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.
It’s become almost cliché, on billboards, T-shirts, signs at football games. And yet, no matter how many passages of scripture, poems and hymns try to express something as inexpressible as God’s love, none seem to capture the heart of our faith so completely as John 3:16.
God so loved the world.
From Palm Sunday through to Easter, this love punctuates the telling of our story. We feel it thrumming through the week, these echoes of divine love.
We see love in a teacher stooping in the dust and dirt to wash the grime from calloused feet. In bread that is broken, in wine that is poured and shared. We see love accepted even in the face of betrayal and denial.
We see love in deep anguish and fervent prayer in a hushed garden, and a burden willingly accepted. We see love carry the cross to its final destination. We see love draw a final breath, forgiving even those who crucify him, extending grace even from the darkest of places.
What but the greatest love could break the chains of death and roll away the stone? What but love could speak a name so tenderly – Mary – soothing grief and sparking joy. What wondrous love is this?
When we consider the enormity of this love, it’s almost too much to grasp. God sent his only son, took on all of the uncertainty and pain and joy and anxiety of being human, only to hand himself over to death, and by that death to win for us eternal life, so that all of us – you and I – will have everlasting life.
Mary would run to tell the others, the eyes of Cleopas and his wife were opened, Thomas would exclaim, “My Lord and my God!” One by one, each follower of Jesus would turn this wondrous love back into the world.
Faced with the enormity of this love, what else can we do but give our thanks and praise and let that love flow through our lives like living water? What other response can we have but to show that love to the whole of creation, to every neighbour and to the very earth itself?
It can be all too easy to settle for cynicism, getting even, meanness and apathy in these modern times. Polarization, suspicion and distrust greet us at almost every turn. And yet the thrumming love that flows from the empty tomb awakens in us the divine song of love. And we can’t help but love. We can’t help but turn love back into the world. It’s who we are!
Love so amazing, so divine. A love unknown. A wondrous love. For God so loved the world.
