God So Loved

Gospel: John 3: 13-17

We might be surprised to hear that God sent Jesus into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.  Regardless of denomination or theological persuasion, the dominant message often projected is that of condemnation.  This fact is not that surprising when religion has been reduced to the political and what guides most people is the news cycle rather than the liturgical cycle, in which case bad news is preached rather than Good News.

What is most striking about Jesus is what he does not say.  The dominant issue of his time and place was Roman occupation and how to be rid of it.  Each group had their own ideas about it.  Jesus was utterly indifferent to it.  Instead, he went about from town to town healing people of their illnesses, liberating them from their demons, and feeding people at table in body and soul.  Imagine what religion would be like - what the world would be like - if we followed that example.

Today's feast reminds us that Jesus took the most loathsome symbol of punishment and shame, and he turned it into a symbol of love.  The cross had been the most shameful and fearsome fate and symbol of the Roman world, and Jesus embraced it - and commanded us to take it up as well, not as a symbol of hate that many have made it, but as a pledge of love.  That we would love the world and others with the same passion and selflessness as Jesus did.