Homily (2) 4th Sunday of Lent Year B: Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo
Readings: Readings: 2 Chr
36:14-16, 19-23; Ps 137:1-6; Eph 2:4-10 and John 3:14-21
Joy in the Saving Love and Mercy of God!
God is light, God is love. God is joy! God judges, yet he forgives. He is merciful.
He liberates us from all kinds of exiles and finally brings us joy! Four weeks
ago, how time flies, on Ash Wednesday, we began our Lenten journey, marked with
prayers, acts of charity, fasting, mourning, preaching and listening very
closely to the Word of God, as well as disposing ourselves for other forms of spiritual renewals.
On this Fourth Sunday of Lent, traditionally called Laetare Sunday, the Bible lessons are
coated with liberating messages of joy.
Recall, that entrance antiphon, that prophecy of Isaiah 66:10-11 which
we began this Mass with. We are invited to: “Rejoice
(rinna) with Jerusalem and be glad because of her, All you
who love her Exult, rejoice with her, all you who were mourning over her…suck
fully of the milk of her comfort.”
This is the same message of joy, from Israel’s prophets, that Pope Francis began his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, with. In particular, and similar to our entrance antiphon is the joyful message of Zephaniah, that says,
“Rejoice
the Lord has cancelled your judgment and misfortunes. The Lord your God is with
you. He is a Mighty Savior. He rejoices over you with gladness. He will rejoice
over you with a happy Song. He will renew you with His Love and Restores your
Fortunes” (Zeph 3:14-20).
This is well chronicled in the First Reading of today, 2
Chronicles chapter 36. Yes, Israel had sinned, their kings, priests and the
people: “in those days, all the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people
added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the nations,
and polluting the Lord’s temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.” This let them into the darkness and judgment
of exiles in Assyria, Babylon and Persia. But, the God of our fathers, who is
compassionate and merciful, would never abandon his people. God has his dramatic
and divine ways of restoring Israel to himself; evident in the Exodus/Wilderness’
events, in Ezra- Nehemiah, and in other Midrashic Books of Tobith, Ruth, Judith, and
Esther.
St. Paul confirms this in the Second Reading when he says, “Brothers and Sisters, God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had love us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life in Christ- by grace you have been saved…”
God's saving acts culminate in the Gospel reading of today which says, “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. For God did not send his Son in to the
world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (John
3:14-21).
