Reflection on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, March 14, 2021. Year B
Readings
Theme: Deliverance Through the Cross
Only the exodus from Egypt was more strongly emblazoned on the Israelite psyche than the return to Jerusalem after the exile. The chronicler retells this latter story of deliverance today. Christ in John’s gospel speaks of another deliverance, the one made possible through his own being “lifted up” on the cross. The passage from Ephesians is a forceful reminder that deliverance is due entirely to God’s love. We are favored and did nothing to merit it.
First Reading — 2 Chr 36:14–17, 19–23
The two books of Chronicles were written about 400 B.C. They betray strong cultic and priestly interests with the monarchy viewed against that background. Chronicles’ moral teaching is clear: If Israel is to have any future, it must learn from the mistakes of the past. It is in this light that history is recounted.
The tragedy of the exile was due to the sins of the collective Israel — royalty, clergy, and people — with special mention made of cultic violations. Yahweh’s admonitions were not wanting, conveyed through the prophets and other agents (Jer 7:25f), but they were spurned. Divine retribution was brought to bear in Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion of Jerusalem in the early sixth century, with the slaughter and deportation of much of the population (vv 17, 19f). With a distinctly theological reading of history, the chronicler sees the anger of Yahweh as the immediate cause of the nation’s tragedy (v 16). Lost sabbaths (v 21): The period of exile would result in the non-cultivation and over-growth of the land to compensate for unobserved sabbaths and sabbatical years (Lev 25:4). In fulfillment of Jeremiah’s word, this is to last seventy years (Jer 25:12), until the rise of the Persian emperor Cyrus.
When the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were detached from their original unity with Chronicles, the beginning of Ezra (1:1–3) became also the conclusion of Chronicles (vv 22f), lending a positive note to the end of the book. Cyrus, having conquered Babylon, orders the restoration of Judah, the return of its citizens, and the rebuilding of the temple. His presentation as a believing Yahwist (v 23) is an over-statement but theologically in tune with the expanding post-exilic vision which viewed Yahweh’s relationship to other people and nations more broadly than in the past. Cyrus is consistently viewed in a very positive light (Is 44:28; 45:1).
Responsorial Psalm — Ps 137
Stressing the sorrowful lot of an Israelite deportee during the exile, this lament was probably composed shortly after the exile’s end. The streams of Babylon (v 1) were irrigation canals stemming from the Tigris and Euphrates. The psalm reflects more than nostalgia for temple and homeland. It finds its roots in the very concrete juncture of land, worship, and God. Yahweh had gifted the people with the land, and only there was legitimate worship possible. The taunting of their Babylonian captors is then sacrilegious (v 3).
To compromise authentic worship by transferring it to a foreign country would be to neglect the importance of Jerusalem (vv 4f). The psalmist goes so far as to invoke punishment on himself if he should ever be unmindful.
A broader outlook will arise in the post-exilic period, already seen in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, wherein Yahweh’s presence and guidance in a foreign culture will be admitted. The present psalm remains a strong expression of the traditional mindset.
Second Reading — Eph 2:4–10
The salvific plan of deliverance as pre-designed by God is here set forth in Pauline and some post-Pauline terms. Salvation is wholly due to God’s mercy and unconditional love (v 4). It involves three steps, presented here as already realized: 1) transition from the death of sin to new life, 2) resurrection, and 3) exaltation (vv 5f). The Christian relives the phases that Christ himself experienced and is ultimately joined with him (1:20). This form of a totally realized eschatology, including exaltation, is not customary in Paul’s thought; even here it is modified by the subsequent reference to what remains to take place in the age to come (v 7).
This action of God’s grace is completely gratuitous and in no way due to personal achievement. The works (v 9) are not explicitly the works of the law but remain unqualified. One does not come to justice through works, but works after justice are not excluded, in fact are pre-ordained (v 10). This distinction of the two types of “works” may be intended to clarify earlier Pauline thought. What is certainly Pauline in the passage is the unity of the Christian with Christ in the process of salvation, as well as the gift that salvation is.
Third Reading — Jn 3:14–21
This passage from John stresses the centrality of the cross in God’s plan of deliverance. The bronze serpent “lifted up” by Moses on a pole in the desert brought deliverance from the plague of snakes to those who looked on it (Num 21:6–9). In Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, this becomes a type of the crucifixion. Jesus on the cross is revealed as the divine “I AM” (8:28); acceptance of his claim means salvation. In the Johannine presentation, the various moments of the salvific act are joined together. Christ on the cross is already revealed as Lord and is the source of life.
Jesus here looks at salvation from its two sides, that of God (vv 16f) and that of humans (vv 18f). It was love alone that launched this divine initiative. The measure of that love is gleaned from the form it took. He gave his only son (v 16): The “handing over” (Gr: edoken) and the “only son” echo Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac. God is willing to offer his Son to bring the world to salvation. The idea of God’s sending his Son with a sentence of condemnation is excluded (v 17). The only motive for God’s acting is universal salvation. Notice that John’s eschatology is realized. Belief and eternal life are contemporaneous (v 15) as are non-acceptance and condemnation (v 18). The various stages are not considered.
Jesus then takes up the human aspect of salvation. If Jesus is not the judge, how then does sentencing take place? Jesus is the occasion, not the cause. Faced with the options of acceptance or rejection of Christ, the world encounters the dualistic light and darkness (vv 18f). In accepting light, good works emerge and are totally visible (v 21). A positive verdict is already passed. In preferring to stay in darkness where evil works remain invisible, self-condemnation takes place (vv 19f; 1:10ff). So it is individuals who pass sentence on themselves, not Christ whose work remains solely salvific.
To accept the light is to embrace the truth; it is to appropriate the crucified and risen Christ with the commitment that faith entails. Eternal life has begun.
There is a strong sense of movement in today’s readings. The edict of Cyrus moved the Jews out of Babylon through the desert to their homeland. In John’s gospel, Jesus moves from his life to glory via the cross. In fact the cross in John captures both moments, suffering and victory. When the Second Vatican Council spoke of the church as the people of God, that same sense of motion was conveyed. Our life in God is not fixed or static; it moves us through hills and valleys over a terrain that holds many unknowns. The journey is one of growth, grappling with faith, seeking answers to unresolved questions. Life today is not what it was in our parents’ time. This is true of our life in the church as well. There are constants, of course. It is the same Christ yesterday, today and forever. However, there has been enough change to prove disquieting to some and exhilarating to others. But we are all a little less secure and a little more a pilgrim people. Yet that is what faith is all about — holding on tenaciously when the path gets difficult to find.
The cross is central in today’s liturgy. It is the great sign of God’s love. But it is still a cross. Today society wants as little of the cross as possible. Suffering is meaningless. Sacrifice is a word seldom heard. Christianity without the cross is a half truth at best. As we share the joy of an eternal life already begun, we have to integrate our crosses into our life of faith. This is the only way to follow the One who has gone before us.
