Patrick Comerford
Next Sunday, 8 March 2020, is the Second Sunday in Lent.
The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary, as adapted for use in the Church of Ireland, are:
The Readings Genesis 12: 1-4a; Psalm 121; Romans 4: 1-5, 13-17; John 3: 1-17.
There is a link to the readings HERE
At the end of this posting is a YouTube video of Luke Jerram’s installation of the Earth, which can be seen in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, from 15 March for a week. Parishes with projecting facilities or Bible study groups on the theme of the weekly Gospel reading may consider using this to introduce a discussion of the theme ‘For God so loved the world’ (John 3: 16).
There is an optional Gospel reading: Matthew 17: 1-9. However, this is only read as the Gospel reading if Option B (Matthew 7: 21-29) was read on the Sunday before Lent. As this is the account of the Transfiguration, it is not used when the Sunday before Lent has been observed as Transfiguration Sunday.
The resources for Transfiguration Sunday this year (the Sunday before Lent, 23 February 2020) are available HERE.
Introducing the readings:
The Gospel readings in the Revised Common Lectionary through Year A are drawn, primarily, from Saint Matthew’s Gospel. However, there are exceptions, including four of the six Sundays in Lent (Lent II, III, IV and V), when the Gospel readings are from Saint John’s Gospel:
Lent I (8 March 2020): John 3: 1-17: Jesus meets Nicodemus by night
Lent II (15 March 2020): John 4: 5-42: Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well in Sychar
Lent III (22 March 2020): John 9: 1-41: Jesus meets a blind man who is healed at Siloam
Lent IV (29 March 2020): John 11: 1-45: Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead in Bethany.
All these are marginalised people in the eyes of the Gospel reader:
Nicodemus meets Jesus in the dark, and later, before darkness falls, claims the body of the crucified Christ and helps to bury him (see John 19: 38-42).
The Samaritan woman is an outsider because of her gender, ethnicity, language and lifestyle, yet she becomes one of the great pre-Resurrection missionaries, for ‘many … believed in Jesus because of this woman’s testimony’
The blind man is marginalised, not simply because of his physical condition, but because he is believed to have inherited ancestral guilt, and when he is healed he is driven out, but when he meets and sees Jesus again, he declares: ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worships him.
Lazarus is dead, but his death brings Martha to proclaim, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah.’ And because of this miracle, many of the people present ‘believed in him.’
Each of these Gospel stories is an invitation to move from darkness to light, from unbelief or past beliefs to faith, from seeing to doing. And each reading moves us closer and closer to Jerusalem, to Palm Sunday and Holy Week, to the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, through Lent to its climax on Easter Day.
On behalf of the Biblical Association for the Church of Ireland (BACI), Dr Margaret Daly-Denton has prepared Caring for the Garden of the Earth, a five-part Bible study for Lent 2020. This study, which has been commended in the Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe by Bishop Kenneth Kearon, draws on readings in Saint John’s Gospel, including some of these Gospel readings this year.
Next Sunday’s readings challenge us to abandon our old ways of thinking, and instead to follow Christ on this journey to his Crucifixion and Resurrection. We are challenged too, to consider what is holding us back? What keeps us rooted in old ways, those old places in our minds or hearts – those deadening rather than life-affirming places – that block us from taking up this challenge? Where do we find faith and new life?
Genesis 12: 1-4a:
Abram, who is to become Abraham, has been wandering with his father Terah, his wife Sarai, who is to become Sarah, and his nephew Lot. Over the years they migrated to the region near the northern fertile region of the Tigris and Euphrates, the region of Mesopotamia (between the rivers), present-day Iraq and Iran and parts of east Syria and south-east Turkey.
The family settled in Haran, where Terah dies and Abram becomes the leader of the clan. In time, his descendants would be reminded constantly: ‘A wandering Aramaean was my father’ (see Deuteronomy 25: 6).
God now makes a pact with Abram. If Abram leaves behind his land, his extended family and, with them, leaves both his pagan past and this semi-nomadic lifestyle, and they live in ‘the land that I will show you,’ God will honour him in seven ways:
1, make his descendants ‘a great nation’
2, bless him
3, make his name great
4, make him ‘a blessing’
5, bless those who bless him
6, curse the one who curses him
7, see to it that through his descendants, ‘all the families of the earth shall be blessed
The number seven here indicates that God’s promise is a perfect promise.
