Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 3, 13-17
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“No one has gone up to heaven
except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
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 into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Seeing God as God sees us
1. Exaltation. To live on a higher plane, we need to look outward. We must understand that God’s grace is “scandalous”, because God is in everyone and everything. He’s ready to throw a celebration for a single sinner who repents. Moses and David were murderers, but God still loved them and worked through them. Paul was a witness to death and was later chosen to be a witness to life. Grace goes beyond our reason. Seeing Jesus today means understanding that He gives his life for you and for me, simply and complexly, because He loves us.
2. Lifted up. Jesus didn’t come to install a “sin-o-meter.” He came to show everyone the love He has for us. Being “lifted up” today is a reminder that your old life has been erased, and you’ve been given a new one through the cross. Take a moment today to look at a cross and remember that you’ve been given another chance.
3. Eternal Life. We tend to believe that our good behavior earns God’s love, and our bad behavior earns his anger. This leads many people to say, “I don’t go to church because I’m a sinner.” The Church is not where saints live, it’s a hospital for wounded and sinful people. So, come. Legalism feeds our natural pride, which is something we often see in people within the Church. This is what Jesus challenges, because it’s like saying, “I’ll make myself holy on my own.” Today, on the feast of the exaltation of the Holy Cross, we understand that Jesus saves us and that we can’t make ourselves holy. Jesus didn’t pay for our salvation on the cross so that we could pay Him back in fixed installments. That’s not how it works. Today’s celebration shows us that Jesus paid everything, and He invites you to get up because you have life, and you need to live it. Today is the day to look at the cross and the crucified Christ to understand that everything is God’s grace. Our daily effort should not be about trying not to sin but about remembering God’s unconditional love: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. Stop thinking about yourself all the time and start thinking more and more about Jesus. Become more conscious of Jesus and his grace. If you want to fight against your sin you don’t need more willpower, but rather more Jesus in your life.
Remember that something good is on the way!
God bless you and be with you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
