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March 11, 2018 - Year B
Fourth Sunday of Lent
Why do we prefer the dark?
Gospel: Jn 3:14-21
I think it might be useful to read the whole section of John's gospel this week rather than limit ourselves to the piece chosen for reading in the mass. It starts at c. 2:23
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name, observing his signs which he was doing. But Jesus, on his part, was not entrusting himself to them for he knew all men, and because he did not need anyone to testify concerning man for he knew what was in man.
Now there was a man of the pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he? Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit.
Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it wants and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from or where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the spirit.
Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be? Jesus answered, You a teacher of Israel and you do not understand these things!
Truly, truly, I say to you we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
No one has gone up to heaven, except the one who came down from heaven: the son of man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in him will have eternal life.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
For God did not send the son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. The one who believes in him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God.
This is the judgment, that light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that their deeds may be clearly seen as done in God.
There might be two ways of reading this. One way would be to join the writer in contemplation, following the thought wherever it may lead you.
Another way might arise out of the suggestion that John is not jotting down his meandering thoughts for his own purposes, nor is he writing an alternative version of the Jesus story, but he is writing a review and a critique of the communities of his time. If we take this approach we may find some very pointed observations that apply as much today as they did then.
In this perspective, Nicodemus is not praised for sneaking in under cover of the night, nor is he admired for his infantile remarks on how we might be born again. He is criticised, and since John is writing at a time when the three gospels were well established, writing in a community setting vastly different from the Jerusalem that Jesus knew, we should conclude that John is targeting some people who are behaving like Nicodemus, people who would say "We know he is a teacher come from God for no one could do the signs he did unless God were with him", yet would always finding reasons not to believe in him.
You can feel the writer's exasperation in this outburst: "We speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?"
The problem, as John sees it, is not in the testimony itself or in whether it has good credentials, nor in the proofs - whether they aresufficient or not. The problem lies in a person's attitude, their disposition, something inside us all.
Take the idea that was evidently contentious in that early community and is still batted around today: Why did God send his son to judge the world? Well, John writes, God didn't send his son to judge us but to give us life. The complete opposite is the case, yet still today judgement is the bug-bear of christianity.
Suddenly he goes straight to the heart of the matter: Judgement! You worry about being judged! Well, this is the judgement: Light has come into the world and people prefer darkness!
And what's worse, they prefer the darkness because their works are evil - people who do wicked things hate the light, and they will do anything to avoid being exposed, as we know all too well.
Is this a Catch 22 situation, a vicious circle that makes it all our fault in the end whichever way we go? Do we sin because we're weak? Or are we weak because of our sins - like the alcoholic who tries again and again to get on the wagon only to fall off again. If so, what does it take to break the cycle?
To believe in a power stronger than myself, says AA. To believe in the one that God has sent, writes John.
Either way, the key is in believing, which is a matter of trusting rather than an intellectual activity. We trust when we accept the reassurance that calms our fear; we believe in the reassuring word that it will be OK, and in that moment we surrender ourselves to the other. I give up the idea that only I can save myself, and I accept to be saved by a stronger one. This takes nothing away from the work I've got to do; it only takes out of the equation the favourite excuse we have packed away in our kit: I'm no good! I'm bound to fail!
I find myself going back to something we touched on above. John wrote: "We speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.'" What does this say about the impact of christianity on the world today - or at any time in history for that matter?
"We speak of what we know..." Do we? Do we really know what we're talking about? And do we have any idea what the modern world takes from what they hear us saying? Does our community look like a people living a new dimension of life, bravely going where none have gone before along the way of justice and mercy, of truth and love, of trust and hope, following this Jesus who shows us how to live a real human life?
Or are we compromised by our traditions, by our antiquated teaching formulas, by our possessions and by the image we have of ourselves as God's gift to the world? Do we speak from what we know of Jesus and his relationship with the Father? Do we speak from what we know of the value he put on truth and rightness and mercy, and on the living spirit that bubbles up like a spring of water inside us and flows from here to eternity?
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