By now, Abram is in his old age, he is 75. He could have no realistic prospect of seeing this perfect promise being fulfilled. But he still responds in faith, and sets out for Canaan, as God asks him to, and so begins our journey of faith.
Psalm 121:
Imagine the writer of Psalm 121 setting out as a pilgrim on a journey or pilgrimage to the hill country, perhaps to Mount Zion and the Temple in Jerusalem, perhaps to hill country where earlier people imagined pagan gods were dwelling.
As he looks up to the hills, he asks himself, perhaps rhetorically, ‘from where is my help to come?’
He then answers his own question: his help comes from God, the creator.
He then hears another voice, perhaps a priest in the Temple, tells him of God’s protection of his people: God is always vigilant in protecting the pilgrims’ path, protecting them along the way against the sun and inclement weather, by day and by night, protecting them against all evil, not only through their own lives, but ‘from this time forth for evermore.’
Romans 4: 1-5, 13-17:
The Apostle Paul has written that one can attain a right relationship with God through faith, without living by Mosaic law. Here he takes Abraham as an example, and he asks what we can learn from Abraham’s life and faith.
In Jewish tradition, it was said that Abraham kept the Law before it was revealed to Moses on Mount Saint, and so he was godly or ‘justified’ by his works, by obeying the law, even though it had not been revealed.
However, Saint Paul rejects this. Instead, he says, what matters was Abraham’s faith which showed his trust in God, even before he was circumcised. Instead, Abraham’s circumcision confirms that right relationship with God, which is founded on his faith.
In this way, Abraham is the ancestor of all who trust in God, both Jews and non-Jews.
The promise to Abraham that he would inherit the world by being the ancestor of many nations came because of his faith, not because of his law-keeping. It would be impossible to keep every single law, so if this is the demand on us, sin is inevitable, bringing with it punishment and wrath. But all who live by faith have a right relationship with God, receiving his grace and love, which are promised not only to Jews but to all those who trust in God.
John 3: 1-17:
Nicodemus is a prominent Pharisee, a teacher and a member of the Sanhedrin. His name in Greek, Νικοδημος (Nikodemos) means ‘victory of the people,’ derived from the Greek νικη (nike), ‘victory’ and δημος (demos), ‘the people.’
Nicodemus does not appear in the Synoptic gospels, but appears three times in this Gospel:
1, He visits Christ one night to discuss Christ’s teachings (John 3: 1-21)
2, He reminds his colleagues in the Sanhedrin that the law requires that a person be heard before being judged (John 7: 50-51)
3, After the Crucifixion, he provides the embalming spices and assists Joseph of Arimathea in preparing the body of Christ for burial (John 19: 39-42)
In this first encounter, Nicodemus comes to Christ by night. Perhaps he did not want to be seen consulting Jesus, a newly-arrived rabbi who has already caused a stir in Jerusalem. But we should also keep in mind the poetic and dramatic way in which Saint John draws on contrasting images: heaven and earth, water and wine, seeing and believing, faith and understanding, truth and falseness; and here we have the contrast between darkness and light. The world that is in darkness is being brought into the light of Christ.
In Christ’s time, the Second Temple period, the Great Sanhedrin of 71 judges – drawn from priests, Levites and respected Jews – met in the Temple every day except festivals and the sabbath. In the Jewish religious law and tradition, there are 613 commandments or mitzvot in the Torah or the Law of Moses. The negative commandments number 365, said to equal the number of days in the solar year; the positive commandments number 248, said to equal the number of bones and main organs in the human body.
As a good and pious Pharisee and a hard-working member of the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus was well-qualified to adjudicate on these 613 commandments. But, to draw on ideas in our other Lectionary readings, despite his positive attitudes to the Mosaic Law, what is the foundation of his faith?
Nicodemus opens the conversation by referring to the signs, an important theme and key to understanding the Fourth Gospel. And he confesses a simple faith in Christ as a teacher sent by God. But Saint John the Baptist has already been described as a man sent by God (John 1: 6). So that is not enough – that is simply an understanding of Christ without faith. At this point, Nicodemus has seen but does not believe; he has insight but does not have faith.
The reply from Jesus puts the emphasis back on faith rather than on understanding, on believing more than seeing. The Kingdom of God is not entered because of moral achievement, but because of transformation brought about by God.
This shift in emphasis on believing rather that seeing is repeated throughout this Gospel, and reaches its climax when Thomas refuses to believe without seeing, but then confesses his faith in Christ as ‘My Lord and my God!’ (John 20: 28).
