A God Who Reaches Out

𝐀𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐋 𝟑𝟎, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑

𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐀𝐜 𝟓:𝟏𝟕-𝟐𝟔

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟑𝟒:𝟐-𝟗 “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐨𝐫.” 𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐉𝐍 𝟑:𝟏𝟔-𝟐𝟏

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑳𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅…” (𝒗.19) 

          In today’s Gospel passage lies one of the greatest texts in the Sacred Scriptures as it reminds us once again of the unique kind of love that God has for us. To begin with, there shouldn’t be any doubt as to where we all began – not from an atom nor from an ape.

         While science tells us otherwise, man was created in the image and likeness of God (𝐆𝐞𝐧 𝟏:𝟐𝟔) and it is for this reason that God has bestowed on us our senses and the gift of speech among the many other gifts that He has conferred upon our souls. God gave us understanding, free will and memory and He has given us everything that we need for our sustenance. Such is the love of God for the creatures He created.

         And it is because of this realization that we also respond in love but our love for God can never be as great as the love of God for each one of us that “𝑯𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒐𝒏, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑯𝒊𝒎 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒆𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆.” (𝒗.16)        

         Great also is the love of Christ for us “𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒍𝒂𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔” (𝑱𝒏 15:13) as he embraced his sacred passion and death to prove the excess of his love for us. With this manifestation of love from a God who loves us beyond our capacity to understand it would seem natural for man to include in his daily preoccupation his search for God.

         This, however, is far from present realities as many still feel that God is missing from their lives if not from the world we live in. Amidst the vast technological advances of this wired world around us the search of for God appears irrelevant and meaningless to many as unbelief and doubt has become the norm today rather than the exception.

         Notwithstanding this reality of God’s sacrificial love for us, there are times we fail to see God in a more tangible way for the simple reason that we find difficulty detaching ourselves from our pursuit of gods that would bring us comfort and luxury such as material wealth, social standing, worldly happiness, power and influence and, for as long as we are in search of these we will never find God.

         And we find ourselves searching for the one true and living God when the world we have created for ourselves collapses and crumbles. This is the reality of life that we sometimes must go through times of trials and rejection that we may arrive at a more mature faith that would lead us back to God.

         It is out of his great love for us that God respects our freedom and our person but what is unknown to us is that God is calling each of us by our own name and as He enters into that intimate relationship with us, He enables us to develop into our maximum potential as a person.

         What we have is a God who is reaching out to us even in times when we bask in the freedom that we have. But because God is omniscient and omnipresent, He is involved in all aspects of our lives such that He suffers and rejoices with us as He experiences what we experience including our hopes, fears, joys and sorrows. God need not go through these but because He loves us so much that He becomes so involved in our lives even if we are not entirely aware of it.

        And in today’s Gospel passage, Jesus also shows us the paradox of love and judgment. As God is a respecter of our free will, we are given the choice to love the darkness of sin and unbelief, or we can love the light of God's truth, beauty, and goodness. If our love is guided by what is true, and good, and beautiful then we will choose God and love Him more than anything else.

        The object of our attention or how we pursue life belies our nature and this is a fact of life. What we love and do shows who we are. If we love God then it follows that He should take first place in our lives, our thoughts and our actions. If we love God less, then it explains why there are some who go through life with wild abandon and setting aside even their morality in search of what they believe will make them happy.

        Today, Jesus impresses upon Nicodemus and he is telling us also that only those who will believe in him will not perish but are assured of eternal life for “𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝑺𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒏 𝒊𝒕, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒕.” (𝒗.17) Again, we must go back to the reality that God doesn’t condemn us and will never do because He created us. If our lives do not turn out the way we expected, then we must realize that it is us who brought condemnation to ourselves as we gave in to our own will rather than follow the Will of God.

        To believe in God is not just an intellectual agreement between us and God but to believe in the words of Jesus is to place all our trust and confidence in God and accept that we cannot work out our own salvation, but it is only through God that we can be saved.

         There are many who “𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕” (𝒗.20) because they are afraid that the light will expose their unrighteousness and are unwilling to avail of the new birth that Christ offers through His Holy Spirit.

         Many avoid the light simply because they don’t want to change their behavior, attitude or way of life. There is a duality in the lives of  many Christians even to those who are already in the Church or Community as they project two different sets of persona – one that caters to their social network and one that projects an image of holiness in the Church and such can only be determined by the level of commitment that one has in terms of service to God.

         In other words, what comes out of our lips are opposed to what we do. We confess and we shout that we glorify and magnify the Lord, but don’t we choose the time and place where we serve and don’t we also run away from our responsibilities as Christians because the standards in the places we are told to go do not measure up to our own standards?

         In closing, when Jesus talks of unbelievers (𝐯.𝟏𝟖) he was referring to those who ignore and reject him and there is a tendency, albeit unknown to us, that we may be veering towards unbelief by our refusal to change our ways. What we may not realize is that it is much better to live in the light than in darkness. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘈𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘭 30, 2025)