03-14-2021, 11:26 AM
HALF-HEARTED COMMITMENT
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [2 CHR 36:14-16.19-23; EPH 2:4-10; JOHN 3:14-21]
We have just passed the half-way mark of the season of Lent. In the first half of Lent, the Church urged us to repent of our sins and strengthen our spiritual life through the three pillars of spiritual exercises, namely, prayer, fasting and almsgiving. The purpose of the spiritual exercises is not for the sake of self-discipline but to prepare ourselves to accept Jesus as the Lord of our lives. We are called to strengthen our commitment to the Lord.
The reality is that for many of us who are baptized, our faith in Christ is lackadaisical. We do not mind going to Church on Sundays, especially on special days or even observe the Church’s law on fasting and penance. Some even give generously to the Church or to the poor. Others are willing to offer some voluntary services to the Church. But that is as far as we are willing to commit ourselves to the Lord. We are not ready to stand up for the truth of the gospel. We will not defend the faith. Some would even hide their faith in public life for fear that they would look silly and naïve to believe in God. Not least, many would compromise their faith and beliefs so that they can be more accepted by society.
This was the case of Nicodemus in today’s gospel. We are all like Nicodemus. He was a good man. He was a Pharisee and a leader of the Jews, a member of the Sanhedrin. He was a teacher of the Jewish Faith. He knew all about the Torah and the Jewish religion. But something was missing in his life. He wanted to know God more. But he was afraid to be embarrassed or have his fellow Pharisees and Jews doubt his integrity, knowledge and fidelity to the Jewish Faith. There are those of us who want to find out more about Christ and the Faith, but for fear of losing our status and popularity, refrain from accepting Christ and the gospel, even though our hearts are empty and unfulfilled in spite of our many achievements in life.
So like Nicodemus, we come by night to find the Lord. Hiding his identity, he came to Jesus in the night. He knew that Jesus was a man from God. Nicodemus said to the Lord, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” (Jn 3:2) Jesus knew that he was looking for something more in his religious life. Jesus said to him, “no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” (Jn 3:3) Nicodemus was puzzled and he said, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.” (Jn 3:4f) The response of Nicodemus is, “How can these things be?” (Jn 3:9)
It is in this context that we can better appreciate today’s gospel text. The Spirit is given to us at His passion, death and resurrection, which is sacramentally mediated through the sacrament of baptism. In Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, Jesus will pour forth His Spirit on us all, fulfilling the prophecy of Joel. “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. (Joel 2:28; cf Isa 44:3; Acts 2:17) Through the Paschal Mystery, we are made alive once again in His Spirit. The prophet Ezekiel prophesied, “I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.” (Ez 36:25-27)
For this reason, to find strength to commit ourselves to the Lord, and for those catechumens still unsure of the love of Christ, we are called to contemplate on His passion, death and resurrection. It is from this paschal mystery, that we find strength, forgiveness and healing from our sins and wounds of life. In the gospel, the Lord spoke of Himself as fulfilling the Old Testament when Moses healed the people and forgave their sins by having them to look at the serpent affixed on the pole. Jesus said, “The Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.”
Indeed, we know that we are weak. We lack faith. We are sinners. We keep falling into sin. We dare not publicly proclaim our faith in Him because it is seen as politically inappropriate. We condemn ourselves because we know we are sinners and unworthy of Christ. For when we look at Christ, we are judged not so much by Him but by His light, truth and love. This is what the Lord said, “No one who believes in him will be condemned; but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already, because he has refused to believe in the name of God’s only Son. On these grounds is sentence pronounced: that though the light has come into the world, men have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil. And indeed, everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, for fear his actions should be exposed; but the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God.” Exposing ourselves to the light will give us true freedom and open us to His love.
Looking at the cross of our Lord, we will come to appreciate the love and mercy of God. St Paul wrote, “God loved us with so much love that he was generous with his mercy: when we were dead through our sins, he brought us to life with Christ – it is through grace that you have been saved – and raised us up with him and gave us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus.” We are called to trust in the grace of God, not on our own strength. When we are weak in our commitment to Him, we must all the more surrender our lives to Him. St Paul said that the Father’s sacrifice of His only Son is “to show for all ages to come, through his goodness towards us in Christ Jesus, how infinitely rich he is in grace. Because it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit. We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it.” We are a new creation in Christ. How is this possible? By receiving His Spirit, just as what the Lord told Nicodemus. This is what He meant by being born again in the Spirit.
Truly, the lifting up of Jesus refers not just to Jesus’ being lifted up on the cross at His passion but His exaltation at the resurrection when the Spirit was poured out into the world. At His passion, the Spirit was technically given to the Church, for we read, “When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (Jn 19:30) This moment fulfilled the comment that the evangelist made earlier when Jesus spoke at the Temple, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.'” St John remarked, “Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (Jn 7:37-39) And at the resurrection, the disciple received the full instalment of the Spirit when the Lord said to them, “‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.'” (Jn 20:21-23)
So today, as we celebrate Laetare Sunday, a Sunday of joyful expectation of Easter and the renewal of His Spirit given to us at our Baptism, we must be like the Israelites in the first reading, give praise to God, for in spite of our past sins and infidelities, God is going to give us a new lease of life. Just as He sent Cyrus the King of Persia to restore Israel, so too, God is sending His Spirit to arouse us to rebuild the New Temple of God in Christ Jesus. So let us in this second lap of the season of Lent, summon the exhortation of the Prophet and go up with the Lord to Jerusalem to celebrate His passion, death and resurrection.
