The Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year B)
Whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
-John 3:21
During the Season of Lent, we most often find ourselves reflecting on the themes of sin and the passion of Christ. While these are certainly elements of the theology of this often-misunderstood season, we should always be mindful that we do not lose sight of the fact that Lent is, first of all, a season during which we celebrate mercy. This mercy, Pope Francis observed in his Message for Lent 2015, “expresses God’s way of reaching out to the sinner, offering him a new chance to look at himself, convert and believe, thus restoring his relationship with him. In Jesus crucified, God shows his desire to draw near to sinners, however far they may have strayed from him.”
God’s choice of mercy is the theme that weaves together the Readings proclaimed on this Fourth Sunday of Lent.
The First Reading (taken from the Second Book of Chronicles) vividly describes how the callous contempt of God’s Chosen People unleashes God’s avenging anger. As Sister Diane Bergant, CSA, observes in Preaching the New Lectionary: Year B, “The demise of the monarchy, the collapse of the temple system of worship, and the deportation of the people were the inevitable consequences of this hardhearted obstinacy… What had been desecrated through the wickedness of the people was now purified through the inexorable fury of God’s wrath.” The Reading does not end here, however. Instead, we are left with a sense of hope and promise. Because, while the author of Second Chronicles is clear in naming the reasons for the destruction of the temple and the deportation of the people of Judah, no reasons are given for its rebuilding and return. It is simply because of God’s gracious gift of mercy that the people are allowed to return home.
“Whoever seeks the truth, that is, who practices what is good, comes to the light, illuminates the paths of life. Whoever walks in the light, whoever approaches the light, cannot but do good works. The light leads us to do good works. This is what we are called to do with greater dedication during Lent: to welcome the light into our conscience, to open our hearts to God’s infinite love, to his mercy full of tenderness and goodness, to his forgiveness. Do not forget that God always forgives, always, if we humbly ask for forgiveness. It is enough just to ask for forgiveness, and he forgives. In this way we will find true joy and will be able to rejoice in God’s forgiveness, which regenerates and gives life.”
-Pope Francis, Angelus Address (March 14, 2021); Image: “Entretien de Jésus et de Nicodème” by James Tissot (1886-1894)
In the Second Reading, the author of the Letter to the Ephesians provides a striking image of God’s mercy, declaring:
God, who is rich in mercy,
because of the great love he had for us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions,
brought us to life with Christ — by grace you have been saved —,
raised us up with him,
and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-6)
Despite our inadequacy (including the fact that we are not able to save ourselves simply through righteous acts), God’s gracious gift to us of life in Christ expresses God’s choice of mercy which, at the same time, ultimately empowers us to live into that gift of life.
Finally, in the Gospel proclaimed this Sunday, we hear some of the most popular words contained in the New Testament, as Jesus and Nicodemus discuss what it means to be “born again” (see John 3:4). In this moving passage, we discover that God’s love for the world is so deep and so expansive that God spares nothing for the sake of its salvation, including God’s own Son. Here, again, God freely chooses mercy, “so that everyone who believes in him might not perish / but might have eternal life” (John 3:16).
The reality of God’s mercy is the cause for our joy on this Laetare Sunday, during which the Church gives us a very clear mandate in the Entrance Antiphon assigned for this Sunday:
Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her.
Be joyful, all who were in mourning;
exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast.
God’s mercy most perfectly expresses itself in God’s desire to bring us to life in Christ, even when we were dead to sin and had wandered far away. We are able to rejoice in this gift because it is God who chose—and continues to choose—mercy. Returning, once more, to Sister Diane Bergant, we read:
The mercy of God flowers in various and significant ways… God raised the eyes of the people in the wilderness so they might be healed, raised the nation from exile so it might be restored, raised Jesus from the dead so he might be Savior to us all. We too have been raised up so we might live in truth and become the visible sign of God’s mercy in the world. We have been made a new people, free from the restraints of the past. Joined with Christ we become God’s handiwork, creations that bear the seal of the great Creator. We are the very sacrament of God’s mercy. The forgiveness we have experienced and the new life within us shine forth as witness to the mercy of God.
O God, who through your Word
reconcile the human race to yourself in a wonderful way,
grant, we pray,
that with prompt devotion and eager faith
the Christian people may hasten
toward the solemn celebrations to come.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Lent
