‘For God sent his Son
into the world not to condemn the world, but that through him the world might
be saved.’
It is
far too easy nowadays to see the church in a negative way – it’s the fashionable thing to do – as the
church we’re corrupt, we’re filling people’s heads with nonsense. We can be
characterised as strange, quaint, and out of touch. It suits people to see us entirely
in negative terms: as opposed to certain things. We are prescriptive: we limit
people's freedom, and in failing to practice what we preach, we can be written
off as hypocrites, with no right to proclaim objective truth, to offer the
world a moral framework, within which to live its life; to offer the world an alternative
paradigm, a new way of living and of being through which to have life, and have
life in all its fullness. It’s less a valid criticism and more of an excuse for
people not to bother. It’s an easy way out, which saves people from the more
difficult task of living Christ-like lives of love and self-sacrifice. The
church does not claim to be perfect, but rather a collection of sinners
justified by the grace of God, through faith in Christ.
The simple truth is that people like
to moan and grumble – we all do, and I’m as guilty of it as anyone, but there
is a fundamental difference between being dissatisfied with the way things are
and longing for change, and hopefully bringing about good change, change in a
god-ward direction, and the corrosive moaning rooted in selfishness, which
betrays a lack of trust in God. The Israelites in the desert represent this
negative moaning, they are unable or unwilling to trust God to lead them on a
journey towards the Promised Land, and while they realise their mistake their
poisonous moaning has disastrous consequences for them. And yet even in this
they are not abandoned by God, they gaze on the bronze serpent, they look to
that which prefigures the Cross, through which God heals his people, taking
their sins upon himself. That’s why it appears in stained-glass windows in
churches, because it points to the Cross, it’s why when talking about the Cross
Jesus mentions it, so that people might understand how and why God loves them
and how it might affect their lives.
St
Paul in his letter to the Ephesians can state with confidence, ‘For by grace you have been saved through
faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result
of works, so that no one may boast’ (Eph 2:8-9). It’s not about what we can do,
but about what God can do for us. Our relationship with God is the result of a
gift, which we can receive and which can transform our lives, if we only let
go, and let God…
This morning’s gospel reminds us of
the fundamental truth that God loves us – it is the heart of the Good News –
the Gospel, what we preach and what we live as Christians. There are few words
as comforting as ‘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. ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the
world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through
him’ (Jn 3:16-17). They may
be familiar to us, they certainly should be, but we must not let our
familiarity with them cloud the significance of simply stating that God loves
us, does not condemn us, but saves us, in and through Jesus Christ. That’s why
we are Christians, it’s why we’re here, and recognising God’s love for us will
have a transforming effect upon our lives.
In
the Incarnation Jesus comes among us as a poor helpless baby, laid to rest in
the rough wood of an animals’ feeding trough. He is cared for through the love
of his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who in her love, her service, and
obedience, stands as the model for all Christians to follow. She is the first
Christian, the greatest, a pattern for us to imitate, of loving trust and obedience,
of care and costly love, and a foreshadowing of our great mother the church,
through which we are saved by grace through faith.
Upon the rough wood of the cross,
Jesus will suffer and die for us – such is the cost of human sin. His mother,
Mary, stands by and watches and weeps. As the church we too should watch and
weep for the wounds of human sin and division which still scar Christ's body. We
feel helpless. What can we do? We should do all that we can to live God's life
of sacrificial self giving love: living lives of light, which shine in the
darkness. It isn’t easy, but if we try and do it together then all things are
possible, through him who loves us.
The salvation and eternal life which
Christ offers freely to all, comes through the church, which we enter in
baptism, where we are nourished in word and are sacrament, where we are nourished,
given food for the journey, strengthened and taught, to live his risen life, to
share in the joys of Easter.
God cares so much about the world and
its people that he takes flesh, and lives a life of love, amidst the messiness
of humanity, to show us how to live lives filled with love, life in all its
fullness. God in Christ comes among us not to condemn the world but to offer it
a way of being, of being truly alive in Him. God has made us for himself, and
our hearts are restless until they find their rest in him. The spiritual needs
and searching which characterise people in the world around us can be satisfied
in God and in God alone, through the church. We can rejoice, and relax our
Lenten discipline for a little while to give thanks for the wonderful gift of
God's love in our lives, in the church, and for the world.
But we also need to trust God, to
listen to what he says through Scripture, to be fed by him, and to live lives
in accordance with his will and purpose, together, as a family, as a community
of love, cared for and supported by our mother, the church. And in so doing we
look to Our Lady as Mother of Our Lord and Mother of the Church, as a pattern
for love and obedience, as a model for all mothers: loving and tender, putting
the needs of others before self, self-giving, sacrificial, and open to both joy
and pain, trusting in God.
This,
as any mother can tell you, is not easy, it's difficult, really hard, but its
rewards are likewise great. So let us, as we continue our Lenten journey
towards the cross, where God shows his love for us most fully and completely,
giving his body to be broken and his blood be shed for us, a sacrifice which
will be made present here today under the outward forms of bread and wine, to
strengthen us to live the risen life of Easter, to offer the world an alternative
to selfishness, to self-centredness, to the sin which continues to separate us
from God, an alternative shown to us in a self-giving love of mothers, and of
our mother the church. So that we may join the Angels in our song of love and
praise to the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to whom..