Today is Laetare Sunday – It is the midpoint of Lent and a Sunday of joyful expectation of Easter and the renewal of His Spirit given to us at our Baptism.
The homilist reminds us that Lent is not just about giving up things and sacrificing. From this point on, we should focus our gaze on Christ. Just as in today’s Gospel where John proclaims “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
The lifting up of Jesus is not just a reference to his physical situation at His passion, but also in His exaltation at the resurrection where His spirit is poured out into the world.
Just as gazing upon the serpent in Moses’ time healed them of the poison that would have otherwise killed them. Our gazes onto Christ as He is lift up, will grant us eternal life.
“He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.”
So let us fix our gaze on Christ and continue to walk in the light on our Lenten walk so that we can celebrate His passion, death and resurrection again this Easter!
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