Something to be Grasped

September 14, 2008

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

But with their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!” Numbers 21:4-5

Who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:6-8

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. John 3:16-17

Piety

Let us pray: God, help us to empty ourselves of our human desires, wants and needs. Jesus, by your example, you showed us the ultimate in humility and obedience. Help our egos to die so that our lives may be seen in the world as fulfilling your purposes. Holy Spirit, give us something to grasp that we can understand so that we may be about our own work in humility and obedience. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/091408.shtml

How exactly can we understand eternal life? The readings today teach us by teaching one of the most learned of the Pharisees. Nicodemus was attracted to Jesus by the teachings he heard in the temple.

God could grant us wisdom to know everything but instead the Lord takes a different tack. He comes to us in the desert when we are suffering from the pain of hunger, exile, and exposure. He comes to us as a baby and tells us to become like a baby again. When we are “born from above” or “born of water and the Spirit.”

Jesus became like the least powerful and the poorest amongst us in order to show us how to love, how to serve each other. Rather than live apart from the world, the Lord became a part of the world.

A powerful God could descend from heaven and condemn everything we do and say. Not our God. Instead, he comes down from heaven to help lift us up from our condition. We return his love by lifting him up on the cross.

Despite our rejection of Jesus and his message, he loves us anyway and rather than condemning us in return, he saves the world. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

John 3:17

Do you also find it curious that the Good News uses the word “might” in this verse? If Jesus went through all the trouble to be born, to grown up, to preach and perform signs for his followers, why not guarantee that the world “will” be saved?

From a position that potentially was far superior to us and all-powerful and all-knowing, Jesus did not have to grow up the son of a poor carpenter. Jesus did not have to live the life of an itinerant preacher dodging the plots of the Pharisees and the Romans. Jesus did not have to die at the executioner’s hands. But he did it anyway. Jesus acted for us.

But rather than hand us eternal life without cost, he asks something in return. He asks us to live in the light. “Whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.” John 3:21

In this profound chapter of John’s Gospel, we learn the potential payoff for all the work that Jesus will perform to save us. And St. John also reveals the work we must do. Our faith must compel us to perform good works in the world, not in secret, but in the light of day so that how we love will clearly be seen as done in God. God does not want us coming to him under the cover of darkness like Nicodemus does in today’s reading. Instead, he wants us to grow so that when God needs us most, we will come to him during the daylight hours and approach the foot of the cross, like Nicodemus does on Good Friday with Joseph of Arimithea.

Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom. Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried. So they laid Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation day; for the tomb was close by. John 19:39-42

Action

With the devastation wrought by Hurricane Ike, please consider helping out by supporting one of the voluntary organizations which are active in disasters. Here is a link of national organizations screened by FEMA. The list includes Catholic Charities USA, the Society of St. Vincent DePaul, other faith-based organizations as well as “secular” charities.