RECOGNISING THE GOD WITH US


TUESDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT

Numb 21:4-9; Ps 102:2-3,16-21; Jn 8:21-30

The Lifting up of the Son of Man

We must remember that the paschal mysteries are divine-human contents forged in the fire of divine love. So, only faith working with love unlocks their salvific benefits. As the scriptures witness, God is love, and those who come to have communion with him must not only believe but also allow themselves to fall in love with the divine works. On this basis, Moses communicated the great Shema to Israel, an invitation to Israelites to love their God, with all their hearts, minds, and strength. The importance of this call lies in the fact that only love understands the language of love. Many marriage unions fail because a spouse fails to understand the love language of the other. Love meanings are lost, and communication breaks down between spouses. They fail to achieve communion in marriage due to the failure of proper communication.

Israel was married to Yahweh in the covenant they entered with him in the desert at Sinai. Their failure to understand the covenant relationship with Yahweh to be a marriage disabled them from understanding his love language and gestures. Their complaint in the passage from Numbers illustrates and proves their misunderstanding. “On the way, the people lost patience. They spoke against God and Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this wilderness? For there is neither bread nor water here; we are sick of this unsatisfying food.’” They had the manna, the heaven-made bread, and the spiritual Rock that gave them refreshing water on demand along the way. Thus, their ingratitude and lack of loving reciprocity to God’s loving providence was at its height. It was only just that the infinitely just God should allow their evil desires and malcontent to take the material shape of serpents, the symbol of the cunning and destructive demons hanging on them from Egypt, wanting to lead them away from God. “At this God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in Israel.” As the fiery serpents were physical manifestations of these demons, their death-causing bites also materially manifested their spiritual death-dealing instigations of the children of Israel. When God exposed their insidious presence and activities, they lost their potency in the power of light. “So Moses fashioned a bronze serpent which he put on a standard, and if anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked at the bronze serpent and lived.” Love still guided the divine act that allowed the appearance of the fiery serpents for Israel’s acknowledgment of sins and repentance.

We see the same reason and divine love in the discussion between our Lord and the Pharisees. Because the Pharisees and the scribes were engrossed in their self-love and pride, they failed to see God's love language and gestures among them. Their failure to acknowledge the presence of God among them is the cause of their sin and will ultimately cause their destruction. Our Lord was clear: “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I have told you already: You will die in your sins. Yes, if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.’” The Lord stated the cause of our sins as a lack of faith in the presence of God who dwells among us, Jesus Christ. Just as in a marriage relationship, lack of attention to a spouse is the bane of the spousal union. Our consecration to God in baptism demands we pay continuous attention to Jesus Christ our Lord. He warns us daily to return our attention to him so as not to fall into grievous sin and death. He warned the Jews of the impending consequence of their unbelief when he said: “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing of myself: what the Father has taught me is what I preach.” The betrayal of the Son of Man to death is the concrete manifestation of our sins and the revelation of the activities of the blood-sucking demons instigating our sinful thoughts, actions, and inactions. It is love that made Him use his body to show us how hateful and unloving we have been to God, our Father. May our recollections and meditations on the paschal mysteries bring us to repentance and love of our Saviour.

Let us pray: Grant us, we pray, O Lord, perseverance in obeying your will, that in our days the people dedicated to your service may grow in both merit and number. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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