There is a contrast between what Nicodemus sees and what those of faith may see. To ‘see’ the Kingdom of God is not possible literally at that moment in time. For Christ, in this saying, to see is to experience. To experience the world in the light of the insights of the New Testament is so radically different an experience that it is like being born anew, being born once again. In this first encounter with Christ, Nicodemus comes secretly, by night. He has understood from the signs or miracles that Jesus is from God. But Christ tells him that he has not yet understood the main point: to ‘see the kingdom of God,’ spiritual rebirth is required.
However, Nicodemus misunderstands what he hears. He thinks Christ is speaking about a second physical, natural birth from a mother’s womb.
But Jesus tells him that both physical or natural birth and spiritual birth are needed: ‘You (plural) must be born from above’ [verse 7].
Flesh and spirit were seen as constituents of life, with spirit (πνεῦμα pneuma, breath, wind) as the life-giving force. Many things can be seen only in their effect; such is birth in the Spirit. Still Nicodemus does not understand: to understand, he needs to have faith. But if Nicodemus does not understand teachings expressed in analogies (‘earthly things’), how can you possibly believe heavenly things?
The second part of this reading (verse 13-17) is a monologue that continues through to the end of verse 21.
Christ refers to the serpent Moses lift ed up in the wilderness (see Numbers 21: 9-11). The people were bitten by poisonous snakes; some died, others were ill, until Moses lifted up a bronze snake on a pole. Those who looked at this sign, trusting in God, were healed, lifted up and given life. The writer of the Book of Wisdom calls the serpent a symbol of salvation (Wisdom 16: 6). But this verse also recalls the earlier remark to Nathanael that he would see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man (see John 1: 51).
God in his love provides eternal life to all who believe. If we wilfully do not believe, we will perish but have eternal life. God’s intention is that we believe, rather than be condemned, and Christ was sent into the world so that we might be saved.
Two much-quoted verses in this Gospel story:
This story contains two of the most quoted passages in Saint John’s Gospel:
Verse 5: ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above (or born again)’
Verse 16: ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life’
Verse 5: Being born from above or being born again
The key word here is ἄνωθεν which has the double meaning of ‘from above’ and ‘again.’ The phrase translated as ‘being born from above’ in the NRSV (γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν) could also be translated as ‘born anew’ (RSV); or it may mean ‘from the upper country’ (physically or geographically), or ‘from above,’ ‘from heaven.’
A new birth, a second birth, getting a whole new take on life, a new beginning, a fresh, refreshing start … what does it mean here?
As the story unfolds, we see how difficult it was for Nicodemus to understand what Christ was saying.
Entry into the kingdom experience, birth into the new order, is through water, or baptism (see John 1: 33; Ephesians 5: 26) and through the Spirit (see Ezekiel 36: 25-27; Titus 3: 6-7). These are not separate actions – recall how the Spirit descended and remained on Christ at his Baptism by John (see John 1: 32-34).
Our present-day use of the term ‘born-again,’ although derived from this event in Saint John’s Gospel, can only be traced to American evangelicalism in the second half of the 20th century.
Saint John’s Gospel is written in Koine Greek, and the original text is ambiguous, resulting in a double entendre that Nicodemus misunderstands. The word translated as ‘again’ is ἄνωθεν (ánōthen), which could mean either ‘a second time’ or ‘from above.’
It is not the same phrase as that rendered as ‘born again’ in some Bible translations of I Peter: ‘Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever’ (I Peter 1: 23, KJV). The Greek phrase used there is ἀναγεγεννημένοι (anagegennēménoi).
Until the 20th century, most of the discussion about these verses focussed on questions about baptismal regeneration. Article 15 in the 39 Articles seems to imply that all who are baptised are ‘born again in Christ’ (which is not the phrase used in this reading). Article 27 says, ‘Baptism is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference … but it is also a sign of Regeneration or new Birth …’
Despite its present-day application, the term ‘born again’ has been widely associated with evangelical Christians only since the late 1960s, beginning in the US. The phrase ‘born again’ came to refer to a particular type of individual conversion experience – although the plural is used grammatically in verse 7.
The phrase increased in use after 1976, when the Watergate conspirator Chuck Colson published his book Born Again. Time magazine named him ‘one of the 25 most influential Evangelicals in America,’ and the term had become so prevalent that during that year’s presidential campaign Jimmy Carter described himself as ‘born again’ in an interview.
