4th Sunday of Lent B - Homily 5

Homily 5 - 2021

I find today’s Second Reading from St Paul, and today’s Gospel passage from St John, so wonderful that, instead of giving a homily, I simply want to read them again, slowly and thoughtfully, to give myself and you an opportunity to let their message sink in deeply to our hearts.

I shall start with the Gospel reading from St John. You are familiar with John’s technique: He starts with an incident from Jesus’ life; he then has Jesus engage in conversation with one of the characters in the incident; sometimes has Jesus dialogue cryptically with the character; and then finishes with a longer reflection for the benefit mainly of the Gospel’s readers.

Today’s passage starts with Jesus speaking to Nicodemus:

The Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. We shall come back to this in a moment... The passage immediately moves into the reflection for the benefit of the readers [That is us!]. Yes, God loved the world so much... The “world” as it was then, and as it is now - this sinful world that we live in...that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life... “Eternal life” is more than mere immortality — life without end. In John’s Gospel eternal life is our human sharing in God’s life. And when “believing” is mentioned, it means trusting — our trusting in the person and message of Jesus, our entrusting ourselves to Jesus.

For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved. God thinks big: God intends to save this "world". No one who believes in him will be condemned: God also thinks in terms of individuals... but those who refuse to believe are condemned already, because they have refused to believe in the name of God’s only Son... Holding back from trusting Jesus and from his way of love is the opposite of eternal life — as is only too clear from the mess we make of our world. The choice is ours, certainly not God’s choice. But can we keep it up in eternity? Who knows.

It was Jesus’ determined choice to love the world, to love us, to the bitter end, even to tortured crucifixion, that gives us the motivation to trust him and his way. At the same time it demonstrates the possibilities of human love. Which brings us back to where the passage started: The Son of Man must be lifted up … [the reference is to the cross] as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.

It is wonderful now to listen to what Paul made of God’s love, and particularly of its sheer gratuity... 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 has already happened. We need no longer be among the “walking dead”. Somehow we live with the human life of the risen Christ, Jesus... it is through grace that you have been saved — Grace is simply the gracious God loving us gratuitously... and raised us up with him and gave us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus.

“Heaven” is the experience of personal relationship with God and with all the redeemed — as we are drawn into deep relationship with the risen human Jesus...
This was to show for all ages to come, through his goodness towards us in Christ Jesus, how infinitely rich he is in grace. Because it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; As mentioned earlier, faith is simply our entrusting ourselves into the personal relationship that Jesus offers us, and saying “yes” to his way of chosen, deliberate love... not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit. We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it.

What a way to finish! You are, I am, each of us is, a work of art — “God’s work of art”. If only we would take time to allow the truth, the wonder, to sink in.