GOSPEL: JN 3:13-17
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JESUS said to Nicodemus: “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
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.
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The Cross is a paradox. For non-believers, it is a scandal (because the cross is a symbol of torture), but for believers it is a source of salvation.
Two movements of grace happen in the symbol of the Cross: In the Incarnation, Jesus is “lowered” from the heavens; and in the Resurrection, Jesus is lifted up to heaven.
The Creed professes that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary (the Incarnation); afterwards it proclaims five actions by Jesus: “he suffered, was crucified, died, was buried, and descended to the dead…” Then, “he rose again from the dead”: The Paschal event culminates in Christ’s Resurrection.
It is not the “suffering and death” of Christ that saves us, for this will make the torturers and executioners as saviors. Rather, the Cross is the symbol of the total self-giving love of God in Jesus Christ that makes it redemptive.
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SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2020,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.
