“For God so loved the world”…one could argue that these words that we hear in today’s Gospel set up for us for all that follows in the Gospel of John -- all of Jesus’ words and healings and miracles…everything. Yes, even the cross or should I say, “especially the cross”!
In the Gospel of John everything needs to be viewed and understood through this reality: that all of God’s saving actions have happened, and continue to happen, precisely because God so deeply and passionately loves us and loves this world!
I know you hear me say this over and over again, but please understand this is the reason that I do what I do. It is why I am still here today…to share this amazing truth that each one of you are deeply and passionately loved by God…just as you are!
Now, I could do a reading of today’s text using strictly a historical critical methodology or perhaps the textual critical method or even a sociological methodology, but all of them fail in the awesomeness -- yes, I just said “awesomeness” -- of this reality that God is, above all else, love! Yes, the very essence of that Divinity which created all that exists…is love! And we are the object of that Love!
Imagine what our lives could look like if each one of us lived as if we were the “beloved of God”! So in this fourth week of Lent it may seem peculiar in the midst of all of the suffering in the world, in the midst of our own pain and sorrow to talk of God’s audacious love for us. But I think not.
Yes, in the midst of all of the pain and suffering, in the midst of wars and injustices of the world and of our lives, we need, very much, to reflect on how deeply and passionately we are love by God!
In the midst of our Lenten prayer, fasting and almsgiving we need to ask ourselves “why,”…why am I praying, why am I fasting and why am I giving alms…because I am so deeply and passionately loved by God? What do I have to do to open my heart wider to God’s love for me? Do I really believe that God loves all people equally…even my enemies?
How can I share God’s deep and passionate love for all human beings with others? Based on God’s love for all of us, how do I respond to situations of subtle or outright racism, bigotry, or misogyny? How do I respond to anti- LGBTQ words or actions or anti-immigrant and refugee words and actions or just plain selfishness and refusal to care for “the other” as a child of God? And through what environmentally conscious acts can I show my understanding that God’s love is for all of creation?
As we just celebrated International Women’s Day on Friday and celebrate Women’s History Month, this month, how do I celebrate and give thanks for the lives, the gifts and talents of the all the women in my life and all the women down through history, and today, who have, in both large ways and in small ways, “leaned in” and “persisted” in the face of misogyny and abuse, and have made our lives and this world a better place? To all women, young and not so young, thank you, for all you have done and all you continue to do! Thank You!
Lenten blessings,
Fr. Tim