The Texts for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, March 22nd, 2015

First Reading: Jeremiah 31:31–34

³¹The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.  ³²It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt — a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD.  ³³But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  ³⁴No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, "Know the LORD," for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Second Reading: Hebrews 5:5–10

⁵So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him,

"You are my Son,

today I have begotten you";

  ⁶as he says also in another place,

"You are a priest forever,

according to the order of Melchizedek."

  ⁷In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.  ⁸Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered;  ⁹and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,  ¹⁰having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

Gospel: John 12:20–33

²⁰Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.  ²¹They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."  ²²Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.  ²³Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  ²⁴Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  ²⁵Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  ²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

²⁷Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say — 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.  ²⁸Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again."  ²⁹The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him."  ³⁰Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.  ³¹Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.  ³²And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."  ³³He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.