March 10 2024. Fourth Sunday of Lent
GOSPEL John 3:14-21
Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio
Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .
GOSPEL John 3:14-21
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world,
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light,
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ
SUMMARY
On the fourth Sunday of Lent we hear one of the most profound texts of the New Testament: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” The first reading, curiously, is not about this event in the desert but recounts another key moment: we hear how the shocking infidelity of Israel leads to the Babylonian exile, but the Lord brings the people back home through the action of Cyrus, King of Persia. Why was this event chosen for the first reading on Sunday? Because humanity needs to allow itself to be redeemed, ransomed and brought back from the exile of sin.
In the story of the serpents in the desert, the people of Israel were disobedient to God and were grumbling. This led to them finding themselves among serpents. The cure for the snake bite was to look the bronze serpent in the face. Jesus does the same for us with the cross! Looking at Christ crucified, we see our sinfulness, our egoism, our idolatry. When we behold Jesus on the cross, we behold our own sins, accepted and forgiven by God. In the Christian life, we can digest meditations, conferences and spiritual techniques in industrial quantities. But what really counts is to have a real experience of the forgiveness of my personal sins by God.
Humanity loves hiding in the shadows. Ever since the time of Adam we have constructed hideous garments to cover the state of our souls. Light is painful to those who are used to the shadows. Saul was pursuing his own way and considered himself to be righteous. The light of Christ actually blinded him, even though that light was his salvation. It is important for each one of us to come into that light and to see the state of our souls, our need to be ransomed by Christ. None of us should think he does not need to be ransomed in this way. We all have much to be ashamed of. There is only one thing we need to do about our sinfulness and that is to illuminate it with the light of God, who so loved the world as to give what was most precious to him, his only begotten Son. He became sin for our sake and took all our evil upon himself. We can go on defending our own image, our own presentability, and never allow ourselves to be touched in our deepest and most hidden selves by grace.
In this time of Lent and on this Sunday of Joy, there is no joy greater than the forgiveness of God! Let us not fear the light, let us experience the forgiveness of God, not intellectually, but concretely in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, a sacrament that returns us to our baptismal state, restoring us to our status as children of God. This Sunday we have the joy of forgiveness to celebrate and welcome.
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