PRI Reflections on Scripture • 9-14-24- Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Finding God In Our Hearts with Msgr. Don Fischer

Gospel

John 3:13-17

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.

Reflection

Nicodemus is one of the leading Pharisees and wanted to know more about Jesus. He was curious about the way he interpreted the Torah. And so Jesus gives him images to think about, and this image is really a powerful one because it says, what Jesus is trying to say, is that the Messiah that is coming is coming to destroy evil.

And when serpents were attacking the Israelites, he reminds him that Moses lifted up one of the serpents, it’s like evil being exposed for what it is, and then he says clearly, I am coming into the world to be lifted up, and my lifting up, my crucifixion will be a healing force in your life, and evil will no longer have the strength it had before.

Closing Prayer

Father, we struggle always with our weaknesses, with our faults. We think sometimes the world has come under the power of evil. But let us always remember that you've made a promise. Yes, evil will be manifested, we need to see it for what it is, but it will never win. It will never conquer the good. Because of Jesus death on the cross. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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