Scripture Study for
Fourth Sunday of Lent
2 Chronicles 36:14–16, 19–23 / Psalm 137:6ab / Ephesians 2:4–10 / John 3:14–21
<< Back to LECTIONARY RESOURCES
Understanding the Word
By Br. John R. Barker, OFM
The first reading brings us to the period after the Exile, when newly-redeemed Israel looks back on its history. The author juxtaposes the continued infidelity of his people with the enduring commitment of God. Even before they entered the land, Israel turned away from their God and toward other deities, the “abominations of the nations.” God warned them of the consequences, but they did not listen, until finally they went into exile. Once again, God has shown mercy, bringing them back to the land and reestablishing the divine presence among them. Divine graciousness, human infidelity, judgment to bring the people back to God, forgiveness and restoration: this is the pattern of God’s dealings with the chosen people that we find throughout the Bible.
Paul emphasizes God’s graciousness and goodness, which has been shown not just to the Gentile Christians of Ephesus, but to the whole church. God is “rich in mercy,” has “great love for us,” “brought us to life with Christ,” has shown “the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus,” which is a “gift of God.” This is no grudging salvation Paul proclaims, but great-hearted goodness from a God who wants only to give life in place of death. All those who have been baptized into Christ now in some sense enjoy the full fruits of redemption; they are “seated . . . with [Christ] in the heavens.” This “realized eschatology,” which from the human perspective is yet to come, has in fact already been accomplished in Christ.
Again this week we see Jesus as the fulfillment of a “type” from the Old Testament. In this case, it is the bronze serpent that Moses had made to heal the Israelites (Numbers 21:4–9). The larger point Jesus makes to Nicodemus is that the love of God for the world is almost beyond belief: God has gone so far as to “give his only Son.” On the one hand, this gift is simply the Incarnation itself, which makes manifest on earth the glory, grace, and truth of God (1:14). On the other hand, this gift is the saving death of Christ. Sadly, it is not accepted by all because to accept is to open oneself to the “true Light” (1:9). As with many other instances in this Gospel, the presence of God in Christ forces a decision that one is unable to avoid making.