Gospel John 3:14-21
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world,
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light,
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
Reflection by Brother Benedict Oliver FSC
“Rejoice!” we are told in the entrance antiphon for today’s liturgy. The disciplines of Lent will soon end, and we believers will again celebrate Jesus’ return to life. Frankly, I usually feel a pang of guilt on “Rejoice” Sunday in Lent. I know that, again, I’ve done too little good and conquered too few failings to deserve rejoicing. But, like the Jews exiled in Babylon, we are being called to rejoice in God’s activity, not ours. As the Lord ultimately freed the captives by inspiring King Cyrus to allow them to return to Jerusalem, so the Lord extends His boundless mercy to us, offering us forgiveness through the Sacraments of Penance and Eucharist. Rejoicing is the proper response.
Today’s reading from St. John’s Gospel shows Nicodemus receiving directly from Jesus the prophesy of His resurrection. This, Jesus says, will be more salvific than was Moses’s lifting the serpent in the desert for the Jews he was leading from Egyptian captivity. But this encounter with Jesus wasn’t enough to elicit from Nicodemus an open profession of faith and a commitment to “leave all” and follow Jesus.
We Lasallians make several, and most of us have made many, professions of faith and commitment, and, like Nicodemus, are engaged in what we’re confident is the Lord’s work. Like Nicodemus, however, are we also hesitant about a deeper commitment? How do we respond to calls from Brother Superior and his Council, from Institute and District Chapters, from our local Community and our current ministry? Nicodemus apparently felt that he had good reasons for withholding total commitment to Jesus. What can we say about the depth of ours?
In today’s second reading St. Paul reminds us that we are “created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.” Lasallians worldwide are making us proud of their good works, often sharing their gifts in challenging, dangerous situations. Let us honor their generous commitments by deepening our own. But always we may truly rejoice, for we “have been saved through faith, . . . the gift of God.”