Is. 43:16-21, Psalm 126, Philippians 3:4-14, John 12:1-8

“I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”

The lections appointed for the fifth Sunday of Lent really drive home the sacramental truth of the internal change we undergo in Christ, a change that is reflected (or contrasted) by outward signs. Consider the passage from John: Jesus comes to Bethany, to the home of his friends, Mary, Martha, and the resurrected Lazarus. Mary kneels before Jesus and anoints his feet with perfumed oil and wipes them with her hair. This outward gesture signifies her inward devotion to Jesus, but is also proleptic of Holy Saturday, suggestive of an interplay between the raising of Lazarus and Jesus’ own resurrection. And of course, there is the provocative juxtaposition of Judas Iscariot’s criticism of Mary’s gesture and his own betrayal of Jesus, not to mention his fiduciary responsibilities to the disciples. 

This inward/outward interplay is evident in the other lections: In Isaiah, a way is formed in the wilderness so that the chosen people might praise the One God; and in the Psalm, the people are filled with joy because God has restored Zion (and her fortunes). 

But this sacramental interplay of interior/exterior is most evident in Paul, for whom we have reason to be suspicious of exterior illusions (or “rubbish”) that mask an interior that hasn’t been touched by God’s righteousness. It’s not that Paul denies the significance of outward appearances; rather, he re-orients all things, even to the point of forgetting them, for the sake of striving for the true goal, Jesus Christ. 

We, too, are invited to consider the exterior appearances and inward dispositions of our lives, and to ask, in light of those things, to which goal does it appear we are striving? Is it money, as it was for Judas? Or is it adoration of the Incarnate Christ, as it was for Mary of Bethany? Is it righteousness under the Law or in the eyes of society? Or is it the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord?