Text: The Holy Gospel According to St. John 3:16-18
"For God so loved the world, said Saint John, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God."
When God created the heavens and the earth, our Lord moved upon the face of the deep and created this cosmos and earth in Love. This Love was focused upon the whole of creation. When St. John speaks of God so loving the world, he speaks of God so loving mankind, the world, and the whole of creation. We are part of a whole. And God does not do anything half way when God loves.
The fingerprint of God is upon all things, beloved.
St. John spoke of the eternal Word of God in the beginning, at the head of all things (Hebrew "b'rishith" carries with it the idea of the head of all things, the beginning, Greek, "en arche").
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.
How many of us would give our only Son?
Many have done this.
Yet, God has done this in giving his only Son.
The Holy Trinity, One God, gave the Son. The Father gave, the Holy Spirit gave, the Son gave all and became in our midst Immanuel, God with us.
What mystery is this!
God gave his Son, his only Son.
One can repeat it over and over, but it cannot be comprehended in its completeness!
It is high! Yet, God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself!
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."
How is this so?
Nicodemas asks this question when he asked about being born of the Spirit. This is like the Spirit that blows and moves upon the waters of Genesis 1:1-2, and out of the movement of the Spirit of God, (Hebrew, "ruach ha elohim," Greek, "pneuma tou theou"), God brings forth something new from the dead and barren (wasteland and empty) that which is alive and productive.
Beloved, God does not create junk! God saw what he created and that it was good.
In II Corinthians 5:17, St. Paul says -- if we are in Christ, we are new creations in Christ!
Why is this so? Because,
"For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him."
God does not send his only Son to accomplish "the great failure."
God sends forth his Son in the weakness of human flesh – God with us, to share with us in his weakness the Strength of the Lord.
God sends his only Son to the successful completion of the plan of the Holy trinity -- and to accomplish what his Word accomplishes! The Word became Flesh and dwelled amongst us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ!
Grace makes us new creations. Grace is given. Salvation is by grace through faith. (Ephesians 2:8-10ff)
The marvel of this is seen in the next verse.
"He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God."
This is not 'solafidianism,' or a doctrine of "faith alone" that does not understand what St. Paul teaches us in Romans 1:5, 6.
This is the obedience of faith, because true faith, the faith that saves, is never alone.
Grace produces works that God produces through the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the ever-present Jesus.
Grace works like the Vine, and we are the branches who are called to abide in Jesus (cf. John 15)
It is through the name of Jesus that Jesus is identified with the Holy Trinity.
It is Yahweh is Salvation (Yeshua).
The Father so loves the world that he sends the Son. The Son is full of the Holy Spirit without measure, and the Son perfectly fulfills the will of the Father, he suffers, is crucified, he dies and is buried, he raises from the dead, the Son ascends unto the Father and the Holy Trinity (One God) sends us the Holy Spirit that we might never be called orphans, and, Jesus is coming back to establish the Reign of God Personally!
And, yes, Jesus remains with us in the Eucharist – the Bread from Heaven.
This plan is so profound that our minds are placed under immense strain to think of these things of God too deeply.
We do not have enough brain cells.
Yet, God so loved the world that he gave us his Son.
Now -- we in that place in this place in time and space – where we await his return (Revelation 19).
Now, we are awaiting him with our Lady in the place prepared by God for her in the wilderness. (Revelation 12).
Now, we are a pilgrim people that are living in tents, as the Israelites of old also did, as they awaited the consolation of Israel who will come in Glory!
God does have a plan that he will accomplish beloved.
"For God so loved the world, said Saint John, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God."