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.

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