March 14th 2021.  Fourth Sunday of Lent

GOSPEL   John 3:14-21

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

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Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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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

SHORTER HOMILY . . . 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.

LONGER HOMILY FOLLOWS

SUMMARY: The first reading tells of the exile to Babylon. This event is absolutely central to understanding the Old Testament. The people and priests are guilty of infidelity after infidelity until the anger of God reaches its limit and the people are carried off into exile. Why did the exile happen? For a variety of political and military reasons? No! Scripture is very clear: the exile happened because the people disparaged the benevolence and love of God for them. We too think that we have dozens of different problems, but in reality we have only one: our failure to believe and accept God’s love for us. This is what causes our “exile”, our unhappiness, our brokenness. Our preoccupation with our own self-realization leads us to ignore the love and compassion of God for us. The Gospel this Sunday proclaims the unconditional love of God for each of us: “God so loved the world that he sent his only Son so that whoever believes in him would not die but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world so that the world might be condemned, but so that it might be saved through him”. The key to every spiritual challenge we face is our acceptance of God’s loving salvation unveiled for us by the face of Jesus.

The exile is of great significance in the Old Testament. It is the key to reading many of the Messianic texts and to understanding the structure of the entire Hebrew Bible.

In this fourth Sunday of Lent we hear the marvellous dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus in the third chapter of the Gospel of John. The Gospel is prepared by the first reading from the second book of Chronicles. It is worth noting that this is the last book in the Hebrew Bible, so we are reading some of the last words in the Old Testament as far as the people of Israel were concerned. The reading describes the beginning and end of the terrible event of the exile. It is not possible to understand the structure of the Old Testament, the promises concerning the Messiah and the mentality underpinning the texts unless we take into account the significance of the exile. In the history of Israel there are many moments of darkness and light, tribulation and exultation, but the exile is a paradigm which has a particular significance.

The exile happened because the people did not accept the loving compassion of their God. After seventy years in exile they matured and their hearts returned to the Lord.

The description in the first reading is very densely summarised. The people and the priests of Israel were guilty of infidelity upon infidelity, committing the same abominations as others peoples and contaminating the Temple. The Lord in his compassion sent messenger after messenger to warn the people, but these were rejected until the anger of the Lord against his people reached its limit. As a consequence, the enemies of Israel demolished the walls of Jerusalem and entered the Temple. The people were put to the sword or carried off to slavery in Babylon. We could say that the ones who were sent into exile were those who disparaged prophecy, those who did not appreciate the special loving care of God towards his people. And then the text ends with these words: “In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order to fulfil the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah,  the LORD inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom, both by word of mouth and in writing: ‘Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me, and he has also charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people, let him go up, and may his God be with him!’” There is a people who went into exile and, by the generous providence of God, there is a people who returned from exile. What is it that caused the people to be sent into exile? Their disparagement of the love of God for them. What permits them to return from exile? The loving care of God. Only now the people are able to take this love seriously. During the seventy years of exile, the people mature a lot and learn many lessons. Scripture has many testimonies to the benefits that accrued as a result of this period of correction.

The real problem of humanity is its rejection of the love of God. This is what causes our “exile” and belief in God’s love helps us to return!

The Gospel too proclaims that there is a way back, a way of light, a way to reach salvation. This salvation impinges on the central problem of humanity. Was the event of the exile in Babylon the result of economic, political or military factors? No. Scripture tells us that it was a result of the rejection of the benevolence of God. As the Gospel says, “God so loved the world that he sent his only Son so that whoever believes in him would not die but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world so that the world might be condemned, but so that it might be saved through him”. Belief in the love of God, belief that God desires to save us, belief in his benevolence: this is what permits us to return from exile! What is the real tragedy of man? This or that pain, disaster or setback? No! The real tragedy is that we do not believe that God loves us dearly. Our love of anger, our attachment to complaining, our tendency to wallow in negative attitudes instead of welcoming the tender love of the Lord for us. It is vital that we believe that God is saving us in every single event of our lives! He does not forget us. He is love and treats us as his dearest children . In Jesus Christ, God has made his face known. The key to every spiritual challenge we encounter is to believe in the love of God and his goodness.

This Sunday, the unconditional love of God for you and me is proclaimed!

We tend to think that we have dozens of problems, but the only thing that ultimately determines our happiness is whether we open ourselves to receive his tenderness. God can only offer us his love. If he forces it upon us then it is not love. The love of the Lord is offered as a gift, but like any gift we can take it or leave it. How many books have been given to us as gifts that we have not even opened! And it is the same with the love of God. We do not accept this gift because we are too preoccupied by our own affairs. This Sunday the unconditional, generous offer of salvation is proclaimed. Jesus shows us the face of God. He unveils the fact that none of us should feel left out of salvation. All can be saved because all are loved! We all have the capacity to say no. It is a really vital matter that we welcome this beautiful invitation. In Sunday’s Gospel, God presents himself as someone who implores us, saying: “Welcome me. Believe me. Allow yourself to be loved by me”.