MOST HOLY TRINITY

St John tells us that God sent his Son because he loves us.

God our creator, our all powerful, all good, all gracious God loves us enough that he was willing to share our human life by becoming flesh and living with us, “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us”.

But St John goes even further in today’s reading.  He says that God became flesh so that “everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life”.

God the Son, begotten from all eternity became a human being so that each and every person might be saved.  This is God’s will for humankind.  God does not desire that anyone miss the fantastic gift of eternal life.

God did not come to condemn the world nor does he desire that it be condemned now.  God’s will for humankind is nothing but positive, loving and all good.  And he made this possible by sending his son to share our life and to show us how to love the Father.

So if God’ will for us is only loving and positive, why does he talk about judgment and condemnation?

The sad truth is that not everyone is willing to accept God’s gift of salvation.  Not everyone is willing to believe in Jesus as the Son of God become flesh for us.  Not everyone is open to the Good News that our God wants to speak to us through Jesus.

God’s presence among us amounts to a judgment, a judgment on unbelief and sinfulness.  If we choose to not believe and not to accept the gift, then we bring judgment and condemnation on ourselves.

God condemns no one.  If anyone misses out on salvation, it is his or her own fault for not having faith in Jesus once he or she knows of God’s good will toward us.

Let’s be very clear, however, that we are not talking about someone who has never heard the Good News about Jesus.  We are talking about those who have, and still choose not to believe.

There are those in the world who have not been privileged to hear about the gift of Jesus.  They do to believe because of a refusal to believe, but because they have not heard.

This fact says more about us believers who have not shared the Good News than it says about those who do not believe.  The church is an evangelizing church.  We must share the gift by witness of life.

No, what Jesus is talking about in the Gospel is the fact that some who have heard the Good News still refuse to believe.

So, the gift is free for all who accept it, but it is not automatic.  We must consciously accept and believe in the Word made flesh.  And we do that by living the life Jesus won for us and that we received in baptism.

We are here to witness to our faith that we believe that Jesus is present in the word we are hearing.  We believe that he is present in the Eucharist, where bread and wine are transformed into his Body and Blood for our nourishment.  We believe and we accept the gift of God’s love.  Everything that we have celebrated from last Christmas through Easter and Pentecost is summed up in this feast of our loving God who sent his Son he share our humanity so that in the power of the Holy Spirit we can share in God’s divinity. That, my bothers and sisters, is what Eucharist and our Catholic faith is all about.  God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.