“For God loved the world so much He gave His one and the only Son…”
The very nature of God is love and His love for this world proceeds from the fact that He is Love. God’s love is unconditional; it is for all – it is for the entire world and for the universe. Everything that He has created should experience His love because they are the product of His immense love. God’s love is wide enough to embrace all people.
Love is sacrifice – it is a love that costs. God’s love made Him to sacrifice His own Son, the only son. The word ‘gave’ is used in two distinct senses. Firstly, God gave His Son by sending the Son into the world. Saint Paul puts it nicely: “Though He was in the form of God … emptied himself… born in the likeness of men” (Ph 2: 6). Secondly, God gave His Son on the cross as a sacrifice for the salvation of the world. The Cross of Christ is the highest expression of God’s (Father’s) love of the world. Hence, Christ crucified is the best gift of God for all.
The ‘giving’ of God’s only son and the coming of the son into the world, put before the world a choice. There is a paradox here. Jesus did not come here to judge the world but to redeem the world; He came to bring people back to the presence of God’s infinite love but when they reject God’s life-giving love in Christ, they have brought condemnation upon themselves. The very incarnation of Christ and His redeeming death on the Cross have their effect on the world: we are either helped to the fullness of life or to the life of condemnation.
Jesus Christ raised on the Cross is our source of salvation. Salvation of all people is the central mission of Christ. That is the reason Christ came into the world. So, believing in Christ’s death and His consequent resurrection becomes the criterion of salvation. There is no salvation for John without believing. Therefore, for John, the judgement is here and now. Those who have rejected Christ have already been condemned and likewise, those who have believed need not fear the day of judgement.
The message of the cross which is preached from the gloom of Good Friday becomes the brightest message of salvation. If we believe the message of the Cross – the love and sacrifice of the Father, then we have already come to our salvation.
– Fr. Ranjan D’Sa OCD