March 14, 2021
Homily for the FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT
MARCH 14, 2021
AMDG
(Please read: Ephesians 2:4-10)
“Through the words of the Gospel, may our sins be wiped away.”
“Rejoice, Jerusalem.” The theme of the liturgy today is to “rejoice.” Or, in Latin, “laetare.”
Today is known as Laetare Sunday – Rejoice Sunday.
And, for that reason, the color of today is not purple. The color is rose. The foundation of this color is purple; but the purple has been lightened. The sadness of purple now has the joy of rose blended in.
Why are we rejoicing today? Why did our Introit or Entrance Antiphon remind us to “be joyful, all who were in mourning?”
Perhaps today marks a half-way point in the season of Lent. We are almost there. Easter really is coming soon.
Or, perhaps we are being reminded that the sorrow that we are expressing for our sins this Lent gives us a true sense of joy as we see that God does forgive us for our sins.
As Lent progresses we are seeing that all is not dark. We are beginning to acknowledge that the “light of Christ triumphs over darkness.”
And this theme will ring true at the Easter Vigil when the fire is lit and blessed and the Easter Candle is carried into the church. The church will be darkened. But, the one flame of the Easter Candle will break that darkness as I will sing three times, “Christ our light.”
Then, as the Exsultet is chanted, these words will be sung: “Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her, ablaze with light from her eternal King, let all corners of the earth be glad, knowing an end to gloom and darkness.”
In short, what we are experiencing today is foretaste of the Easter Vigil. Lent is not just a time for sorrow for our sins. It is a time to prepare our hearts for the light who is Christ.
We see this theme present in today’s first reading. The Book of Chronicles tells us the story of the Babylonian Exile. This was a time in the history of the Israelites when the entire nation was captured and taken away from the promised land.
Every person was taken out of the promised land except for the sick and the elderly. There was literally no one left to maintain the religious customs of the Jewish faith.
This happened because, as Jeremiah had prophesied, “until the land has retrieved its lost Sabbaths, during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest while seventy years are fulfilled.”
The Israelites had not followed the third commandment placed on their hearts by God. They were not observing the Sabbath as the day of rest and worship. They had turned away from the Sabbath rest for many years.
Now, it was as if the whole land needed to retrieve those lost Sabbath days. If the people were not resting, then the land was not resting, either. So, now, the land reclaimed its lost Sabbath days.
The people of Israel were being punished and were forced to live outside of their promised land until the Sabbath days were recovered.
It took 70 years for this sin to be wiped clean from the land. For 70 years the Israelites lost their promised land.
And, these were 70 years of sadness. Psalm 137 reminded us of the sorrow of the Israelites as it says, “by the streams of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.” And, again, Psalm 137 states so clearly, “how could we sing a song of the Lord in a foreign land?”
All was lost. All was darkness for the people chosen by God, simply because they had failed to keep the third commandment.
So…you think it has been tough on us during this ONE year of Covid-19? Just think what the Israelites went through during 70 long years of being captives in the land of Babylon. There did not seem to be any hope left for them.
At least, that was true until a new king took power in Babylon. A Persian king named Cyrus became their leader. Cyrus was not a Jew. He did not believe in God. But, God had chosen Cyrus to set his people free.
And so, King Cyrus sent the Israelites back to Jerusalem. And, not only that – he even gave them the money needed to rebuild the destroyed temple in Jerusalem.
Who was King Cyrus? I suppose that, in the end, it really did not matter. The fact is that he was the one chosen by God to send his people back to Jerusalem when the days of penance had come to their end.
King Cyrus gave the Israelites light in their darkness.
If we move forward and look at today’s Gospel, we can see this same theme coming into play.
The whole world was immersed in sin at that time. Yet, St. John tells us – in that most famous line from his Gospel – that “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.”
John 3:16 – these are perhaps the most hope-filled words of the Bible.
God sent his only-begotten son into this world, not to condemn this world, but to save everyone who believes in him.
God sends his Son to be our LIGHT.
St. John goes on to state, “the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil.”
He also teaches us that “whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.”
King Cyrus gave hope to the people of Israel by sending them back home again. He gave them light in the midst of their darkness even thought they had broken the third commandment of God.
Jesus gives hope to all of humanity by saving us from sin. Jesus is the light sent to us by God. And we are drawn to this light because we understand that Jesus has been sent to us because God so loved the world.
Jesus is a sign that there is to be no more hatred or darkness. Now, all is light. Now, all is the fruit of love.
St. Paul brings this message home in his letter to the Ephesians when he says, “God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great LOVE he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ….raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens…that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
On this Laetare Sunday, we are seeing that – all throughout history – God is LOVE. God is mercy.
As human beings, we sin. Our sins bring with them temporal punishment – there is no such thing as a sin without consequences.
Yet, even when we sin and offend God, He never ceases to love us and to grant us his mercy.
God sends us his light. Christ IS our light.
With God, there is no darkness. And, today, even the Lenten darkness of the color purple has become that of a rose.
PRAY EVERY DAY!