But Nicodemus could not have anticipated late 20th century, evangelical, American interpretations of this phrase, let alone decide to answer Jesus’s words in an individual way that is expected in the modern ‘born again’ movement.
So, what would a pious Jew and rabbi who adhered to Jewish law and who was a contemporary of Nicodemus have understood by Jesus’ words in this reading?
According to the Mishnah, the duty of loving God ‘with all your soul’ (see Deuteronomy 6: 5) means ‘even if he takes your soul.’ Love of God is a total commitment – unto death. In commenting on this insight in the Mishnah, the rabbis quoted the psalms, ‘Because of you we are being killed all day long, and accounted as sheep for the slaughter’ (Psalm 44: 22, NRSVA).
Rabbi Simeon ben Menasya asked what it could possibly mean for a righteous person to die many times throughout the day. He answered: ‘It is not possible for one to be killed every day; but God reckons the life of the pious as though they died a martyr’s death daily’ (Sifre Deuteronomy, 32).
In the rabbinic tradition, when the people in the wilderness heard the words of the Decalogue revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai, the revelation struck death into their hearts.
Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said, ‘At each and every word which issued from the Holy One, blessed be He, the soul of Israel departed, as it is said ‘My soul departed when he spoke [Songs 5: 6]. But when their soul departed after the first commandment, how did they receive the second commandment? He brought down the dew that will resurrect the dead in the future and resurrected them, as it is said, “A beautiful rain you released, O God”.’ [Psalm 68: 10]
In this way, the Ten Commandments were imparted to the people through a succession of deaths and rebirths. In other versions, death and rebirth come with direct encounters with God’s glory. God assigns the miraculous rebirth of each of the 600,000 present to two angels: one raised a person’s head so he could continue to encounter God face-to-face, the other clasped the person’s breast so his heart could not escape.*
In this way, an encounter with the living God brings death and rebirth, a rabbinic tradition that a pious rabbi like Nicodemus would be familiar with.
The longing for spiritual transcendence is expressed through overcoming material desire. A life imprisoned by desire is a living death, but dying into God by total self-giving brings true life.
This tradition of interpretation continued into the Middle Ages. Rabbi Yehuda Halevi (1075/1086-1141), in one of his poems, says he would gladly die, for life without God ‘is death’:
O Lord! all my desire is towards you,
even if it does not rise to speech.
Grant me your favour a mere moment –
and I would die.
Please grant me my wish, and I will commit
my spirit to your keeping.
I would sleep, and my sleep be sweet.
For when I am far from you –
my life is death;
and were I to cleave to you –
my death would be life!
But I don’t know what to do,
what I should bring to you in service.
In other words, in the rabbinic tradition, life without God is like death, but life committed to loving God with the whole heart is lived as though I had died and had been given back my life as new life by God.
In line with rabbinic tradition, Nicodemus would have left challenged to ask whether he needed to move beyond the Law to an encounter with the living God, that brings death and rebirth. Later, at the Crucifixion, he encounters death again and finds new life as he takes hold of the Body of Christ.
‘God so loved man (humanity)’ ... Guizhou Theological Training Centre in Guiyang Province in central China (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)Verse 16: God so loved the ‘cosmos’
For many people, verse 16 is a summary of the whole Gospel. Martin Luther called this much-quoted verse ‘the Gospel in miniature.’ It is a favourite inscription to place on the outside walls of churches in China. But it is often translated in Chinese as ‘God so loved man (humanity) …’ It is not that God so loved the saved, or even all of humanity, or even the world, but that God so loved the cosmos (κόσμος), the whole created order, that he gave, or rather sent (ἔδωκεν, from δίδωμι) his only-begotten Son.
In Pythagorean thinking – and remember that John was in exile on Patmos, the neighbouring island of Samos, where Pythagoras was born – the cosmos (κόσμος) includes the arrangement of the stars, ‘the heavenly hosts,’ as the ornament of the heavens (see I Peter 3: 3). It is not just the whole world, but the whole universe, the whole created order. It is earth and all that encircles the earth like its skin.
The original tells us that God so loved the κόσμος – the whole pulsating, created order as imagined by Pythagoras and the philosophers – God so loved the cosmos that he sent his only son … [Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν Υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν …] Not that he gave insipidly, but that he sent actively, sent him on a mission. And this love is the beginning of missio Dei, God’s mission – he sent (ἔδωκεν, from δίδωμι) his only-begotten Son.
