4th Sunday of Lent, Year B

"That the world might be saved through him."


Lectionary Readings for 4th Sunday of Lent, Year B

In today's gospel, we are given a parallel meaning of Jesus' death
on the cross from the Old Testament. The passage that is made
parallel in meaning to Jesus' salvific death on the cross, is the
Old Testament passage, which speaks of Moses lifting up the serpent
in the desert, so that those who were bitten by the serpents, may
be saved from dying. It is this symbolic image which medical
practitioners use in their medical profession.

Many of us forget that Jesus' life and death is meant for us sinners,
so that we may return back to the Father's love. And many of us
fail to see that it is in a life lived with much sacrifice and
pain for the good of others, that will lead us to be like Jesus
more and more, and to follow Him as our Lord and Master.
If we do not sacrifice our lives for others, we will not be able
to see the love of God for us and how much He wishes to save us
from a life of sin, perdition and destruction. God gave His
only Son that we and the whole world might be saved through him.

During this time of Lent, we are given the opportunity to
examine ourselves, and the lives we have been living in the past
months since last Lenten season. We can examine how much we
have returned indeed to the love of the Father and followed the
injunction of the Lord to love others as we love ourselves.
Let us take much time before the Lord to see where we have
also failed in following the great commandment. And if we see all
those times in which we have failed to do so, let us not despair,
but rather continue to have faith in the richness of the goodness
and mercy of God, and approach the sacrament of reconciliation.
Let us remember that the Lord forgave even those who have
killed Him. The Lord knows that His mission is not to kill
but to save those who have sinned and are lost, and that
includes for certain, ourselves, at one point of time
or another.