Gospel: Laetare Sunday

Today is the Fourth Sunday of Lent, and our Gospel reading will be lifted from the Gospel according to the report of St John (3:14-21).

[A]s Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.

For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

For God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world but so that through him the world might be saved.

No one who believes in him will be judged; but whoever does not believe is judged already, because that person does not believe in the Name of God's only Son.

And the judgment is this: though the light has come people have preferred darkness to the light because their deeds were evil.

And indeed, everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoid it, to prevent his actions from being shown up; but whoever does the truth comes out into the light, so that what he is doing may plainly appear as done in God.

The Fourth Sunday of Lent is sometimes referred to as Laetare Sunday. Laetare is a Latin word that means "rejoice." Traditionally, Sundays are named after the first word of the liturgy's opening antiphon. On this Sunday, the antiphon is taken from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (66:10-11). Laetare Sunday reminds us that even as we observe our Lenten sacrifices, we rejoice in the anticipation of the joy that will be ours at Easter.

Today's Gospel consists of two parts. The first part is the final sentence of Jesus' reply to Nicodemus, the Pharisee who approached Jesus at night. Nicodemus acknowledged Jesus as someone who had come from God and seemed to want to be a follower of Jesus. Jesus greeted Nicodemus with the observation that one must be born from above to see the Kingdom of God. The dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus that followed was about the meaning of this phrase. Nicodemus misunderstood Jesus in every point, but there was no animosity in the questions he posed at Jesus.

In the part of the conversation with Nicodemus in today's Gospel, Jesus referred to the incident reported in the Old Testament. When the Israelites grumbled against the Lord during their sojourn in the desert, God sent venomous serpents to punish them for their complaints. The Israelites repented and asked Moses to pray for them. The Lord heard Moses' prayer and instructed him to make a bronze serpent and mount it on a pole. All who had been bitten by a serpent and then looked upon the bronze serpent were cured. By recalling this story, Jesus alludes to the salvation that would be accomplished through his death and Resurrection.

The second part of today's Gospel is a theological reflection on Jesus' word to Nicodemus. The Gospel of St John is known for this kind of reflection offered within the narrative. The words of the Evangelist are in continuity with the words of the prologue to St John's Gospel. In these reflections, St John elaborates on a number of themes that are found in his Gospel: light and darkness, belief and unbelief, good and evil, salvation and condemnation.

In St John's reflection, we find an observation about human sinfulness. Jesus is the light that has come into the world, but people preferred the darkness. We wish to keep our sins hidden, even from God. Jesus has come into the world to reveal our sins so that they may be forgiven. This is the Good News; it is the reason for our rejoicing in this season of Lent and throughout our lives.

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