

What does it mean to love God?<\/p>\n

We need to trust in God and when we do, we follow His commandments, not out of obligation but rather love.<\/p>\n

To love God we need to turn our whole<\/em> being, body, mind, and soul over to God.\u00a0 This is not easy.\u00a0 It\u2019s easy to ask God for help with our problems but we might hold back.\u00a0 We might expect God to fix the problem but we want Him to leave the rest of our lives alone, meaning we don\u2019t give our whole<\/em> being to God.<\/p>\n

The problem is that when we hold something back, we restrict God\u2019s ability to help us.\u00a0 We need to admit our weaknesses if we expect God to help us.\u00a0 We need to admit our sins if we expect God to wipe away our sins and to wash away our guilt.<\/p>\n

Jesus tells us, \u201cUnless 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<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

I see two ways of looking at this.\u00a0 First, there is earthly death.\u00a0 Heaven awaits us who believe but we need to die in<\/em><\/strong> this world first.<\/p>\n

There is another way of dying that we must consider as a second way of interpreting Jesus\u2019 words.\u00a0 We must die to the things of this world.\u00a0 What things are we not ready to let go of?<\/p>\n

It might be as simple as needing our coffee.\u00a0 It might be our home or our favorite gadget.\u00a0 It\u2019s the attachment to the thing that is the problem.<\/p>\n

There was a story of an Irish man who deeply loved the Irish land.\u00a0 When it came time for him to die he wanted to be able to take a little piece of Ireland with him.\u00a0 So, as he lay dying he held some dirt from the ground in his hand.\u00a0 To hold it, he clinched it inside his hand.\u00a0 When it came time from him to die, the angel came to take him to Heaven.\u00a0 The angel extended his hand to the man but the man could not take it without letting go of the dirt in his hand.\u00a0 He continued to grow weaker and weaker.\u00a0 As he grew weaker, he could no longer clasp the dirt in his hand and dropped it.\u00a0 As soon as he dropped it, the angel took his hand and led him to Heaven.<\/p>\n

It may not be time for you to die yet but is there something you are holding onto that keeps you from letting God transform you into all that He means for you to be?<\/p>\n

When you long to feel God\u2019s presence, is there something you continue to hold onto that keeps God at a distance?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

5th Sunday in Let, Year B Jeremiah 31:31-34 Hebrews 5:7-9 John 12:20-33 March 22, 2015 Do we really want Jesus to be part of our lives? One might be inclined to say I won\u2019t be here in church if I didn\u2019t but how far does our desire to know Jesus go?\u00a0 Is there something we …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘5th Sunday in Lent, Year B – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-ph","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1567"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1567"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1568,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1567\/revisions\/1568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}