The statue of Pythagoras by Nikolaos Ikaris (1989) on the harbour front in Pythagóreio on the Greek island of Samos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)What happened to Nicodemus?
What happened to Nicodemus after this reading? And what makes this an appropriate Gospel reading at an early stage in Lent?
This is his first of three appearances in this Gospel. We shall meet him again when he states the law concerning the arrest of Jesus during the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7: 45-51).
The third time follows the Crucifixion, when he helps Joseph of Arimathea in taking the body of Christ down from the cross before dark, and preparing the body for burial (John 19: 39-42).
Compare the unfolding faith of Nicodemus in these three encounters with the way Peter is going to deny Christ three times.
So, in this Gospel reading, in the story of Nicodemus, birth is linked with death, new birth is linked with new life, and before darkness falls he really comes to possess the Body of Christ, to hold the Body of Christ in his hands.
It is an appropriate Gospel reading for an early stage of Lent, as we prepare to recall the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ; he becomes a full communicant member of the Church.
John 3: 1-17 (NRSVA):
1 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2 He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ 3 Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ 4 Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ 5 Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” 8 The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ 9 Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ 10 Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
11 ‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
17 ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.’
Liturgical Resources:
Liturgical Colour: Violet
The canticle Gloria may be omitted in Lent.
Traditionally in Anglicanism, the doxology or Gloria at the end of Canticles and Psalms is also omitted during Lent.
Penitential Kyries:
In the wilderness we find your grace:
you love us with an everlasting love.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
There is none but you to uphold our cause;
our sin cries out and our guilt is great.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Heal us, O Lord, and we shall be healed;
Restore us and we shall know your joy.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty God,
you show to those who are in error the light of your truth
that they may return to the way of righteousness:
Grant to all those who are admitted
into the fellowship of Christ’s religion,
that they may reject those things
that are contrary to their profession,
and follow all such things
as are agreeable to the same;
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Collect of the Word:
God of mercy,
you are full of tenderness and compassion,
slow to anger, rich in mercy,
and always ready to forgive:
grant us grace to renounce all evil and to cling to Christ,
that in every way we may prove to be your loving children;
through Jesus Christ our Lord
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
The Lenten Collect:
Almighty and everlasting God,
you hate nothing that you have made
and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent:
Create and make in us new and contrite hearts
that we, worthily lamenting our sins
and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may receive from you, the God of all mercy,
perfect remission and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This Collect may be said after the Collect of the Day until Easter Eve
Introduction to the Peace:
Being justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5: 1, 2)
Preface:
Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who was in every way tempted as we are yet did not sin;
by whose grace we are able to overcome all our temptations:
Post-Communion Prayer:
Creator of heaven and earth,
we thank you for these holy mysteries
given us by our Lord Jesus Christ,
by which we receive your grace
and are assured of your love,
which is through him now and for ever.
Blessing:
Christ give you grace to grow in holiness,
to deny yourselves,
and to take up your cross and follow him:
Suggested Hymns:
Genesis 12: 1-4a:
349, Fill thou my life, O Lord my God
657, O God of Bethel, by whose hand
658, One more step along the world I go
545, Sing of Eve and sing of Adam
323, The God of Abraham praise
Psalm 121:
349, Fill thou my life, O Lord my God
14, I lift my eyes to the quiet hills
16, Like a mighty river flowing
664, To Zion’s hill I lift my eyes
Romans 4: 1-5, 13-17:
400, And now, O Father, mindful of the love
John 3: 1-17:
562, Blessèd assurance, Jesus is mine
87, Christ is the world’s light, he and none other
411, Draw near and take the body of the Lord
319, Father, of heaven, whose love profound
352, Give thanks with a grateful heart
353, Give to our God immortal praise
3, God is love: let heaven adore him
226, It is a thing most wonderful
698, Jesus, Saviour of the world
484, Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim
303, Lord of the Church, we pray for our renewing
227, Man of sorrows! What a name
102, Name of all majesty
305, O Breath of life, come sweeping through us
237, O my Saviour, lifted
307, Our great Redeemer, as he breathed
108, Praise to the Holiest in the height
241, Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle
341, Spirit divine, attend our prayers
386, Spirit of God, unseen as the wind
373, To God be the glory! Great things he has done!
* see Michael Fishblane, The Kiss of God: Spiritual and Mystical Death in Judaism (Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1994), p 16-50
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.
The hymn suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000).
‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life’ (John 3: 16) … Luke Jerram’s installation of the Earth can be seen in Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick, from 15 March for a week.
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