by Fr. Tommy Lane
The readings today all speak to us about the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The first reading from Isaiah (53:10-11) is an excerpt of the most detailed prophecy of Jesus’ passion in the Old Testament (52:13-53:12). We read the full version on Good Friday every year. It describes a servant of God who gives his life to atone for the sins of others. It makes clear that we have received salvation through the servant’s passion and death:
he gives his life as
an offering for sin. . .
through his suffering, my servant shall
justify many,
and their guilt he shall bear. (Isa 53:11)
Jesus’ offering of himself to the Father on the cross on Calvary was to make up for our sins, to save us. Instead of the Father giving us what we deserve, the Father looks on Jesus’ passion and death for us. Jesus saved us.
That is why the second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 4:14-16) says we should confidently approach God’s throne of grace to find mercy (Heb 4:16). That is a very bold statement for the time in which the letter was written—encouraging not only to approach God’s throne but to approach God’s throne with confidence. I say it is a very daring statement because, for Jewish people, God’s earthly throne, so to speak, was inside in the Holy of Holies in the temple and only the Jewish high priest could go behind the curtain to access it once every year. Yet the letter encourages to confidently approach God’s throne of grace. When Jesus died, Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us that curtain in the temple tore in two from top to bottom (Matt 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45). Jesus taught parables to teach us about the kingdom of God but that curtain tearing in two at the moment of Jesus’ death was like a parable in action. It was God the Father telling us the way to him is now spiritually open to everyone at any time, not only to the Jewish high priest.
But no one would be allowed behind the curtain into that part of the temple, so how could someone approach the throne of grace as the excerpt of the letter today advises? Later in the letter, it tells us how. Having a clean conscience, we can approach God’s throne of grace through the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Jesus (Heb 10:19-22). At Mass we confidently approach the throne of grace. When we receive Holy Communion, we are the closest to God we can be because we are one with Jesus; Jesus himself said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” (John 6:56) So Jesus, God’s servant, gave his life on Calvary to make up for our sins, and we are now encouraged to confidently approach God’s throne.
Not only that, our second reading said we are to approach God’s throne to receive mercy. Why can we be confident of receiving mercy? Because, it says, our high priest, that is, Jesus, has been tempted in every way that we are though he did not sin (Heb 4:15). Because Jesus was tempted like us, the second reading said Jesus is able to sympathize with us in our weakness. That word “sympathize,” in the Greek in which the letter was written, means to “suffer with.” Jesus suffered with us in the sense of being human like us and knows our condition and our weakness. So, Jesus is able to sympathize with us, that is, he suffered with us by knowing what we go through, and so we can confidently approach the throne of grace asking for mercy. In Luke’s account of Jesus’ ascension, before Jesus ascended into heaven he asked that repentance for the forgiveness of sins be preached in his name to all nations (24:47). Mercy, forgiveness of sins, is one of the characteristics of the New Covenant. This is the time of mercy and forgiveness because Jesus died for us and the curtain opened to allow us approach God’s throne of grace with confidence. Popular devotions such as devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Divine Mercy remind us of God’s love and mercy.
James and John approached Jesus with confidence in the Gospel (Mark 10:35-45) but for the wrong reason. They approached Jesus out of ambition and greed. Even though they did not know what Jesus’ cup or baptism would be, they still wanted to share in them because they were blindly ambitious. Jesus’ cup was the cup of his passion, and his baptism was his death on Calvary. Because Jesus came to serve, not to be served, he gave his life as a ransom for many, to use the words of Jesus himself in the Gospel. One way we can serve is to unite our sufferings with the passion of Jesus for the salvation of the world. Jesus saved us and now we can approach God’s throne through the Eucharist confidently asking for mercy.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2024
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday of Year B
Jesus paid the ransom for our sins 2021
The truly great ones of this world: those who love and serve 2015
Jesus gave his life as an offering for our sin and bore our guilt 2012
Related Homilies: see Homilies above for twenty-fifth Sunday
Death of the apostles (excerpt)
Second Reading: humanity of Jesus
First Reading: Jesus’ suffering revealed by the Shroud of Turin