Fourth Sunday of Lent Year B

Lectionary: 32

For by grace you have been saved through faith, 
and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; 
it is not from works, so no one may boast.
For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works 
that God has prepared in advance,
that we should live in them.

If you get a good cue stick and spend many hours studying and learning the different uses of the cue, break cue, and jump cue; and an instructor helps you eliminate the bad habits and learn better methods of topspin, backspin, side spin, and throw; along with masse, carom, stun, and roll; and the different ways to break the rack; and how to execute safeties, and you spend many days practicing alone, and more evenings competing against superior players, you might be finally ready someday to play the game of pool. 

Because it all comes down to that graceful, playful contact of the felt tip as you direct spinning velocity into the white ball. Nor does the accomplished player complain of their many hours spent in learning the craft; although their study, research, and practice never cease.   

The following of Christ is something like that. Saint Paul insists that we are saved by grace, and not by our effort. He will go on to say, "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling." But it's not work at all, 

"For God is the one who, for his good purpose, works in you both to desire and to work."

And you'll know you're getting it right when you "Do everything without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent."

We study the lives of the saints to learn how they practiced faith until they acquired that spirit which renders the work as no work at all. Saint Maximilian Kolbe, after suffering tuberculosis for many years, and surviving sanitariums, was the last to die in a group of Poles whom the Nazis selected to die of starvation. In the days and weeks that he waited for death he heard confessions, consoled the grieving, the sick, and the dying, led his fellow prisoners in song, and praised God continually. And said never a word against his captors. Who finally gave up as he still hung on after several weeks, and injected him with carbolic acid. 

He made the impossible look easy, which is typical of saints. "With love the impossible is easy; without love, even the simplest chores are impossible. 

We are rounding the horn of Laetare Sunday. Our weekday gospels are directing our attention into the depths of Saint John's gospel of which it's been said, "A mouse may wade across it; an elephant may drown in it." As we've grown accustomed to our Lenten prayers and fasting, and perhaps our charitable works, we're learning to relax in our prayers as the light of dawn penetrates the dark watery depths of our souls. 

Today's gospel urges us to see the Son of Man lifted up before our eyes; we will see our salvation coming as we gaze upon him. This is not work; this is grace. 

Despite our Lenten sacrifices no one can claim to deserve this grace or mercy. In fact we pray that we don't get what we deserve, for we've heard of God's wrath in today's account from the Second Book of Chronicles. We pray that the LORD will spare us in the Name of Jesus who loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma. (Ephesians 5:2)