(Homily 4th Sunday of Lent
–Year B)
An in-depth reflection on the readings of
today reveals that the themes running through the three readings are mercy and love. It was out of his unfathomable mercy that God never relented
in his effort in bringing back the Israelites when they strayed. St. John in
today’s gospel passage evoked those reassuring words that depict the density
and immensity of God’s mercy and love, thus: “for God so loved the world”. And
in the epistle reading, St. Paul draws the matter from theological to its
existential implication “God who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he
had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life
with Christ”. Be that as it may, though the readings of today hinge more on
God’s merciful love, however, the second reading and the gospel implicitly or
explicitly introduced the theme of the Cross. The theme per excellence of this
liturgical season. And as our Paschal celebration draws closer we cannot but be
reminded that Jesus did not accept the
Cross for fun, rather he did to show
us the high price of his love, the Psalmist affirmed that the price is too
high (cf. Ps. 49:8a). Therefore,
behind the Cross, we cannot but see a borderless love. The Cross is the palestra of
God’s love and mercy. Above all else, however, the image of God presented
today is that of a loving and merciful Father, who is in a relentless and
persistent search for his sons and daughters. If he reaches you with his words,
make a U-turn back to him, pay him back love with love. Make a move!
The first reading (2
Chron.36:14-16.19-23), presents a
consequential explanation of the exile, as a divine punishment. From the
parlance of the chronicler, the punishment was both for the pre-exilic priests
and the people, for they failed to listen to the pre-exilic prophets. The book
of chronicles presents in a condensed manner the history of Israel, and at the
heart of this history is the affirmation thus: “In those days, all the princes
of Judah, the priests and the people added infidelity to infidelity”. Drawing
the issue further, one could opine that
this not only depicts the historical reality of the Israelites but that of
humanity as whole. They practiced all sorts of abomination and polluted
God’s temple. The writer then enumerated the different steps that God took to
bring them back, “God send messenger after messenger to them, for he had
compassion on his people and his dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers
of God. Despised his warnings and scoffed at his prophets” (2Chron. 36:15-16).
God persistently sent messengers but they
refused to turn back to God. Truly, this
indicates that God’s mercy and love go before his justice, for God did not
condemn them out rightly, rather he went in search of them with his merciful
love. But consequently, their stubbornness of heart brought about God’s wrath
and justice, for the city and the temple were destroyed and they were taken to
exile by the Chaldeans. The captivating
fact about God’s mercy or love is that it does not give up on us, for even
when the people were in exile out of their stubbornness of heart, God’s mercy
was still searching and waiting for them. Indeed,
we could say that God’s mercy and justice are intertwined, for in Hebrew ‘tsedakah’
can stand for both charity (mercy) and justice. Behold, at the heart of the spirituality of Lent is the rediscovery of
God’s mercy and love, a mercy that never ends (Lam. 3:22) and a love that endures forever (Ps. 136:1).
Apparently, the reading does not relate to
either the epistle or the Gospel readings, and as such one may wonder the reason
for its choice. Indeed, the idea behind the choice revolves around the fact
that the exile in Babylon was a type of Christian Lent, and the return forms a
sort of Crucifixion and Resurrection. And indeed, the theme of the cross
implicitly or explicitly dovetails into the three readings.
In the second reading (Eph.2:4-10) St. Paul affirmed that “God who is rich in mercy,
because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our
transgressions, brought us to life with Christ”. St. Paul further buttressed that
we are saved by God’s grace. Indeed,
grace brings God’s merciful love at the doorpost of our hearts and life. It is this gratuitous gift (Grace) of God
that merited us Salvation. Furthermore, this passage associates baptism
with the death and resurrection of Christ. It goes further to buttress the
point raised in other Pauline writings on death, resurrection and baptism (cf. Col.2:12, Rm. 6). Ephesians 2 opines
that we are not only risen with Christ that we are already in heaven with him. Be
that as it may, the fact of being in heaven with Christ should not induce in us
the feeling of being arrived or intoxicated of being in heaven. For this, the
author further added that by grace you have been saved. This was expounded in
v.8 “by grace through faith”. Indeed, the Pauline affirmation that we are in
heaven already shouldn’t make us relent in our daily effort to live as God’s
children, rather it should serve as a
constant reminder for our relentless moral effort to live with heaven in view.
