Wednesday of the Second Week of Easter
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April 22, 2020This is one of my favorite Gospels because it addresses some serious issues that we have to truly think about and/or address in our lives. The first line is a famous line that our Protestant break off denominations use often.
We see it at sport events and on billboards, “God so loved the world that he gave His only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish. but might have eternal life.” This is true. This is why Jesus came, so that we may have eternal life. But it cannot stop there. We cannot take this out of the context.
The passage goes on to say, “Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned.”
This point addresses two sides, Catholics and Protestants. It addresses Catholics, because so often Catholic have been conditioned to live almost as if God has a tally sheet, and if we do not follow every step, sometimes people even think scrupulously, or if we are in the state of sin, then we won’t get into heaven.
This is crazy talk because the core center of our belief is this line, “That Jesus came for us to be saved.” If Jesus came here, this means He became one of us in all aspects. He therefore understands our temptations and our frustrations and our weaknesses. Of course, He did not sin, but He united Divinity with humanity, so that we can be together, and he did it by experiencing everything firsthand.
Although he did not have to do that in order to save us, He did this so uniquely as a human, to give us Eternal life. Therefore, this extreme that we are in and out of God’s favor is absurd. There is however, the reality that is we exist in a continued mortal state of sin we have not accepted Jesus coming to earth for our eternal life.
Now there is the other side. That Jesus so loved us that He united with us to give us eternal life. Therefore, it is done. If we believe in Him we have eternal life, with little or no responsibility. We must remember, even the demons believe in Jesus.
We hear them say in Scriptures, “we know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But they have rejected Him. There is a responsibility to live what we believe. It cannot be God taking a tally. Instead is must be a response to His becoming one of us for our salvation.
Our responsibility is our living the end of this passage. To live truth so we can come to the light. He is the light for eternal life.
Let us meditate on this and not be one extreme or the other. To not worry about a tally sheet of God, nor to take for granted our belief without responsibility, but instead to be people of responsibility, living the example of His humanity, and in our struggles of sins, and our responsibilities of good, to run towards the light for all eternity with confidence because we as humans lived as He did.
Jesus became Human so Humans can become Divine!
