Genesis Rebirth Judgment

Jn 3:16-21(7-21)

Every man confronted with the Mystery does not fully comprehend what he feels, until he accepts the wager and enters into a new existence.

The old life presents only bills to be paid, which always resurface; conversely, the new Calling supplants normalised categories of judgement and choices.

One passes as through an emptying of the heart.

For the Tao [Way] Tê Ching (xxi) says:

"The contentment of those who have the virtue of emptiness, only to the Tao does it conform. For creatures, the Tao is indistinct and indeterminate [...] in its bosom it holds images [...] in its bosom it holds archetypes [...] in its bosom it holds the essence of being! This essence is very genuine [...] and so it consents to all beginnings.

Outside the cosmic and personal Way, man's existence has no generative meaning.

Even the spiritual affair of the experienced and well-adjusted person stagnates until he can no longer silence the great questions of meaning, his fiction, or sloth.

Life in the Spirit proceeds by new Births and breathes forth where it will.

Not according to a progress marked by mechanisms, manners, respectability, skills, or instruction booklets: in a disconcerting way - but it brings different refreshment, and even sudden peace.

It is a reality present and operative, albeit inexplicable - yet enriching, allowing us to penetrate or plunge into another configuration of reality.

Another realm, which in the 'Son of Man' unites the two worlds.

Nicodemus was master of the Old Testament alone. He would check any stagnation or progress by comparing them to the wisdom of the things of God on a more than familiar basis.

But not infrequently our growth proceeds in leaps and bounds - not even according to natural 'intelligence'. Let alone the spiritual life.

It is not enough to practise and go along with the ideas of the fathers or the fashionable ones, nor to remain in agreement with normal intentions.

Assimilating other people's knowledge and acquiring already expected expertise is not infrequently junk that blocks true developments - those that belong to us.

Unfortunately, in religious life one often proceeds mechanically, and there seems to be no need to allow oneself to be saved or surprised by events.

At most we are exposed to a few breezes, enslaved to earthly languages, limited to the dimension of "phenomena" that are all on the surface - that exclude and dismiss Christ.

In the bewildering adventure of Faith, the divine Project and the radical Work of the Son do not unfold in a reasonable manner, but by Love without measure.

It is the level of Eternity that puts those who receive it into the unique tu-per-tu with the Father and his exuberant Life.

The Spirit's unit of measure is different from that of the agreed customs. Its impetus is elusive Wind, "visible" only in its ecclesial and personal effects.

The Secret is "from above" (v.7), out of scale. It lurks in the unpredictability of crossroads, surpluses, and new creations.

Bliss does not proceed by arguments to boredom: it protrudes or pales.

In this way, one can often hold the Eucharist or the Scriptures in one's hand and not realise that the road already taken can only give illusions of spiritual doctoring.

"Thence shall he come to judge" is an article of the Apostles' Creed.

Success or failure in life will be evaluated "from the Cross", i.e. with the criterion of the new perception, Gift of self and Renewal to the core.

Reversal of perspectives; reversal of views.

It is a source of Hope and a new leap forward: where humiliation is transformed into authentic Birth and triumph of indestructible Life.

This is the Beatitude that uncovers blooms, hidden treasures and precious pearls, behind our dark sides.

Here even the persecutions of enemies and mockers become vectors that introduce different energies, compelling us to improve.

And one imagined that divine life only belonged to the celestial sphere; instead it paradoxically comes within our reach.

Nicodemus knew: in the wilderness many had fallen victim to snares, but Jesus makes it clear that the Israelites had not been gratuitously healed by a bronze effigy, but by having 'raised their eyes'.

The Lord refers to this episode and interprets it as the setting for his own teaching; the symbol of his extreme event.

Those who contemplate it already have within themselves the full, acute and total sense of the Scriptures, and the very Life of the Eternal.

In this sense, it is necessary to be "born from above", to shift contemplative perception, to recognise ourselves, and to keep our eyes on true love.

It is because of a new Genesis of our own being and of the criteria by which we stake our lives, that the Crucified One becomes the reference point for all our choices.

Not out of sorrowful masochism and feigned consolation. Not to use it as a jewel.

Not an amulet; not an emblem placed by force upon the heights, which would indicate the conquest of territories.

Not even the sacralisation of an environment, or a 'cultural' figure.In rabbinic style, Mt 25 uses the image of the Last Judgement to recall the importance and consequences of the choices we make.

In Jn, the theme of the Judgement seems reversed: it is as if we were the ones "judging" God - in the sense that in his presence we are and will be disarmed, recognising that his Heart is far greater than our own.

So too in the experience of the life of Faith, which attracts and opens up the impossible future.

Indeed, the Fourth Gospel excludes the Father judging the sons. Jn speaks of a Judgment that takes place in the Present, which is only redemption - for our sake alone: for a life of the saved.

