Fourth Sunday of Lent

Fr Dominic’s Homily

Today is Laetare Sunday. Rejoice Sunday. Joy is its theme because we are halfway through Lent and so very close to the joy of Easter. That's why we wear rose-coloured chasubles today.

We hear today that Jesus explains to Nicodemus that the "Son of Man" must be "lifted up" to bring God's forgiveness and healing to the world.

Now Nicodemus was a leader of the Jews. He was a man of good standing. He knows that Jesus is a holy man, but he can't quite understand why or how.

John's Gospel is all about light and darkness. In other words, the spiritual battle between good and evil. Nicodemus is just starting to reach the light...

Jesus explains to Nicodemus that he will be "lifted up" just as Moses lifted a serpent on a pole in the desert so that those who had been bitten by snakes who then looked upon it would be saved.

Jesus points to this sign which Moses performed in the wilderness after the people of Israel were rebelling. They were complaining because Moses had led them out into the desert where the food wasn't as good as that they had been used to in Egypt when they were in slavery.

So, God brings them Manna from heaven followed by Fresh water from the rock and then quails. But the people complained so God allowed them to encounter fiery serpents. The real translation is actually demonic forces.

Jesus is giving Nicodemus a crash course in theology in one night to bring him out of his darkness of ignorance into the light of understanding. He is carefully trying to explain to him by using analogies that he would understand from his Jewish learning.

The bronze serpent which Moses lifted up in the wilderness points to the cross of Christ. Jesus too was to be lifted up but on a cross. In the same way those who looked upon the cross and believed would be saved from death caused by the fiery serpents of sin.

Now you might ask why on earth God decided on this particular plan in order to forgive us for our sins. Why couldn't he just decide to forgive us and then tell us when he had done that? After all he is God. He makes the rules. It would save a lot of suffering and bloodshed.

The point is that what do we see when we look at the cross? We see what we are capable of. We see our sin: Our ignorance, resistance, hatred, stupidity, violence, cruelty and selfishness. Everything that we are capable of. The creator oflife comes into the world and what do we do? We kill him.

But what else do we see? We see the incredible mercy and forgiveness of God in how he accepts all our worst sin and then responds in pure love.

As humans when we see the reality of who we are and what we are capable of and how much God has forgiven us our hearts are moved to love him in return. From all eternity God knew this was the perfect way to demonstrate his love for us in a manner that we could freely respond to

"For God so loved the world that he sent his only son so that everyone

who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life."

When we look upon the cross, we see and confront the fiery serpents of our own sinfulness but at the same time if we truly believe and trust in Jesus any complacency in our hearts can be melted away.

So, maybe we should ask what keeps us from truly believing in Christ. Maybe we pick and choose what we want to believe in our faith.

God's love is a redemptive love that embraces the whole world, as well as a personal love. Saint Augustine says, "God loves each one of us as if there were only one of us to love."

He is a loving Father who cannot rest until his children, who are wandering in the wilderness, have returned home to him. But God always gives us the freedom to choose who and what we want to love in this world.

If we are guided by what is true, good, and beautiful then we will choose for God and trust him completely.