‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son’

John 3:14-21
Gospel for March 14, 2021 (Fourth Sunday of Lent)

Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For 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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed.”

By Fr. Stephen Dardis

God’s love for you is nothing less than that of the extraordinary love of a father for his children or a brother for his closest siblings.

Think of how much your parents love you and care for you. They would go to great lengths to help you in life, in school, with your friends, etc.

Maybe that helps us to understand God. He is so powerful that he can put the sun in the sky and create the earth. He’s kept it moving according to the laws of physics for millions of years. (There’s no battery; God is the one keeping it going!) 

This same God saw that the people he had created struggled to love as they should.

Like a good dad or mom, he tried to warn us that our selfish ways and our dishonesty would only hurt us. When we didn’t listen, he came to help us. He gave his only son, Jesus, to be one like us, to show us the way out of the broken world in which our sins had left us, and to suffer for us.

If you play soccer, imagine a coach who just uses words to explain particular moves or plays, but without showing you what the move looks like. Wouldn’t it be easier if he would actually demonstrate exactly how to do it, instead of just telling you with words?

We can understand God coming as Jesus for that reason: He’s like a coach who both accompanies us and also demonstrates for us how to live our best lives. He knows we learn best by imitation, and he comes to be a model for us to imitate. When we’re not sure what to do, we can ask, “What would Jesus do? How has he shown me to live?”

He’s also the commander who won’t ask something of his troops that he himself isn’t willing to do, especially the harder things. He suffers so that we would never suffer alone.

Jesus tells us that we get to heaven by believing in himself as the son of God. Now, what does this look like?

Belief in Jesus – “faith” – is deeper than a statement of words. It means that I understand his values and, more importantly, that I trust in Jesus and reflect his ways in my actions and attitudes. I trust that Jesus gives me the power to do this.

Believing means being humble of heart like Jesus taught, instead of arrogantly looking down on others. It means loving my brothers and sisters even when I don’t feel like it, praying for those who aren’t nice to me, even forgiving those who hurt me.

Above all, it means giving God my love and the best of myself while knowing, gratefully, that he has given me all that I am. Like Jesus, I give God first place in my priorities each day and even devote at least one day of my week to recentering my life on his presence and his ways.

The Church lifts Jesus up for us so we can believe in the victory he’s won for us and to guide us to our heavenly home. Christ came “so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

Let us pray: Lord, I do believe in you. Help me to believe more firmly! Thank you for giving up your life for me!

Father Stephen Dardis is pastor of Holy Family Church in Luling, dean of the St. John-St. Charles Deanery and chaplain at St. Charles Catholic High School in LaPlace.