"When" God acts he creates. He justifies: he does something new, global, unparalleled.

It does not repeat. It gives birth to other excesses, in varied grooves, in the fabric of history, "imposing" just positions - first of all where there is no justice.

According to a Wisdom that gives rise to quite a few unexpected opinions.

While employing different backgrounds and language, both Mt and Jn find themselves in the same "truth" (v.21).

The Judgement is pronounced from the Cross - according to criteria that differ from worldly criteria, which are always hasty or mannered (and trivial).

The Lord makes his opinions heard and seen, in the face of all events and choices - warning against the options of authentic death.

The work of those who mismanage and waste life "shall burn, and he shall be punished; yet he shall be saved, but as by fire" (1 Cor 3:15).

The dissimilarities are already commensurate with the Person of the Son. The Judgment has already begun.

To internalise and live the message:

What do you consider to have been your births? What about your genuine choices?

Are you still in the direction of the wind of the ancient fathers or the fashions around you?

Do you unfurl your sails according to the direction of the Wind of the Spirit, which throws up your securities, even group or denominational ones?

What do you admire, and what have you placed 'high' in your life? Is this straw already finished and burnt?

What has so far exalted you, and did you think could elevate you instead?

He so loved, and gave

"God so loved the world that he gave his only Son" (Jn 3:16). Here is the heart of the Gospel, here is the foundation of our joy. For the content of the Gospel is not an idea or a doctrine, but is Jesus, the Son whom the Father gave us that we might have life. Jesus is the foundation of our joy: it is not a beautiful theory on how to be happy, but it is experiencing being accompanied and loved on life's journey. "He so loved the world that he gave his Son". Let us dwell, brothers and sisters, for a moment on these two aspects: "he so loved" and "he gave".

First of all, God so loved. These words, which Jesus addresses to Nicodemus - an old Jew who wanted to know the Master - help us to see the true face of God. He has always looked upon us with love, and out of love He came among us in the flesh of His Son. In Him He came to seek us in the places where we went astray; in Him He came to lift us up from our falls; in Him He wept our tears and healed our wounds; in Him He blessed our lives forever. Whoever believes in Him, says the Gospel, is not lost (ibid.). In Jesus, God has spoken the final word over our lives: you are not lost, you are loved. Always loved.

If listening to the Gospel and practising our faith does not enlarge our hearts to make us grasp the greatness of this love, and perhaps we slip into a serious, sad, closed religiosity, then it is a sign that we need to stop for a while and listen again to the proclamation of the good news: God loves you so much that he gives you his whole life. He is not a God who looks down on us indifferently from on high, but He is a Father, a loving Father who involves Himself in our history; He is not a God who rejoices in the death of the sinner, but a Father concerned that no one is lost; He is not a God who condemns, but a Father who saves us with the blessing embrace of His love.

And we come to the second word: God 'gave' his Son. Precisely because he loves us so much, God gives himself and offers us his life. He who loves always comes out of himself - do not forget this: he who loves always comes out of himself. Love always offers itself, gives itself, spends itself. The power of love is precisely this: it shatters the shell of selfishness, it breaks the banks of over-calculated human securities, it breaks down walls and overcomes fears, to make itself a gift. This is the dynamic of love: it is making a gift of oneself, giving oneself. He who loves is like that: he prefers to risk giving himself rather than atrophy by keeping to himself. That is why God comes out of himself, because 'he has loved so much'. His love is so great that it cannot help but give itself to us. When the people walking in the desert were attacked by poisonous snakes, God made Moses the bronze serpent; In Jesus, however, lifted up on the cross, He Himself came to heal us of the poison that gives death, He became sin to save us from sin. God does not love us in words: he gives us his Son so that whoever looks at him and believes in him may be saved (cf. Jn 3:14-15).

The more one loves, the more one becomes capable of giving. This is also the key to understanding our life. It is good to meet people who love each other, who love each other and share life; you can say of them as you do of God: they love each other so much that they give their lives. It is not only what we can produce or gain that counts, what counts above all is the love we know how to give.

And this is the source of joy! God so loved the world that he gave his Son. Hence the Church's invitation on this Sunday: 'Rejoice [...]. Rejoice and be glad, you who were in sorrow: be filled with the abundance of your consolation" (Entrance Antiphon; cf. Is 66:10-11). I think back to what we experienced a week ago in Iraq: a tormented people rejoiced with joy; thanks to God, to his mercy.

Sometimes we look for joy where there is none, we look for it in illusions that vanish, in dreams of our ego's greatness, in the apparent security of material things, in the worship of our image, and so many things... But the experience of life teaches us that true joy is to feel loved gratuitously, to feel accompanied, to have someone who shares our dreams and who, when we are shipwrecked, comes to rescue us and lead us to a safe harbour.

[Pope Francis, homily on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the evangelisation of the Philippines, 14 March 2021].