For him, the world is saved! the middle of Lent, here that is already shining the light of Easter. The Gospel shows us Christ in High Cross, raised in glory. The apostle reminds us that Passover was like we made at our baptism and first reading tells an important passage of the History of Israel's deportation Babylon and the return from exile. What they have in common? This passage from death to life!
Historically, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took Jerusalem in 587 BCE. Those who escaped the massacre were deported as slaves. Israel will have lost everything: its land, its temple, its institutions, its king. is what Psalm 136 says: "By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept (...) How can we sing a song of the Lord in a foreign land? " 70 years later, Cyrus took the figure of a savior. It allows a small group of Jewish return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. is the return from exile.
In the Gospel, Jesus also recalls another significant event in the history of Israel: the ordeal of snakes in the desert. The people who walked in the desert had no where to hide and snakes came to invade the camp. Those who died had been bitten until the day God asked Moses to make a bronze serpent. Anyone who watched the snake was healed.
For Jesus is merely a point of comparison: as the serpent was a sign Life after death sign, well, Jesus raised on the cross become a sign of life after being killed. Quite the mystery of death and resurrection that unfolds before our eyes. The cross tells us two things: first the violence of sin, and secondly, the boundless love of God.
What then is the way I look on the cross? A look of curiosity, pity or a look of faith and hope? He who contemplates a vision of faith understand that God loved the man to give his only begotten Son.
" It is by grace we are saved, "says St. Paul , but must still feel the need to be saved. We gladly said Christian, is said to believe in God, Jesus, perhaps even to the Church, but have we ever had the experience of salvation? We were immersed in God through baptism, does it change something in our lives?
(second homily)
Today's text is not easy to understand. It tells or an episode from the life of Jesus, or a parabola. It is rather a meditation on the cross .
The cross we often problematic. Saint Paul spoke last Sunday as a "scandal" and a "madness". It appears, in the eyes of the world as a failure. Jesus died on the cross! Besides, it necessarily refers to the suffering, which is scary!
But in the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks of the cross as an "ascent" as the instrument of "hello" or even as a "Glorification". Is that the cross, for believers and believers, reveals the face and heart of God, the God of Jesus Christ, a God who is love. Viewed in this light, the cross becomes the sign of a love that goes beyond everything.
In the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians we read, on this Fourth Sunday of Lent: "God is rich in mercy (...) he loved us with great love." Do we really believe? In general, we are rather skeptical ... it wants proof, evidence. It is rarely satisfied with a simple word and Jesus knows. That's why he uses concrete examples. To lend credibility to his word, Jesus refers to an event that happened long ago in the desert.
You probably know that episode of the "brazen serpent" : when crossing the desert, the Israelites doubted God's goodness, then, it sends serpents that invade the camp. All those who are bitten die until God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. Just look to the brazen serpent to be healed.
You see the link: in the mind of Jesus, when he will be "high" on the cross, simply look to him for salvation. As the brazen serpent was signs of life after death sign Similarly, Jesus 'high' on the cross become a sign of life.
The reversal is wonderful: Jesus crucified was not down forever in death, as one would expect, but it has never been "high". More importantly, it will become a source of life, and eternal life to all those who will their gaze on him. Not a look of curiosity or pity, but a look of faith. Of faith and love.
Here we are invited to fix our gaze on the Crucified and discern in him, in faith, that which his Father raised.
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