Sunday Reading Reflections:

Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year B
Sunday, March 22, 2009

First Reading: 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23

This passage provides a brief moralising summary of Israel's infidelity. Their sufferings are interpreted as God's punishment for their sins. The Chaldeans and Persians, enemies of Israel, are depicted as God's agents in the process of teaching Israel how to be God's people.

Second Reading: Ephesians 2:4-10

In this little extract from the letter to the Ephesians, the author reminds the community of the extraordinary gift they have received of God's boundless love and outpouring of mercy. Just as God has raised Jesus to life, so also those who are 'in Christ' already share in that same life. As 'God's work of art', they are to live in a way that reflects the grace they have received.

The Holy Gospel According to St. John 3:14-21:

The gospel for today features a number of typically Johannine themes: life, eternal life, believing, seeing, God's love, salvation, judgment, light, darkness, the world.

John loves to play on words. We need to keep asking: how is this word or expression to be understood in this particular context? In John's gospel, the characters often misunderstand and this gives Jesus the opportunity to lead his hearers to a deeper or different understanding of his words.

As 21st century readers or hearers, we operate out of a symbol system that belongs to a different time and place, hence the need to explore the traditions informing the stories.

The first two verses of today's reading evoke the ancient Israelite tradition of the bronze serpent (Numbers 21:5-9). According to the story, the Israelites are unhappy with their lot in the desert. They complain about the food or lack thereof and blame both God and Moses. Their situation worsens with the outbreak of a plague of poisonous snakes whose bite has killed no small number of them. The people interpret the plague as punishment for their sin of speaking against God. They ask Moses to intercede with God. God instructs Moses to make an image of a fiery serpent and set it on a pole: anyone affected by snakebite has only to look upon the image to find life and healing.

And so it happens: the bronze serpent is lifted up and those who 'see' or 'look upon it' find life.

Life and death, seeing and believing in God's love and mercy are at the heart of this story. The gospel writer taps into the collective memory of the emerging Christian community: just as the serpent was lifted up and the people found life, so will Jesus be lifted up and those who believe will find life. In John's gospel, seeing is often equated with believing and believing leads to 'life'.

The bottom line is God's love for the world, the whole cosmos, and God's compassion and mercy, despite the tendency of humans to mess things up.

by: Sr. Veronica Lawson RSM (East Ballarat)