In today’s Gospel we hear Jesus speaking about the Old Testament and especially Moses who lifted up The Serpent in the desert. Jesus came to fulfil scripture and here he is now lifting himself up on the Cross so that we may be saved.
The Crucifixion, by John Stainer, is a musical work that many of us probably haven’t heard the entirety of. But, we will almost definitely have heard ‘God so loved the world’. It is a choral work that often comes out more often during the Pascal season, as a reminder to the faithful of how Christ gave himself for human kind. Here is a YouTube link to the piece, sung by the choristers of King’s College Cambridge and the King’s Singers: https://youtu.be/_14CpHBRd3k?si=F_ikhx13CWAusXr2
We may use music as a devotional tool. We are now coming close to Holy week and the Easter Triduum, and all of that liturgy is designed to give us inspiration, to bring us back to those moments in the Gospel when Jesus was tried, sentenced, killed and rose again. All of the liturgy that we are about to encounter these designed to put us there, to try and place us within that gospel narrative. We may use the music, as in the link, in a similar way and we hope that you get much from it.
Were we to do this as we read today’s Gospel, where would we be placed? Well, for each individual the story is going to be very different, but let us look at the Gospel and see what it means for us.
The obvious route to take is to allow Jesus, in his questions, to question us. Do we listen and respond to the Gospel message? Not just on Sunday but always? Do we take seriously the design of Jesus’s world as he wants it? And do we try all we can to be the very groundworkers of that design, planning all that we do so that we are building Heaven on Earth? If we are not doing this, then perhaps the Gospel is going to highlight where we might better ourselves. Do we live in the light of Christ, illumining the way for ourselves and also others? Where we stumble, are we aware: do we get ourselves up again when we fall, and continue the journey in humility and renewed vigour? After all, this is what Christ did. He did it unto death.
His earthly ministry is pointing directly to us. All of it is so that we shall have eternal life. Where does this plan correlate with our own; for, the more correlation there is, the better Christians we shall be.
Let today’s Gospel resounded in our hearts, that we may begin afresh with revived spiritual housekeeping, helping to develop Heaven on Earth, even in the little things.
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you
And with your spirit.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 3:14-21
Glory to you, O Lord
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
‘The Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.
Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.
For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world,
but so that through him the world might be saved.
No one who believes in him will be condemned; but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already, because he has refused to believe in the name of God’s only Son.
On these grounds is sentence pronounced: that though the light has come into the world
men have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil.
And indeed, everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it,
for fear his actions should be exposed; but the man who lives by the truth
comes out into the light, so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.