GOSPEL OF JOHN 3: “everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

From anxiety to eternity, fear to freedom

At waking, before the demands of the day enter our consciousness, we know who we are and who we are before God. Our being is one with Being, with God, I AM. This is a window into eternity; this is heaven come down to earth. This is eternal life’s prelude. The journey of Faith from Lent to Easter insists we keep cultivating this heavenly reality every day, every week, every month – beyond any liturgical season, every year of our lives.  How can this be done? Not by our own merits, but our openness to grace, to allow ourselves to be caught up in the eternal verities. 

The Scriptures tell us Abraham surrendered in just that way, in the passage about the STARS in THE SKY. Recall:  

GENESIS 15: GOD’S PROMISE TO ABRAHAM

• But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you give me, if I die childless and have only a servant of my household, Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 Abram continued, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a servant of my household will be my heir.” 4 Then the word of the Lord came to him: No, that one will not be your heir; your own offspring will be your heir.  5 He took him outside and said: Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so, he added, will your descendants be. ⁶ Abram put his faith in the Lord, who attributed it to him as an act of righteousness.^[b]

At first, Abram’s encounter with God was all about Abram – Abram’s concerns, what Abram needed, what Abram was lacking. But then he silenced his own voice and listened to God. The vision of the Stars of heaven helped faith take hold.  Hope became a reality to be lived, savored, and returned to time and time again.

In our first reading we heard the misery of the people exiled, strangers in strange lands. Yet they did not become so caught up in their misery not to recognize the voice of God in a new empire arising: Cyrus, the Persian, inviting people to return to their own lands and worship their own God. Some will choose to stay in their misery, some will return and find new life. 

Analogous events are presented to us every day. Not to get so caught up in our woes and misfortunes that we miss the call to choose hope and PEACE in the moment –a vision of eternity accessible in the here and now. Yes, God’s realm, “the kingdom” requires our attention, and eternity will tend to us if we get out of our own way. The Sacraments are our opportunities to experience heaven here and now, and our touchstones to feel heaven’s presence again, later today, tomorrow, and the next day. One hour of peace a week is not enough for anyone! We must surrender to Christ’s peace continually. This is what Saint Paul meant when he wrote “you will be saved by faith.”

This is what the Church means when she says the Sacraments engage us in eternal verities.  Of course, it is not a matter of our concentration alone. No, it is  – far more a surrender to the Christ who knows our humanity better than we do. The best we can do is admit our distractions, worries, fears at Mass, and merge them into our prayer, consciously asking  Jesus for His help in making us present to deeper realities—seeing our needs in a bigger context.  

A PARENT with an infant: first objective may be to get the child to sleep so mom or dad could get back to  paying bills, or cleaning up dinner, or making phone calls. But when the child smiles and stares into their eyes, they have an opportunity for something greater. There’s eternity in the child’s smile, his or her sparkling eyes. All the work to be done can vanishes from their minds if they let it. If they do – and it is always a choice – they will find themselves in the perfect present – that’s eternity’s realm. If they are smart, they will savor it. They will hear Jesus say, “have faith in God, and faith in me, we are engaging you in eternity.” 

And should the child cry uncontrollably, while they are trying everything possible to soothe and comfort, they might do well to think beyond that moment and recognize in one infants’ pain or fear, the pain, and fears of the universe — the cries of victims of war, of hostage, of insult and degradation. 

Perhaps, with this larger image in mind, think and feel beyond their own frustration, their own fears. Then, they may experience both irony and mystery as the parents find themselves crying along with their infant. And with that vulnerability, of feeling out-of-control, they just might allow the voice of Jesus to say again and again: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” That is when the best decisions can be made = be it for a crying child, for the parent, for anybody in distress. 

We must bring the words of Jesus to heart time and time again. Life comprises far more than just our personal thinking and doing. There is Jesus’s words and ways of thinking that insist eternity is waiting for us in the here and now. The Kingdom of God is at hand. 

Remember the words of the biblical Job, who, in the midst of his suffering cries out: “I will see God:²⁷ I will see for myself, my own eyes, not another’s, will behold him: my inmost being is consumed with longing.”   Eternity beckons even in the most difficult of situations. 

Jesus’ words to Nicodemus are for us, too. But we must believe them, internalize them, appeal to them, surrender to them: “so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” Lord, we believe! And help our unbelief!