Fourth Sunday in Lent 2021 B

INTRO: Everybody knows it….
When adults see a child walking toward them with their hands “lifted up”…
For sure that child:
Wants to be picked up and held,
Or
Wants to be raised up,
Or
Wants to be lifted up.

The Scripture today uses that line “lifted up”:

“Moses lifted up the serpent in the dessert,
Just like the Son of Man was lifted up on the cross”

The purpose of lifting up in both of these biblical scenarios of the serpent and the Son of Man was for the crowds below.
The crowds below were to LOOK UP to be healed and to believe in God’s power to save.

The Israelites had to look up to the serpent on the pole in order to be healed.

And those gathered around the cross of the crucified Jesus had to look up in order to believe that this truly is the Son of God

You and I we look up to the skies to see the weather.
We look up to the skies to see the stars, the sun, and the moon.

In the practice of our Catholic faith we look up to the cross and we see Jesus lifted up and His great sacrifice which He made for our salvation.

The lifting up is an important gesture in our Christian lives today and especially during this Lenten season. It involves lifting up others.

-Coaches do this to team mates all the time. They boost them to better participation in the game, they encourage.

-Teachers as well spend time in their classrooms raising up their students in the learning process.

-Priests elevate parishioners with the consolation of the sacraments, especially with anointing and last rites.

-Each of us, anytime we compliment another human being, those people are then ….. Raised up, lifted up and feel great! We brighten the world which is so good to do!

CONCLUSION

We all know these are CHANGED times in which we live; confusing, complicated, different, unbelievable, and perplexing.

This age-old action of lifting up could be used well by each of us. LIFT UP the people around you and as you LOOK UP at the cross, believe in God’s power to save us from these times in which we live.