Gospel (Jn 3,14-21) - At that time, Jesus said to Nicodèmo: «Just as Moses raised the serpent in the desert, so the Son of Man must be raised, so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. In fact, God loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten Son so that whoever believes in him should not be lost but have eternal life. In fact, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned; but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."And the judgment is this: the light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness more than the light, because their works were evil. For whoever does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be condemned. Instead, he who does the truth comes towards the light, so that it may clearly appear that his works were done in God."

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

We are more than halfway through the Lenten pilgrimage and the liturgy of the Church, interrupting for a moment the austerity of this time, invites us to "rejoice". Even the color of the liturgical vestments fades from purple, the color of penance and mourning, to "pink", to underline this moment of joy. It might seem almost out of place, indeed jarring, to push us to rejoice just as violence continues to claim victims. Yet, the Church wants us to remember this Sunday even more appropriately, that of Easter, of Jesus' victory over death, over every death with its resurrection of a new life saved from evil. We could say that just as the destructive power of evil is growing, the liturgy aims to anticipate Easter, almost hasten it. The Church invites us to strengthen hope where a climate of illness, pain and death prevails. And she helps us understand the reasons for our hope, also opening our eyes to what is happening and why.
In the second book of Chronicles the author links the fall of Jerusalem and the subsequent exile in Babylon to the infidelity of the people to the commands of the Lord: "In those days all the leaders of Judah, the priests and the people multiplied their infidelities.. .they mocked the messengers of God, despised his words and mocked his prophets to the point that the wrath of the Lord against his people reached its peak, without remedy”. Evil - one could say - increases his wickedness if he is left free due to the indifference of men focused only on themselves and forgetful of love, especially for the weakest. The Lenten journey becomes an opportune time to free oneself from one's self-referentiality and raise one's gaze towards the crucified and risen Lord. It is he who saves us from evil, even from the pandemic. It is towards the Lord that we must turn our eyes, our prayer and our hope.
The elderly Nicodemus heard Jesus respond more or less in this way. And being reborn for him meant looking up again. Jesus reminded him of the episode of the serpent raised by Moses in the desert which saved the lives of the Israelites bitten by poisonous snakes. A real massacre took place in those days. We could also compare to that tragic scene those affected by the bites of Covid as well as by the many other deadly viruses such as war and loneliness. Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” For the evangelist, Jesus "raised" is not an image that should arouse useless pity or naive compassion; that cross is the source of life; a generous and limitless source, free and abundant: "God loved the world so much - continues the evangelist - that he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life".
Anyone who is affected by the poisonous bites of today's snakes simply needs to turn their eyes towards that "exalted" man and find healing. Jesus himself will later say: “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself” (12.32). Salvation, like the meaning of life, does not come from us or from our human traditions. Salvation is given to us. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul writes: "God, being rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our sins, made us alive together with Christ; for by grace you have been saved" (2, 4). The motif of "rejoicing" returns to which this Sunday's liturgy reminds us; we can rejoice like the prodigal son who, upon returning home, discovers how much the Father's love is enormously greater than his sin and his wickedness.