The Gospel (Jn. 3:14-21) presents the continuation of the dialogue and encounter
between Jesus and Nicodemus. Prior to this moment, Nicodemus had come to Jesus
at night to ask what he must do to inherit the kingdom of God and our Lord told
him that he must be born again. In that encounter Nicodemus asked threefold
questions (vv. 2.4.9) and each of
the questions gave rise to a pronouncement from Jesus. The first part of the
discourse explains the necessity for rebirth as an essential requirement for
entrance into the Kingdom of God. The second part from which the passage of
today’s gospel is taken, explains that this rebirth can only be realized
through the “lifting up” of the Son of Man, that is, the death and
glorification of Christ.
In the passage, the evangelist affirms
strongly that the cross is an act of
divine love per excellence: “for God so loved the world that he gave his
Only Son” (3:16). Verse 16 reveals the initiative of the
Father, who offers his Son, a supreme expression of his love for the world.
This is equally in connection with the opening words of the epistle reading. Without
mincing words, at the heart of the Johannine affirmation about God’s love, is
the revelation that God wants our salvation at all cost. The phrase “God so loved the world” is the central verse of the Gospel
of John, and even believed to be the summary of the Gospel and the entire
Scripture. It is a verse with words replete with stupor each time we hear
it. It is an illuminating love. Indeed, with
this “love” the night of Nicodemus and our nights are illumined and we are
reborn, we are reborn in faith, hope and trust. This verse is really
captivating, for it is not only man that is loved, but the world, all the
created order. The term ‘world’ has a positive connotation in the present
context, and it designates humanity in her entirety. As such, if God so loved even
the earth, we too have to love it. In that phrase Jesus reveals that God has
consideration for the world, for man, little wonder, He willingly lost his Son
in order to purchase us. For this St. Paul asserted that, “through his blood,
we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins. Such is the richness of the
grace” (Eph. 1:17). The psalmist both captured our helplessness
and the greatness of God’s merciful love thus “But no one can ever redeem
himself or pay his own ransom to God, the price for himself is too high” (Ps. 49:7-8a). God through Jesus Christ
paid this price that is too high, at the cost of his blood. God so loved the
world, but man is destroying it. God so loved us, but we are instead killing
each other. God’s love should propel us
to love each other too!
Our evangelist puts the verb “God so loved
the world” in past tense (aorist tense), to indicate that the love God has for
us is not something to be realized in the future or something that happened
momentarily, rather the tense of the
verb indicates the certainty and realism of this love, for he continues to love
us even when we stray. With the
death of his Son, God demonstrates that his love for us is not a long distance
and disinterested love affair. Drawing the issue further, we may well
affirm that God’s ultimate desire for everyone is salvation. And for the
realization of this desire, Jesus speaks of his total self-giving and the
mystery of the Cross. In fact, St. Paul puts it thus: “Christ Jesus, who
offered himself as a ransom for all” (1Tim.
2:5b-6a). Jesus indicated a symbol to Nicodemus, that bronze serpent that
was lifted by Moses for the healing of the Israelites bitten by the snakes.
Similarly, Jesus will be lifted up and he will save who turns his gaze towards
him. The serpent that Moses raised is
nothing but a prophetic prefiguration of the crucifixion of the Son of man.
In the context of the Israelites whoever that looked on the serpent was healed,
but now we are called to turn our gaze towards the Son of Man, therefore now
whoever that looks at the Crucified with the eyes of faith, will have eternal
life. The Israelites that looked at the
serpent regained only physical health, but whoever that fixes his gaze on the
Crucified-Risen Lord gains fullness of life (Jn. 10:10) and the blood and water that gushed forth from his
pierced side (Jn.19:34) is a true
fountain of eternal life, which is the knowledge of the One Sent! “And eternal life is this: to know you, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (Jn.
17:3).
Beloved brothers and sisters, we have to
ask ourselves the pertinent question, concerning where we have kept our gaze
today, is our gaze fixed on Jesus or on all sorts of idols? Remember the condition for being saved is
remaining focused on Him with faith. St. John added an encouraging but
emblematic verdict that “though the light has come into the world people have
preferred darkness to the light because their deeds were evil” (Jn. 3:19). Unfortunately, this
preference for darkness and evil still continues today. The initiative of God
that was manifested through Christ was not aimed at the extermination of the
wicked, rather to the salvation of the world. And the fate of every man is
dependent on his choice, if he opens up to the love of God or rejects it. Thus,
if he chooses darkness or Light. Lord
Jesus help us to understand and appreciate the high price of your love, and to
pay you back love with love!
Wishing you all
a grace-filled Sunday!!!
(Fr. Vitus M.C.
Unegbu)
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