4th Sunday of Lent, Year B. John 3.14-21
What an amazing set of readings we have on this fourth Sunday of Lent. It is known as Laetare Sunday ….. the second of the two times in the year that you will have to imagine that our vestments are pink …… because it is about Joy ! Now some may say it is about Joy because it means that we are half way through our lenten observances and soon will be able to eat chocolate again. But it is a little deeper than that – and the hints are all in the readings that we have today.
So let’s take a quick look at the Gospel, where we come into the tail end of a conversation that Nicodemus was having with Jesus. You might remember Nicodemus ….. he a leader of the Jews, a member of the Sanhedrin, and a teacher of the faith. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the reign of God without being born from above.”
Then poor Nick got absolutely lost with this “born again” concept. Thought he had to climb back into his mother’s womb. Couldn’t understand what Jesus was saying. Jesus even gave him some very human examples, but Nick still didn’t get it. Jesus then says ….. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?
And the conversation we hear today occurs just after Jesus is trying to get Nick to see things differently. To see a much bigger picture. To see God and creation with a much broader perspective. And so, Jesus says to him those words we all know so well …. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” If there was a tag-line, or to use today’s language .… a “Brand” of God ….. it would be that verse. John 3.16
The Gospel goes on to say that Jesus does not come to us to condemn us but to save us by his own life and love. This is no angry God nor a God who would ever break covenants. God knows our true worth, as we have heard through the inspired words of Isaiah says, “You are precious in my sight, and I love you.” If you and I know ourselves as precious in God’s sight, it gives foundation to our hope. It becomes for us a source of Joy.
Take a moment right now to think of someone who is precious in your sight. Someone whom you value, whom you treasure, whose worth to you is beyond price. Do you have them in mind?
When someone is precious to us, we will do anything we can for them. We will travel a distance to see them; we will stay up half the night with them if they are ill; we will defend and protect them as best we can. We keep faithful to them, even at cost to ourselves. We value them, simply, for who they are. And you would do all of that, and more, for the person you are thinking of in your mind …. Am I right?
Our experience of loving others gives us a glimpse of how the Lord relates to us. God loves us in a way that does not count the cost. The gospel says it wonderfully: We are so valued that God did not spare God’s own Son, but gave him up to save us all. Or as St. Paul puts it , “God so loved us that God was generous with mercy.” Generous with God’s rachamim ….God’s tender compassion, like a mother has for the child of their womb. A mercy that knows no limits, not even death itself. Is it any wonder that the cross became Christianity’s dominant symbol. It is not that we glorify suffering, but that we recognize in the cross just how far God is prepared to go for love of us.
What an incredible vision of God that is. And perhaps that is a hint at how you and I can spend this second half of our Lent this year. Like Nicodemus, you and I won’t even begin to nibble around the edges of understanding God’s love unless we can see differently. To look beyond the physical. To see beyond the apparent. To transform the way we experience the world. It’s like being born again, but in a different realm. A different existence. A different understanding of life. A different understanding of God
In the quiet moments of this time of Lent, God is calling us to discover all that God created us to be.
God calls each of us to become truly ourselves— not the self we have imagined or fantasized about, not the self that our friends want us to be, not the self our ego would have us be, not the self that our inner voice of fear tells us we are, but the self God has ordained us to be from before we were in our mother’s womb.
For as Paul said in our second reading today, “For we are what God has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
In the next 21 days that separate us from Easter Sunday, perhaps we can spend some time each day reflecting on just what it means to know that the God who created the universe, loves each and every one of us individually. Knows us. Connects with us. And inspires us to share God’s love with all that we encounter …….
Take time each and every day to ask God to become more revealed to you, and to become more revealed in your actions. Let the theme of Love, of Mercy, of Tender Compassion to those you encounter, become like a tune that keeps running through your mind. Make an effort each and every day to be more loving, more merciful, and to show tender compassion to others. Then take time to ask God what God is revealing to you in the experience. Like Nicodemus, take your image of God out of the box that you put God into. And while you are at it, take yourself out of the box that limits your experience of God. For you are indeed precious in God’s sight.