Once again, the Church offers a curious combination of Readings, with an important underlying theme. We hear first from the last chapter of the Second Book of Chronicles where, the historian reflects on the events in the life of Judah and Jerusalem and, as historians tend to do, offers a reflection on their meaning. The Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem, burned the Temple and exiled the king and the residents of the land to alien countries. Others, who are not of their heritage, were then forcibly settled in Judah. All of this took place in 586BC.

The historian, likely a priest, solemnly notes that it was due to the sinfulness of the kings, the priests, and the people of Judah that God chastised his people and removed them from the land. They sinned, grievously for generations, and had turned their backs on the covenant. God, while not forsaking the covenant, allowed them to suffer the consequences of their sinfulness. Chastised, they are never abandoned and in a matter of 70 years are allowed to return to the land and to rebuild, over time, Jerusalem, its walls and, most importantly, the Temple.

We contrast this with the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, a Pharisee, who discretely comes to speak with Jesus. Fearing that the others from his party will suspect him being a disciple of Jesus, Nicodemus comes at night, a sign that while searching he is still in the darkness. Nicodemus directly asks Jesus the key question that really frames Jesus’ ministry throughout John’s Gospel: “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Nicodemus is at first confused as Jesus tells him that he must be “born again.” Nicodemus imagines that Jesus is talking about some form of reincarnation, which makes no sense to his Jewish mind. So he challenges Jesus to clarify his point. This being-born-again, Jesus explains, comes not through the normal means of human birth, but through the waters of Baptism. It is through this sharing in the very Death of Jesus that we come into our inheritance. This teaching from Jesus was something new for Nicodemus. There is no direct parallel teaching in Judaism.

Jesus is now speaking of a transformation in the very understanding of death itself. While the Jews knew from the Scriptures and the account of the sin of Adam and Eve that death was a consequence of sin, Jesus is now introducing a new teaching: that death itself is the gateway to eternal life. Death now is not to be feared but rather to be seen as liberation from the world of temptation and sin.

But Jesus takes this to yet another level. The sacrificial Death that Jesus is to make on the Cross is a manifestation of the totality of the love of God for the world he created. Eternal life is the consequence of our response-in-faith to the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. Jesus, then, dies on the Cross bringing an end to death itself. Those who are baptized die to Christ in the waters of the font and live in the promise of life eternal.

This provides, then, the insight as to why we heard the reading from 2 Chronicles as a precursor to the Gospel. While Jerusalem was destroyed, the Lord restored the city, the Temple, and the people to the land of promise. The covenant is secure, the Lord remains faithful. The Lord seeks not our death or demise, his is not solely to punish and to destroy, but through infinite love to bring us to restoration and peace, and to allow us to actually share in the promise of eternal life.

This revolutionary insight from Jesus colors the way we read the Old Testament. All of God’s actions in history – his judgment against Judah through the Babylonians – is a manifestation of God’s love and not anger, vengeance, or retribution.

Salvation and eternal life then are free gifts offered to us out of the love that God has for his creation. The death of Jesus, though an expiation for sin, is not borne of vengeance or anger, but of God’s love for his people.

Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.