4th Sunday of Lent, 14 March, 2021

May we in today's Eucharistic celebration appreciate the steadfast love God has bestowed on us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and may we have the grace to manifest loving kindness, by coming to the help of our needy neighbours.

                                       Happy Sunday!

 

DOCTRINE  AND FAITH                            
(2 Chronicle  36,14-16.19-23; Ephesians 2,4-10; John 3, 14-21; 4th Sunday of Lent, 14 March, 2021)

On this fourth Sunday of Lent the Mass entrance antiphon invites us to be joyful: Rejoice, Jerusalem [...]. Rejoice and rejoice you who were in sadness. It is the Sunday of joy, a rest on the journey of Lent, before the definitive ascent to Jerusalem.

Today's readings show us what the real reason for this joy is: God's generous love. Even when the situation seems desperate, he intervenes, procuring man's salvation and joy. In the Gospel Jesus says to Nicodemus: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life. In the second reading, Paul declares that:  God loved us with so much love that he was generous with his mercy; when we were dead through our sins, he brought us to life with Christ (it is through grace that you have been saved) and raised us up with him and gave us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus.

The first reading shows us a significant example of divine mercy: the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem after its destruction and exile. The Second Book of Chronicles shows us God’s patience and generosity. He eagerly and, incessantly, sends his messengers to show the people the right way to follow, the way that ensures them peace and joy. He does it because he loves his people, and he also loves his home, the splendid temple of Jerusalem built by Solomon. But God’s generosity clashes with the continuous infidelity of the people, starting with the leaders. We read in the Second Book of Chronicles: All the rulers of Judah, the priests and the people multiplied their infidelity [...]. They mocked God's messengers, despised his words and mocked his prophets. The divine punishment now becomes inevitable, and the most terrible national catastrophe takes place: the enemies besiege Jerusalem, attack and set fire to the temple, the beloved abode of God, the symbol of God's covenant with the people, the clearest manifestation of love of God for his people. They demolish the walls of Jerusalem, set fire to all its palaces and destroy all its most elegant houses. Then the deportation takes place: The king [Nebuchadnezzar] deported to Babylon the survivors of the sword, who became his and his sons' slaves. Forty years later Cyrus, the new king of Persia, by divine inspiration decides to free the exiles and have them return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, with all the means necessary to do this. Here we have another stupendous manifestation of God's mercy and faithfulness towards his people, despite all the infidelities and crimes they had committed. Cyrus says to the Jews: The Lord, God of heaven, has handed me over all kingdoms of the earth. He commanded me to build him a temple in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Anyone of you who belongs to his people, may his God be with him as returns! In reality this story is only a foreshadowing of God’s greater generosity, which will manifest itself after the maximum infidelity of the Jews, that is, the death sentence of Jesus, the rejection of their Messiah: God will make him rise again. This resurrection is not a fact that concerns only Jesus, but also all of us. Paul tells us: God, rich in mercy, on account of the great love with which he loved us, revived us from the dead with Christ (…) With him he also resurrected us and made us sit in heaven, in Christ Jesus, to show the extraordinary richness of his grace through his goodness towards us in Christ Jesus. The Jesus’ resurrection is a much more important miracle of love than the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, of which the first reading speaks. Jesus had predicted to the Jews: Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will make it rise again (John 2,21). Jesus’ resurrection of Jesus is also a gift for all humanity. In fact, Jesus affirms in the Gospel: God so loved the world .... That is, God did not love only the Jewish people. The love of predilection enjoyed by the Jewish people was not an exclusive love, but a love destined to spread to all peoples and all nations of the earth. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. God gave us his Son by having him lifted up on the cross, but also by raising him up to himself, to the right of his majesty in heaven. Indeed, the cross is only the beginning of a movement of raising up, which continues with the resurrection and ascension of Jesus into heaven, and places our human nature close to God, for the benefit of all of us. Jesus says to Nicodemus:  As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so the Son of man must be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Here is a reference to the episode in which the Jews, while crossing the desert, because they had rebelled against God, were attacked by poisonous snakes. They cried out to the Lord for deliverance. God then gave orders to Moses to raise a bronze snake on a pole, saying that anyone who was bitten by poisonous snakes, if he looked at that snake with faith, would be healed (cfr., Num. 21,4-9). Jesus wanted to be that snake which, in a certain sense, is a symbol of sin and also the punishment for it. The cross is all this: it means sin and punishment for it. But with the strength of his love, Jesus, completely, changed its meaning: from an instrument of punishment for rebellious slaves to the manifestation of the greatest love. No one - Jesus says - has a greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends (John 15,13). The cross is the greatest manifestation of God's love: a love that comes from the heart of the Father, is welcomed with gratitude and generosity by the heart of the Son and spreads throughout the world. Jesus says: God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world may be saved through him. God does not want the sinner's death, but that he be converted and live (cfr., Ezekiel 33,11). All sinners are invited to trust in God's infinite mercy, which is manifested in Jesus' death on the cross. But God does not want to force the freedom on men. So, they can still act as the Jews did at the time of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, when they mocked God's messengers, scorned the word of God, and mocked the prophets. It is always possible to close the heart to the love that comes from God, to prefer darkness to light. Jesus says: Whoever does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, so that his works may not be revealed. However, God also desires that those who have done evil come to the light, so that they can welcome his infinite mercy and work in truth, that is, always walk in the direction of the light. We are invited to open our hearts more and more to God's infinite love, and his mercy full of delicacy and generosity. In the time of Lent, our joy consists of accepting God’s mercy more and more. In fact, it is not enough to receive forgiveness, but to receive the love of God throughout our existence. We must receive this love by living a life full of justice and charity, so that our life will become a testimony of the love that comes from God. +John I. Okoye

 (graphics  by  Charles O Chukwubike)