1.2.Chronicles
36:14-17,19-23
|
2.Ephesians
2: 4-10
|
3. John3:14-21
|
THEME OF READINGS “ Rejoicing in God’s love”
As we celebrate the
fourth Sunday of lent Year B, the words of entrance hymn give us hope and
courage as the words read “rejoice
Jerusalem, be glad for her, you who love her; rejoice with her you who mourn
for her”( Isaiah 66:10-11). We can put this question across that why our
mother Church invites us to rejoice in the middle of Lenten (penitential
season?) this can be illustrated by the example of a man whose job was printing
papers in printing press factory. A man had a little daughter called Alice, it
happened one day that Alice went with her father in a printing factory, and in
the course of going around the factory Alice picked a piece of paper having one
line of print and it was written “God
loved the World so much that he gave his only son....”thus Alice hold the
paper and kept the idea of loving God in her mind, from that moment Alice had
smiling face radiated with joy also. Getting back home her mother noticed a
smiling face and joy in Alice, therefore her mother asked what made her to be
smiling? Alice in responding to her mother’s question showed her the piece of
paper with printed line. So her mother looked at that piece of printed paper
and said “what did God give?” “I don’t know” said Alice, “ but if God loved us
well enough to give us something, then we need not be so afraid of Him” in this
context God is giving an assurance of to Israelites who had been in despair as
all Jesus events of salvation was to take place in Jerusalem.
We can put this
question before us that what does it mean to say that God loved us? To
understand what the bible means by God’s love? First and foremost we have a
need to understand a Greek connotation of the word ‘love’ in Greek
understanding of the word Love we have the following terms, 1.Eros meaning
romantic love, for example the love between a man and a woman that leads to
marriage, 2.Philia, meaning fellowship
love, for example a football fellowship/ material attractions that made people
of the same feelings attractions to form a common fellowship towards things,
3.Agape ( sacrificial love) for example this is a love that makes a mother to
risk her life for her yet unborn child. In romantic love we tend to receive,
and in fellowship love we long to give and take (reciprocal love) but in agape
love we long to give without looking back an advantage. We can ask this
question to ourselves that what kind of love God has for us. The answer is obvious;
that the love God has for us is the sacrificial love. He gives and forgives and
thus He is agape.
In the second reading
St. Paul states that “we are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live
the good life.” (Eph 2:10). This verse reminds me the story of grimy painting
that hung for many years on the wall of dining room of one of religious community;
it stayed there for long time without being noticed its significance and
everybody passed by without noticing something. As time went on some experts investigated
that grimy painting and noticed some important values in it, and that which was
noticed was the painting work of great Caravaggio of Rome, it was the painting
of the arrest of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. All the time it hung in the
dining room its great value was not yet established, it hung there waiting
somebody to recognize its true worthy, its value as the work of art. Thus in
the second reading when St Paul says that we are God’s work of art created in
Christ, like that painting we can at
times go unnoticed as the work of art. Self consciousness is very much needed
on our part more especially in our relationship with God our creator. In this
context we are all invited to value our own dignity and the dignity of the rest
mankind. God our creator knows our true worth. The image and work of God is
revealed to each one of us. Thus we can think of other people as works of art
also. We are invited to value other people as God’s treasure. God created us to
be a treasure to each other in the church and outside the church (society). In
treasuring other people to be of great value we don’t need to count costs on
what we do to them regardless of their great demands on us we simply love them
the way they are. Our personal experience with others in a community reflects
also how God loves us also. God gave his only begotten son because of His love
for us all. Thus we are of such in God’s eyes.
The gospel reading
brings us also the notion of light. Jesus in the gospel scenario is portrayed
as the light. The gospel according to St. John the evangelist declares that “light
has come into the world through Jesus.” ( Jn3:19). What’s that light? This is
the light of love. In that light of love that Jesus brings to us from God we
find the light of mercy, great love, generosity, kindness, forgiveness and
infinite grace. The light being spoken is the light that is able to lift us
from darkness, the light that enables us to recognize the art of God’s creation
in us and in others. It is the light that shines in us regardless of what we
have done and what we have failed to do.
We all long to move out
of darkness, to move from darkness we dare to have light. As Christians we all
have experienced darkness in different forms, example in one way or another we
have experienced the darkness of despair, sickness, lose of our beloved ones,
unemployment, family problems etc. Such kind of expression finds its echo in
the responsorial psalm “By the rivers of Babylon there we sat and wept
remembering Zion” (Psalm 137:1). Like Israelites exile, our own exile is when
we feel being cut from what gives meaning and purpose to our lives. We should
not be cut off by challenges of life (spiritual and material challenges) but we
should welcome the light of Christ that is the light of love and endurance to
shine in our lives. The God gave us the gift of light freely, thus it is our
own freedom to accept that light. To accept the light of Christ is the very
gradual process, the lord is prepared waiting us, he waits our free response to
that light. As we celebrate the 4th Sunday of lent let us keep on
enduring in the love of Christ through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
0 Response to "HOMILY FOR THE 4th SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR B"
Chapisha Maoni