March 30, 2004 - Tuesday, 5th Week of Lent

Look Up to Christ

Readings:
Num 21:4-9; Ps 102:2-3, 16-18, 19-21; Jn 8:21-30

Introduction

An incontestable truth is that only faith saves. For the Jews wandering in the desert, faith in God’s power – presented here in the form of a bronze serpent – will save the rebellious people of God. The Pharisees have to accept Christ in faith if they want to be saved. We too must look up to the cross with eyes of faith to become free people and God’s sons and daughters. And we, the Church, must become the sign of salvation raised above the nations.

Opening Prayer

Our saving, merciful God,
wandering in our deserts
of injustice and lack of love,
we cry out with fear
or are stunned into silence,
some into doubt or despair.
Give us enough trusting faith
to look up to him
who took our evil and doubts upon himself,
suffered for them on a cross, and rose from them,
Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord.

Scripture Readings

First Reading: Nm 21:4-9

From Mount Hor the children of Israel set out on the Red Sea road,
to bypass the land of Edom.
But with their patience worn out by the journey,
the people complained against God and Moses,
"Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert,
where there is no food or water?
We are disgusted with this wretched food!"

In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents,
which bit the people so that many of them died.
Then the people came to Moses and said,
"We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you.
Pray the LORD to take the serpents away from us."
So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses,
"Make a saraph and mount it on a pole,
and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live."
Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole,
and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent
looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 102:2-3, 16-18, 19-21

R (2) O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.

O LORD, hear my prayer,
and let my cry come to you.
Hide not your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
in the day when I call, answer me speedily.
R O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.

The nations shall revere your name, O LORD,
and all the kings of the earth your glory,
When the LORD has rebuilt Zion
and appeared in his glory;
When he has regarded the prayer of the destitute,
and not despised their prayer.
R O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.

Let this be written for the generation to come,
and let his future creatures praise the LORD:
"The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die."
R O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.

Gospel Reading: Jn 8:21-30

Jesus said to the Pharisees, "I am going away, and though you look for me, you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come." The Jews wondered, "Why does he say that we can't come where he is going? Will he kill himself?"

But Jesus said, "You are from below and I am from above; you are of this world and I am not of this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. And you shall die in your sins unless you believe that I am He."
They asked him, "Who are you?"; and Jesus said, "Just what I have told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the One who sent me is truthful and everything I learned from him, I proclaim to the world."

They didn't understand that Jesus was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing of myself, but I say just what the Father taught me. He who sent me is with me and has not left me alone; because I always do what pleases him." As Jesus spoke like this, many believed in him.

Commentary

THE Word became flesh: took on our human nature and became one of us. He is fully human and belongs here. Yet in this passage he says, "I am not of this world." How are we to understand this?
The "world" in John's gospel is not the physical world, but all the forces in human life that oppose the Kingdom of God. In that sense Jesus is not from here. His opponents made that clear by crucifying him. To crucify someone was to say that he did not belong here, even as a memory. John loved to play on the double meaning of the words, "lifted up": Jesus would be lifted up in shame on the cross, but that lifting up in shame is also a lifting up in glory. God vindicated him by raising him up in glory. All the paradoxes of his life, as well as the paradoxes he spoke ("the last shall be first," etc.) are expressed in this.

But the gospel is written for us. These paradoxes are to be realized in our lives too-sooner or later, in one way or another.

General Intercessions

–   For people who suffer much, that they may look up in faith and hope to Jesus on the cross for strength and healing, we pray:

–   For a deep faith in the love of God, whose Son Jesus suffered for us on the cross, we pray:

–   For all of us, that we may look up to the cross as a liberating sign for all those who follow Jesus, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

God our Father,
we celebrate the memorial
of the passion and death of Jesus.
May our encounter with your Son
save us from the evil in us
and help us to rise above it,
for we know and believe
that he is with us,
and that he is your Son,
one God with you and with the Holy Spirit,
now and forever.

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
you have called your Church –
that is us – to be your sign
set in the sight of nations.
May our living faith in your Son
inspire people to discover and encounter him,
that with him we may always do
what pleases you and serve you.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.

Blessing

Pain, suffering, death, will always remain a scandal and a mystery, something difficult to bear. Yet there is Jesus, who accepted the cross to save us. We are disciples of him who died on the cross. However hard it may be, let us learn to bear it when it comes to us in the circumstances of life. May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

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