Fifth Sunday of Lent
/Dominica V in Quadragesima C
6 April 2025
Throughout this Lent the readings from Sacred Scripture have shown us God’s activities and mighty works in the Exodus by which he brought His people out of slavery in Egypt. The readings of Lent also move into the New Testament selections to show us the new “exodus,” that is the passage or departure that Jesus would undertake in his Cross and Resurrection. The Exodus from Egypt was filled with mighty signs of God’s presence among the Israelites and mighty deeds that demonstrated God’s power over Israel’s enemies. Thus, the events of the Exodus convinced Israel they belonged to God and that they were His chosen people. Throughout the Old Testament, as Israel recalled the Exodus, they constantly spoke of the mighty works God had done in the past. Today’s first reading from Isaiah and the psalm are good examples of such commemorative language, celebrating the past: “Thus says the Lord, who opens a way in the sea” and who leads out the powerful army of Egypt till they are “snuffed out and quenched like a wick.” Filled with joy in belonging to God and being beneficiaries of His power, the Israelites would frequently cry out, as we repeated in the psalm, “The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.”
Imagine, then, how strange the words of God must have sounded to Israel as delivered later by Isaiah in the first reading: “Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new”. Think about that. God was telling Israel to overlook the many plagues He had visited upon Egypt to get Pharaoh to release the people. Israel was being told not to dwell on God’s presence in cloud and fire as they were led away from Egypt. They were being told to think no more of the incredible event of the Red Sea crossing. They were no longer to recall the miraculous bread-like manna and the flesh of quail God provided for their food. They were being told to consider no more the cloud, lightning, and thunder that accompanied Moses on Mt. Sinai as he visited God and received the Ten Commandments. Or, to be absolutely clear, God is instructing His people that they should not be so past focused as to miss that He is in their midst still acting in the present. God wants His people to also focus their minds on the new thing He is doing. That “something new” is the exodus Jesus would undergo by his death and resurrection. The exodus of Jesus is God’s most mighty work of all, because by it He offers Himself in payment for the sins that bring eternal death and deserve the punishment of Hell. By faith and baptism we enter the life of Christ, being called to live this new life and to give up and avoid the old ways of slavery to sin, the past. As the woman caught in adultery was spared, the “something new” of God spares us the punishment of Hell by the compassion of Jesus, if only we will place Christ’s life above all things.
St. Paul understood well the “something new” of God. He knew that he could not hold onto the old life, even though it was marked by so many of God’s mighty deeds. St. Paul speaks most explicitly that in light of the new thing the Father does in Christ, everything else – everything – is garbage. He wrote in today’s second reading: “I consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him.” To understand St. Paul’s emphasis, it is helpful to know that the word “rubbish” in English is a PG version of latrine language. St. Paul says to be a Christian, to belong to Christ, to be able to come to Christ’s compassion for forgiveness of our sins, to have new life in the Lord means all else is [pause, cough, clear throat] “rubbish” compared to the “something new” the Father does in Christ!
In this holy season we are called to renew ourselves in the new life of grace in Christ Jesus our Lord. Christ Jesus is the “something new” of the Father. Have we changed this Lent? Does our life reflect more faithfully now “the supreme good of knowing Christ” than it did at the beginning of Lent? Where is my life leading me? What appears to be my goal in life? Would there be any evidence in my life to support the claim that my goal is “the supreme good of knowing Christ?” Is there any evidence in my life to support what St. Paul described as the “straining forward” to “the prize of God’s upward calling”? Or, to borrow St. Paul’s blunt words, do I give more attention to “rubbish” than to new life in Christ? Am I content to treat my sins lightly, ignoring even serious sin in my life as I trade in new life in Christ for wallowing in filth? Is success, pleasure, fame, money, athletic prowess, career, car or home what I really strive for? Am I ready to account these as rubbish compared to the new life offered me in Christ? By faith and baptism we have entered new life in Christ and we are called to live this life always. If our being Christian is not just a label we wear externally, then we must view all else as rubbish in comparison to knowing Christ our Lord. Only then, like the woman caught in adultery, burdened with our sins and the punishment they deserve, can we come to Jesus. Meeting him we are freed by his compassionate words “Neither do I condemn you,” and we are given the serious work of his command, “Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” Only free from the bonds of sin can we live new life according to the Father’s plan, going forth to announce His praise, because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus the Lord!