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [2 CHR 36:14-16.19-23; EPH 2:4-10; JOHN 3:14-21]
We have just passed the half-way mark of the season of Lent. In the first half of Lent, the Church urged us to repent of our sins and strengthen our spiritual life through the three pillars of spiritual exercises, namely, prayer, fasting and almsgiving. The purpose of the spiritual exercises is not for the sake of self-discipline but to prepare ourselves to accept Jesus as the Lord of our lives. We are called to strengthen our commitment to the Lord.
The reality is that for many of us who are baptized, our faith in Christ is lackadaisical. We do not mind going to Church on Sundays, especially on special days or even observe the Church’s law on fasting and penance. Some even give generously to the Church or to the poor. Others are willing to offer some voluntary services to the Church. But that is as far as we are willing to commit ourselves to the Lord. We are not ready to stand up for the truth of the gospel. We will not defend the faith. Some would even hide their faith in public life for fear that they would look silly and naïve to believe in God. Not least, many would compromise their faith and beliefs so that they can be more accepted by society.
This was the case of Nicodemus in today’s gospel. We are all like Nicodemus. He was a good man. He was a Pharisee and a leader of the Jews, a member of the Sanhedrin. He was a teacher of the Jewish Faith. He knew all about the Torah and the Jewish religion. But something was missing in his life. He wanted to know God more. But he was afraid to be embarrassed or have his fellow Pharisees and Jews doubt his integrity, knowledge and fidelity to the Jewish Faith. There are those of us who want to find out more about Christ and the Faith, but for fear of losing our status and popularity, refrain from accepting Christ and the gospel, even though our hearts are empty and unfulfilled in spite of our many achievements in life.
So like Nicodemus, we come by night to find the Lord. Hiding his identity, he came to Jesus in the night. He knew that Jesus was a man from God. Nicodemus said to the Lord, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” (Jn 3:2) Jesus knew that he was looking for something more in his religious life. Jesus said to him, “no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” (Jn 3:3) Nicodemus was puzzled and he said, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.” (Jn 3:4f) The response of Nicodemus is, “How can these things be?” (Jn 3:9)
It is in this context that we can better appreciate today’s gospel text. The Spirit is given to us at His passion, death and resurrection, which is sacramentally mediated through the sacrament of baptism. In Christ’s passion, death and resurrection, Jesus will pour forth His Spirit on us all, fulfilling the prophecy of Joel. “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. (Joel 2:28; cf Isa 44:3; Acts 2:17) Through the Paschal Mystery, we are made alive once again in His Spirit. The prophet Ezekiel prophesied, “I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.” (Ez 36:25-27)
For this reason, to find strength to commit ourselves to the Lord, and for those catechumens still unsure of the love of Christ, we are called to contemplate on His passion, death and resurrection. It is from this paschal mystery, that we find strength, forgiveness and healing from our sins and wounds of life. In the gospel, the Lord spoke of Himself as fulfilling the Old Testament when Moses healed the people and forgave their sins by having them to look at the serpent affixed on the pole. Jesus said, “The Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.”
Indeed, we know that we are weak. We lack faith. We are sinners. We keep falling into sin. We dare not publicly proclaim our faith in Him because it is seen as politically inappropriate. We condemn ourselves because we know we are sinners and unworthy of Christ. For when we look at Christ, we are judged not so much by Him but by His light, truth and love. This is what the Lord said, “No one who believes in him will be condemned; but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already, because he has refused to believe in the name of God’s only Son. On these grounds is sentence pronounced: that though the light has come into the world, men have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil. And indeed, everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it, for fear his actions should be exposed; but the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God.” Exposing ourselves to the light will give us true freedom and open us to His love.
Looking at the cross of our Lord, we will come to appreciate the love and mercy of God. St Paul wrote, “God loved us with so much love that he was generous with his mercy: when we were dead through our sins, he brought us to life with Christ – it is through grace that you have been saved – and raised us up with him and gave us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus.” We are called to trust in the grace of God, not on our own strength. When we are weak in our commitment to Him, we must all the more surrender our lives to Him. St Paul said that the Father’s sacrifice of His only Son is “to show for all ages to come, through his goodness towards us in Christ Jesus, how infinitely rich he is in grace. Because it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit. We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it.” We are a new creation in Christ. How is this possible? By receiving His Spirit, just as what the Lord told Nicodemus. This is what He meant by being born again in the Spirit.
Truly, the lifting up of Jesus refers not just to Jesus’ being lifted up on the cross at His passion but His exaltation at the resurrection when the Spirit was poured out into the world. At His passion, the Spirit was technically given to the Church, for we read, “When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (Jn 19:30) This moment fulfilled the comment that the evangelist made earlier when Jesus spoke at the Temple, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.'” St John remarked, “Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (Jn 7:37-39) And at the resurrection, the disciple received the full instalment of the Spirit when the Lord said to them, “‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.'” (Jn 20:21-23)
So today, as we celebrate Laetare Sunday, a Sunday of joyful expectation of Easter and the renewal of His Spirit given to us at our Baptism, we must be like the Israelites in the first reading, give praise to God, for in spite of our past sins and infidelities, God is going to give us a new lease of life. Just as He sent Cyrus the King of Persia to restore Israel, so too, God is sending His Spirit to arouse us to rebuild the New Temple of God in Christ Jesus. So let us in this second lap of the season of Lent, summon the exhortation of the Prophet and go up with the Lord to Jerusalem to celebrate His passion, death and resurrection.