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The
World God Loves
John
3:14-21
March
26, 2006
Fr.
George Smiga
Catholics
are often lacking in their understanding of the scriptures.
Whereas other Christians can quote chapter and verse, Catholics
often struggle to keep the characters and the stories straight.
Therefore, it is likely than when a Catholic sees a reference
to Scripture such as John 3:16 (on a bumper sticker or held
up in the end zone of a football game), it might not be apparent
to which verse that reference points. The reason I bring up
John 3:16 today is because this verse is in today's Gospel.
“God so loved the world that God gave His only Son, that all
who believe in Him might not perish but might find eternal
life.”
Some
Christians keep writing this verse on everything that they
can find because they are convinced that this verse, above
all others, sums up the entire Gospel. I would agree that
this verse is an excellent summary of the Gospel: out of love
for the world, God gave us Jesus that we might find eternal
life. But the question I would like to pose today is: What
does it mean to believe in Him, to believe in Jesus, and how
far does that belief in Jesus extend? I pose this question
because I think that most of us understand “believing in Jesus”
in much too narrow a way. We limit “believing in Jesus” to
our acceptance of Christ in our hearts. John 3:16 is used
by many Christians to promote the truth that we must accept
Jesus as our Savior. This is certainly essential but it is
also incomplete. To limit the presence of Christ only to my
particular choice of Him, is not big enough. Christ is present
in ways that are beyond my heart, beyond my faith community,
even beyond those who believe in Him. Because God so loves
the world, we believe that Christ's presence continues in
the world, in all aspects of world, even where Christ's name
is not known or honored.
Our
Jewish ancestors in faith provide a good example of this kind
of faith. Hundreds of years before Christ, the Jews were conquered
by Babylon , and the Babylonians burned their temple and destroyed
Jerusalem and took the Jews into captivity. In that captivity,
which lasted for many decades, Yahweh, the God of Israel seemed
to have no power. Yet when a Persian King by the name of Cyrus,
invaded Babylon and allowed the Jewish people to return to
Jerusalem , our Jewish ancestors dared to believe that it
was their God, Yahweh, working through King Cyrus, to bring
them home. Now Cyrus was not a Jew. He did not believe in
the God of Israel. Yet the Jewish captives insisted that even
without Cyrus knowing it, their God was working through his
victory to return them to Jerusalem . Today's first reading
makes this claim. It dares to read God's influence in the
political events of its time. It asserts that Yahweh directs
the policies of Cyrus, who had no faith in the God of Israel.
This
kind of Jewish belief should be an example to us. For we believe
that the same God of Israel now works through God's Messiah,
who is Jesus. We believe that the power of God and God's Messiah
influences the entire world, that Jesus has an impact upon
the political events of our times, even in situations where
there is no recognition of his name.
This
kind of faith is not easy. It is difficult to look at the
violence and the mixed motives present in Iraq and believe
that Christ is somehow active there. Yet Christians are called
to trust that God loves Iraq and its people and will guide
them, whether they know the name of Jesus or not. It is difficult
to look at the hatred and violence of the Middle East and
believe that Christ's power is somehow active there, and that
God loves both Jews and Palestinians and is working to bring
about peace. It is difficult to imagine that Christ is present
in Washington or on Wall Street, where so many of the decisions
made in those halls of power seem to be based only on self-interest
and greed. Yet Christians believe that Christ is the Light
of the World and that Light continues to shine whenever and
wherever darkness is found.
Believing
that Christ is present in all places, is not magic. By believing
in this way, we do not imagine that things will always get
better and never get worse. And, of course, when we believe
in this way we are challenged to contribute our own energies
and influence in building God's kingdom. But prior to our
efforts and prior to any kind of success, those who “believe
in Jesus” must hold to an optimism that God is present in
ways that go beyond my heart, beyond my faith community, even
beyond all people of good will. “Believing in Jesus” challenges
us to believe that God intends to save not only me, not only
my church community, but the entire world which God so loves—all
of it.
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