Lenten Reflection

4th Sunday of Lent - Cycle B
John 3: 14-21

Peggy Devlin, 0P

This gospel passage literally gives me the creeps! Just the mere mention of a serpent sends chills up my spine and recalls earlier days of my childhood when the boys, wanting to get rid of pesky girls, would dangle a snake in front of us. This got the desired results! We would run away screaming in search of a safe haven. Creepy, crawly serpents - ugh! And, furthermore, wasn't it a serpent who caused all that trouble in the Garden of Eden?!?!

Then why would this gospel seemingly exalt a serpent and hold it up as a symbol of life? The text - "Jesus said to Nicodemus: 'Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that all who believe may have eternal life in Him.'" The elevated serpent in the desert refers to a fairly confusing incident in the Old Testament in which a bronze serpent, raised on a pole by Moses, was a source of life and salvation. John adds that Jesus, too, must be "lifted up" in order to be a source of life and salvation.

How odd! But, then again, the God we be1ieve in is very odd - not given to being analyzed, reasoned out, sensible and definitely on whose ways often confuse and befuddle us - who can figure? You see, it's more important to God that we believe rather than understand, trust rather than analyze, and be loving persons more than intelligent brains.

You see, our God refuses to be figured out. The very essence of our God is one of paradox and contradiction. Things are not always as they appear; what we see and experience in this life is not totality of reality. The world screams at us - "What you see is what you get!" But, faith whispers - "What you see is NOT what you get!"

And, the ultimate symbol of paradox and contradiction for us is this cross before us. What do we see with our eyes? Death, destruction, failure, the end, despair… But, faith says - don't be fooled - what looks like death is really life; what looks like destruction is newness; what looks like failure is victory; what looks like the end is really the beginning; and what looks like despair is really hope. Why? "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not die but may have eternal life." Notice how the gospel says: "Whoever believes in him…" not, "whoever understands him…" God is not a puzzle to be solved but a mystery to be lived.

And for us, what's the message? Some of our greatest blessings have been difficult, uncomfortable ones we wanted to get rid of as quickly as possible. Sometimes our greatest pain holds a gift for us that is hidden for a long time. The blessing is disguised amid the turmoil, confusion, heartache and struggle. Sometimes we're unable to accept the blessing because we are too hurt, too angry, too grieved, too overwhelmed, to receive it. It's only much later that we see the gift that has come from what we thought would destroy us forever. Within each struggle there is a blessing waiting to be received.

Crucifixion is no symbol of success in 21st century America anymore than it was on that horrendous Good Friday eons ago. And so, how can you and I follow a Lord, the symbol of whose failure is above our altars, on top of our churches, on our stationery and around our necks and claim to be a stranger to pain and struggle? The power of Christ's passion is that every one of us can identify with it - we've been there, done that! "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

The Way of the Cross, the downward mobility of God, becomes our way not because we try to imitate Jesus, but because we are transformed into living Christs by His Spirit. The spiritual life is the life and power of Christ within us, a life that sets us free to be strong while weak, to be free while captive, to be joyful while in pain, to be rich while poor, to believe when all the evidence points to foolishness.

In the early days of Christianity one of the first ways that people represented Christ artistically was as Christ, the Fool - Christ, the Clown. Why? What a foolish thing to do - to give your life for a world that seems not to give a damn. Did he waste his time? I don't think so; God doesn't think so….

"God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in him may not die but have eternal life."