Sunday the 10th of March 2024 - The Fourth Sunday of Lent – Laetare Sunday

2 Chronicles 36:14-16,19-23/ Psalm 136(137)/ Ephesians 2:4-10/ John 3:14-21

Living on an Island we become quite aware of the sea and how it can be at once tumultuous and threatening but also soothing and calming. Walking close to the shore the surging of the sea can appear as a maelstrom crashing onto the rocks or beach. That same surging of the waves as the tides roll in and out is also soothing and reassuring.

At the centre of our faith is the cross, a sign of torture and death. It stands for the brutality of torture and unjustified punishment and yet amid all that horror is the calming reassurance we get from the image of our sacrificed Saviour. Like the sounds of the waves drawing us towards the shore, the sight of Jesus lifted up on the cross draws us ever closer to him, joining us with his mother Mary keeping vigil at the foot of this poignant symbol at the heart of our Christian faith.

It seems extraordinary that an image of abject failure and rejection should be the symbol of redemption. The cross is central to our faith because it is the sign of God’s unconditional and limitless love for us. God’s only son, Jesus, was sacrificed on the cross taking on the punishment of all sins to free us from them and to win redemption for all. A sign of ultimate love but still a cross, an instrument of suffering.

The world today has lost much of the meaning of sin and therefore does not recognise the need for redemption. Horrific things are portrayed as being good and pronounced as legally acceptable. The sense of wrongdoing and sinfulness is not encouraged substituted by a feeling of self-righteousness and legitimacy. Without looking closely at ourselves we risk not delving into those darker areas we would rather not consider, and we avoid those parts of our lives that nail Jesus to the cross. The season of Lent gives us the opportunity to look at the cross and consider how we contribute to the sinfulness that was taken on for us by Jesus.

The first reading is a description of how God’s chosen people had strayed from his care adding infidelity to infidelity, copying the shameful practices of the godless people around them defiling the sacred relationship they had with God. Messenger after messenger was sent but all were ignored, ridiculed, despised, and made fun of. The history of the chosen people is one of broken promises, new starts but continual failure, and infidelity to the truth. It is no different today. People continue to turn away from God, to ignore or despise the prophets of today, and in their self-reliance reject the need for the reconciliation held out to them by Jesus through the cross.

The second reading gives us great hope in the face of all the tumult we see around us. The way through it has been given to us freely by God by the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Our new eternal life has been won for us not by us. There is nothing we could do to contribute to our redemption, that is entirely obtained for us by Christ, but we are called to respond to this wonderful unconditional gift of life. In our gratefulness we look for an ever-closer relationship with Jesus by offering up our sinfulness, our own sufferings, and through prayer getting ever closer to him. We seek the death of sin on the cross leading to a new life in the resurrection. Society tries to avoid as much suffering as possible even to the point of offering death as a remedy. Our Christian faith gives meaning to the suffering we may have to endure in this life and without the suffering of Jesus on the cross our faith is pointless.

The Gospel brings the cross into focus as the central symbol of our faith. The crucified Christ on the cross is lifted up for all to see and is Lord of all and even in death, is the source of all life. God offered Jesus, his son, for the salvation of all. A free and unconditional gift, but a gift that can be accepted or rejected. We can choose to remain in the darkness of sin trying to hide our infidelity away from God and even ourselves, or we can come out into the light shining from Christ lifted high on the cross from where a positive, not a damning, verdict is proclaimed by Jesus the just judge of all. The cross, a victory of mercy over justice.

In light our good works emerge dispelling our sinfulness. In the dark evil takes hold and self-condemnation takes place. We pass sentence on ourselves because the work of Jesus is about salvation not condemnation. Light always embraces the truth not hiding anything. Jesus brings us out of a life of darkness, suffering, and sin, through the glory of the cross, into a life of light, happiness, and glory.

On this Laetare Sunday we are given a break from our lent observances as we look up and take a glimpse of the glory to come and can rejoice in the hope that the cross holds out for us.

God Bless, Brendan.