God Loves Us Sinners
“God so loved the world that He gave up His only Son that it may have eternal life.” John 3:14-21
4th Sunday of Lent Cycle B
In one Robin Hood movie, there were several Muslim prisoners of war captured by the Crusaders being decapitated one by one at random at the whim of the captain. At a certain point, a young Turkish prisoner was picked up for beheading. Suddenly one of the older prisoners bolted up and asked to spare the young man, possibly to allow him to trade places with the youth. The youth was his son. But when the captain didn’t allow it, one Christian soldier out of pity set the older Muslim free. Confusion followed but in the end, the young man was all the same executed, his father escaped free and the merciful Christian soldier court-martialed. But the older Muslim never forgot the kindness shown by that Christian soldier.
Christian, Muslim, or otherwise any father would be willing to die in place of his son. But in today’s gospel, God the Father did the exact opposite. It was unexpected but as John wrote: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16.
We wonder why God would do such a thing any good man won’t do. There are three reasons I could think of. I guess that despite the world’s countless sins, still
- God loves the world;
- God saves the world;
- God gives the world eternal life.
Never doubt that God loves a sinner. So that if ever you fail, falter, or fall your only action would be to rise, stand up and return to God. Your failure does not matter at all to God. He understands our weakness. Instead, He won’t understand if knowing Him to be forgiving we on our part won’t return and convert. The fall is not important. What is important is what one does after one falls – does he stand up and return? God is eternal – He does not change His love for us despite our sins – much bigger or more they may become.
“Happy the man whose offense is forgiven, whose sin is remitted.” Psalm 32:1
“There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine who do not need to repent.” Luke 15:7
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