IV Sunday in Lent:[2015]: 2Chro 36:14-17, 19-23; Eph 2:4-10; Jn 3:14-21

IV Sunday in Lent:[2015]: 2Chro 36:14-17, 19-23; Eph 2:4-10; Jn 3:14-21

Introduction: In the first reading from the Second Book of Chronicles, we learn the compassion and patience of God.  God allowed Cyrus the Great, a pagan conqueror, to become the instrument of His mercy and salvation to His chosen people who were in exile in Babylon.  In the second reading, Paul tells us that God is so rich in mercy that He has granted us eternal salvation and eternal life as a free gift through Christ Jesus.  Today’s gospel has a parallel theme but on a much higher level.  Jesus, the Son of God, became the agent of God's salvation, not just for one sinful nation but for the sinfulness of the whole world.  Through John 3:16, the gospel teaches us that God expressed His love, mercy and compassion for us by giving His only Son for our salvation.

Exegesis: “God so loved the world…” (Jn 3:16). The core of Christianity is the experience of the love of God in the person of Jesus.  This is the experience of our salvation.  This is the meaning of being born from above – being born of water and the Spirit. Water is the symbol of the experience (as from Jn 4) and Spirit is God himself who offers that experience!  In the person of Jesus we are able to experience the truth that God loves us.  “God so loved the world that he gave his only son not to condemn the world but so that through him all might be saved.”  Belief in Jesus then is not an intellectual assent.  It is not a set of dogmas that we profess in the creed.  On the other hand, it is simply being open to the possibility that we can experience God in the person of Jesus.

This is the purpose of the Word of God; it is the function of this Sunday liturgy; it is the role of the church: to mediate the experience of the love of God in the person of Jesus.  This experience makes us realize that we are in the image of God.  This experience makes us realize we are the children of God.  This experience brings inner peace and lasting happiness. It provides the grounding for our purpose of life. This is salvation.  This truth, which is not an intellectual knowledge, but an inner experience, sheds light in our darkness.  And thus, the last sentence of today’s gospel becomes meaningful: “the person who lives by the truth comes out into the light” (Jn 3:21).  Nicodemus came to meet Jesus by night – in his darkness of doubt and thirst.  He goes back after the encounter, living in the light, because he has experienced the love of God made visible in Jesus.

Joke: The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray: "Take only ONE. God is watching."

Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples.

Practical Applications: Try to make an encounter with Jesus. Jesus is present in the holy Eucharist amidst us. We need to make attention to the co-living situation of Jesus among us. We come to the church for worldly things or activities like helping others and all that. Do we care about the presence of Jesus here in the church?

Introduction : Fourth Sunday in Lent

Message: God pardons and raises up those who have been unfaithful, those who have loved the darkness rather than the light.  For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son to deliver the world from exile.

Saints and Events in this Week: 17 – Seventeenth – Tuesday – Saint Patrick, Bishop; 18 – Eighteenth – Wednesday – Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop, Doctor of the Church; 19 – Ninteenth – Thursday – Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary;