<p><em>Breath of the Spirit is our electronic spiritual and liturgical resource for our members and potential members. Nothing can replace your chapter or other faith community but we hope you will find further support here for integrating your spirituality with your sexuality and all the strands of your life.</em></p><p><span>March 21st 2021:&nbsp;The Fifth Sunday of Lent</span></p><p><span>Jeremiah 31:31-34</span><br><span>Hebrews 5:7-9</span><br><span>John 12:20-33</span></p><p><span><em>These reflections are based on the Sunday readings from Lectionary Cycle B in the Church's liturgical calendar. If your community is using the Scrutinies you may be using Cycle A readings this Sunday.</em></span></p><p><strong>Reflection from&nbsp;<strong>John P. Falcone</strong><strong><br></strong></strong></p><p>Among this weeks readings the Letter to the Hebrews really grabbed my attention:</p><blockquote><p>Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who is able to save us from death and Jesus was heard because of reverent submission. Although Gods firstborn Jesus learned obedience through suffering; and having been made perfect became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey.</p></blockquote><p>What struck me most about this passage is the bowing and scraping that it seems to suggest. Jesus offers up prayers supplications loud cries and tears; Jesus learns obedience through because of suffering; and is saved by reverent submission.</p><p>Mark Jordan the Harvard theologian has written insightfully about the role of submission in Roman Catholicism. He points especially to its effect on the formation of Catholic clergy: an unhealthy form of submission that rewards kissing up; that trades on the keeping of secrets; that cultivates soul-killing forms of repression.</p><p>This is not what the author of Hebrews had in mind.</p><p>Hebrews portrays Jesus as the ultimate priest. First-century Jewish priesthood reflects a view of life and religion quite different from that of many Christians today. The job of a priest (in Greek Roman or Jewish religion) was animal sacrifice: a practice that may seem barbaric to modern people. But Luke Timothy Johnson in his commentary on Hebrews explains this perspective in more holistic (even admirable) terms. Sacrificial priesthood reflects a religion that focuses less on theological formulas and more on the body; that sees life and lifeblood as a sheer gift from God; that underlines the mutual obligations inherent in gift-giving; that affirms the deep links between animals humans land and the Spirit.</p><p>As Christians we often speak of the priesthood of all believers. If Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:2) is the prototype of a sacrificial priesthood then we are called individually and as communities to live and to act in similarly priestly ways. We are called to pay attention to our bodies: How do we touch others? How do we treat our own bodies? Where and with whom do we stand? We are called to say Thank you and to really mean it rather than treating people time and commodities as cheap or disposable. We are called to affirm the deep (i.e. spiritual) links between the people who delight and annoy us; the animals whom we eat and adore; and the land which we occupy and deplete.</p><p>Paying attention; saying thank you; affirming our connections. This kind of obedience excludes bowing and scraping; this kind of reverent submission excludes kissing up. Its completely in line with the original Greek of the Letter to the Hebrews.&nbsp;<em>Hypakoe</em> which our text translates as obedience also means listening carefully paying close attention;&nbsp;<em>eulabeia</em> which our text translates as reverent submission also means care caution grasping hold of whats important and not letting go.</p><p>Our Hebrews passage may reflect an early version of the story of the Agony in the Garden. (Some scholars believe that Hebrews was probably written before Mark Matthew and Luke.) This weeks Gospel reading from John also offers a riff on the garden agony scene. Jesus announces Now my soul is troubled; and shall I say: Abba save me from this hour? No! Because when I am lifted up from this earth I will draw everything to myself. Each version of Jesus prayer in the garden underlines the emotional cost of listening carefully and of opting to love.</p><p>Jesus has shown us how to pay attention; how to say&nbsp;<em>eucharisto</em>&nbsp;(that is Thank you in Greek); how to affirm our connection with all people with all things and with God. What God says to Jeremiah in our Old Testament reading Jesus has shown us in the flesh: I will make a new covenant with my people Israel I will write my law on their hearts.</p><p>May Gods law truly take flesh in our hearts. May we and our religion finally fully grasp: how to listen to the worlds truest prayers and supplications; how to pay attention to its loud cries and tears.</p><p>__</p>[caption align=left]<img src='https://www.dignityusa.org/sites/default/files/falcone.png'>[/caption]<p></p><p></p><p><em style=background-color: transparent;><br><em><strong>John P. Falcone</strong>&nbsp;is a practical theologian religious educator and a practitioner of Theatre of the Oppressed (PhD Boston College). He has been a Dignity member for more than 20 years with close links to Dignity NY where he met his husband Matias Wibowo in 2005. He is currently Theologian-in-Residence at St. Matthews Bethnal Green (Church of England) in Londons East End.</em><br></em></p><div class=oldwebkit></div><p><strong><a href=https://www.dignityusa.org/civicrm/mailing/subscribe>Get Breath of the Spirit scripture reflections in your inbox every week.</a></strong></p>