Nobody Loves Us as God Does - No Mercy is Greater than God's Mercy: Fourth Sunday of Lent (B)

Laetare Jerusalem: et conventum facite omnes qui diligitis eam: gaudete cum laetitia, qui in tristitia fuistis: ut exsultetis, et satiemini ab uberibus consolationis vestrae! (Isaiah 66:10-11)

Today is Laetare Sunday! 

Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in mourning; exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast!

We rejoice today because God is so merciful to us - as He loves us immeasurably. Nobody loves us as God does, and no mercy is greater than the mercy of God! And this is reflected in today's Scripture Readings.

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There is a chronological flow in today’s Scripture Readings, from the First Reading, Responsorial Psalm, Second Reading, and the Gospel Reading.

The First Reading (2 Chronicles 36:14-16,19-23) in its first part (vv. 14-16, 19-20) recalls how the Israelites had offended God and wasted His mercy for so long, as they were obstinately going on their ways rather than listening to God. Out of His mercy, rather than striking these sinful Israelites, God sent many prophets in the hope that the Israelites would listen to Him through the prophets and turn away from their sinful ways and return to Him. But, they did not listen. They mocked God’s messengers, instead. So, this resulted in God’s anger.

As a result of this, the Babylonian army came to destroy Jerusalem and its Temple. This was warned by the prophets that God had sent. But, because they never listened to God’s warning faithfully conveyed by the prophets, their refusal to the Word of God resulted in the Babylonian seize of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple – abomination and desolation.

Many were killed in Jerusalem, and those who survived were taken away to Babylon.

The Responsorial Psalm (137:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6), lamenting the great loss of Jerusalem, reflects the 70 years of mourning, having lost Jerusalem and the Temple, because they did not heed to God and repented their sins. Though God tried to save them by sending warnings through prophets, the Israelites had ignored the message and persecuted the prophets. Now they lament and mourn. They feel remorse.

As they were in the state of deep grief, they cried in this Psalm: How can we play music and sing songs as we used to do in joy when we were in Jerusalem! We miss Jerusalem! How can we sing in the land of the captors? But we never forget our Jerusalem! If we did, let our tongs stick to palates, so let us be silent.

The silence of the Israelites in the Babylonian exile reflects their mourning of the loss of Jerusalem and the Temple. But, most importantly, their loss of the connection with God.

After all these warnings sent by God through numerous prophets, the Israelites finally woke up to their need of God!

Now, as said in 2 Chronicles 36:21, the 70 years of the Babylonian exile was not just a consequence of the Israelites repetitive sinfulness and failure to heed to God’s message of mercy but, as prophesized by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:1-40), it was to end with a new hope of return to Jerusalem.

So, the second part of the First Reading, 2 Chronicles 36:22-23, recalls that the Israelites were allowed to return to Jerusalem as the Persian Empire overtook the Babylonian Empire, fulfilling Jeremiah 31.

God did not condemn the Israelites. The 70 years of the Babylonian exile served as a critical period for the sinful Israelites to come to the reality – to wake up to their need of repentance. And, they lamented and cried out to God.

Just as He heard the cries of the Israelites in slavery in Egypt and delivered them into freedom through Passover and crossing the Red Sea, electing Moses to shepherd the Exodus, God, once again, heard their cries in Babylon and delivered them out of the exile back to Jerusalem, led by Ezra. Thus, God gave the Israelites another new start – the post-exilic start in Jerusalem – to rebuild the ruined city and the Temple. And, this is because God is immeasurably merciful to His beloved people, though they, the Israelites, had offended Him so greatly through their unrepentant sins for so long.

The great mercy of God is well-reflected in the Second Reading today in Paul’s words (Ephesians 2:4-10). And it is through this mercy of God that we have received Christ, incarnated in the human flesh of Jesus to be among us. So, Paul juxtaposes mercy and grace here.

Christ, who is grace of God’s mercy is the one, for whose public appearance that John the Baptist, the very last prophet in the Old Covenant, prepared.

Just as they slipped into sins and drifted away from God even though being delivered from the slavery in Egypt, during the pre-exilic years, the Israelites fell back to sins during the post-exilic years. Again, they ignored God’s warnings and persecuted prophets. So, they had live without a prophet for more than 400 years after Malachi.  This tells that the Israelites forgot their own lamentation in Babylon, reflected in Psalm 137, during the post-exilic years in Jerusalem. So, they were, once again, head to the collision course of losing Jerusalem. And, in fact, they lost not only Jerusalem but their nation completely to the Romans. They had no nation for more than 1900 years since 70 AD until 1948.

But, the Second Reading (Ephesians 2:4-10) really refreshes our salvific hope, even though the Israelites failed and failed, and so did we, to observe God’s commandments and fell back to sins repeatedly.

Had God not be so merciful, together with the Israelites, we all could have been totally condemned by now!

Because He is immeasurably merciful, instead of having us perished, God has sent His only begotten Son out of love (John 3:16). And, this is where today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus’ discourse to Nichodemus, a Pharisee, who came to believe in Jesus (John 3:14-21) is about.

So, Jesus said to Nichodemus:

Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life (John 3:14-16).

Here, Jesus is speaking of himself to this Pharisee, who wants to get to know him and the salvation that he teaches. And, he tells Nichodemus that the way he is going to save us is like how God, through the hands of Moses, saved sinful Israelites during Exodus from fatal snake bites by recalling Numbers 21:4-9.

After crossing the Red Sea, entering in the desert, the Israelites quickly lost their gratitude to God for having them saved not only delivered out of the slavery of Egypt but also into safety and freedom cross the Red Sea. To chastise them, committed sin of ingratitude, God sent snakes to bite them. So, they repented and said to Moses:

We have sinned in complaining against the Lord and you. Pray to the Lord to take the serpents from us (Numbers 21:7).

Because He is so merciful, as reflected in the Second Reading, God instructed Moses:

Make a seraph and mount it on a pole, and everyone who has been bitten will look at it and recover (Numbers 21:8).

In recalling this, Jesus tells Nichodemus how he is going to save us:

Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life (John 3:14-15).

Jesus being lifted up – as Moses lifted up the serpents in the desert to save the Israelites, who committed sin of ingratitude – is Jesus’ figurative foretelling of his Crucifixion. This refers to Jesus’ body lifted up on the Cross so that the prophecy in Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is fulfilled.

And, it is because God love us so much, and everyone who believe this is saved for eternal life (John 3:16).

In John 3:19-21, now Jesus indicates that he, whom God has sent out of His love for us (v. 16), is also the light of salvation (John 8:12) so that we can see his salvific works – so that we can believe.

As our belief – faith grows stronger and firmer, we are less likely to fall back to sin. Let us not waste God’s mercy and the greatest grace, Jesus, the Son! For this, we continue on our Lenten journey to the Cross and beyond.