Reflection on the Gospel of the Wednesday Of The Twenty-Fourth Week In Ordinary Time(Feast: the Exaltation of the Cross) |
John 3:13-17 |
In Todays Gospel passage God not only proposes to us but also declares to the World how much He loves and values us. We have heard and read this passage many times but do we actually believe that this verse is true for us too? If yes then how are we reciprocating this love? God’s love for us is without any condition and Price. But He paid a heavy price with the life of His holy and only begotten Son, for our salvation. God knew that not just the guilt of our sins but our self-doubt makes it difficult for us to believe in His divine and unconditional love. It is only the cross that reminds us that we are forever loved by the creator who does not look at our failures and faults. He loves us with an everlasting love and is always seeing us the way He created us and not as what we have made of ourselves. Jesus knew that we will only be healed through His intervention and not through our abilities for we will never in our capacity ever reach the knowledge of Gods love for us. Therefore, He willingly allowed himself to be lifted on the cross, for you and me, to see and belief. Its our turn to respond to this Divine love. Come let us in faith and action respond to Gods love, as we lift Jesus higher for those around us to see and experience His Love of Jesus. Come let us not allow satan to lie to us about who we are, but Fix our gaze on the cross with a grateful heart, in obedience journey home to our eternal love.
Jesus we pray that we remain in you spiritually, engulfed in your love and love others knowing well that they are as precious to you as we ourselves. Amen.
John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Indeed we need to believe, if we do not believe, how then can we say we trust God’s goodness, His steadfastness, trust this unchanging God who keeps His promises. If we cannot believe all this, then we will fail to appreciate and believe Jesus’ coming down to earth and taking human form, accepting suffering and dying for our sake. To open up a path, through the sea of human living, to cross it, and enter into God’s Presence/Rest. God is not charging us anything for this, as he says in Isaiah, it is free. Come then look up to Him who died for us, understand that he was innocent, but he nullified the power of death – that of being the final full stop, and changed it into the doorway to life.
The Cross stands tall and as a reminder of Jesus’ victory and the hope and meaning he gives our lives. But it is for us to choose, to believe. But believe is not just looking and saying Lord I believe, it is living with this belief, our everyday life. Verse 36 of the same chapter gives us context to what it means to believe. Belief is something you live your everyday life by, therefore v.36 says, to obey Jesus is receive life/Jesus inside of you. To disobey, means to not choose to live and have Jesus in your life.
