Gospel (Jn 3:16-21)
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.
Commentary
In today’s liturgy we listen to the final part of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus. In the previous two parts, we heard that what our Lord is announcing to us is the new Life that the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ death on the Cross will bring us. Today we are reminded that this entire message of salvation is born from the love of God the Father for his sons and daughters.
At the same time, Jesus reminds Nicodemus – and all of us – that if we want to live the Life of God and walk in his light, we must distance ourselves from evil deeds since they obscure our supernatural vision. “For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed” (v. 20).
Our Lord thus reminds Nicodemus that our actions influence our ability to recognize God when he passes through our lives. Jesus tells us that good actions draw us into God’s light and bad actions cast us into darkness. Our deeds affect our relationship with God and the clarity of our vision.
What we need to see above all is that God’s love is always present, that he so loved the world that he gave his Son for us. Each of us needs to learn how to recognize this. Today Jesus is teaching us that we need to strive to keep our eyes of faith clean through our good works, so as to be able to joyfully recognize God’s tender love for each of us.