The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture readings for Sunday, March 22nd: 2 Chronicles 36:14-16,19-23; Ephesians 2:4-10; John 3:14-21)

GOD’S LOVE IS OVERWHELMING

In this week’s Liturgy of the Word, there is one major theme running through each of the three Scripture readings: God’s incredible love for His people.

In the first reading, from Second Chronicles, we learn that God sent messengers and prophets “early and often” to the nation of Judah, “for He had compassion on His people.” Although they were the recipients of God’s love and care, the people ignored the Lord. They “added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the (surrounding) nations and polluting the Lord’s temple.”

God finally allowed the powerful nation of Babylon to invade Judah. The city of Jerusalem was all but destroyed and the surviving people were carried off into captivity. This disaster was not the result of God turning His back on the people; it occurred because the people turned their backs on God. And we can be sure God was not filled with revenge and anger when this happened. Rather, He was weeping with sorrow because His love had been spurned.

The people of Judah, God’s Chosen People, refused to embrace God’s light, and they paid the price. Keep this idea of “light” in the back of your mind for a few minutes; Jesus addresses it in today’s Gospel.

God certainly would have been justified if He left the people in slavery forever. But He did not abandon them. After Persia conquered Babylon, the Bible tells us, “…the Lord inspired King Cyrus of Persia,” a pagan ruler, who, surprisingly, acknowledged God’s sovereignty, and then freed the people so they could return to Judah and rebuild Jerusalem. (A historical note: after the Babylonian Captivity, the Jews never again worshiped graven images. So, something very good came from this tragic event.)

In this week’s second reading, St. Paul taught that salvation is a free, undeserved gift from God. He wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast.”

We don’t deserve to be saved, but God offers salvation because of His love for us. Paul goes on to explain that believers will perform works of charity and mercy, not that anyone can “earn” salvation by good works, but simply because it’s the right this to do. Good works—loving God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves—are the natural outpouring of gratitude for being offered the gift of salvation. So, we are not saved BY good works; we are saved FOR good works.

Think of it this way: if someone gives you a birthday present, do you accept it joyfully, or do you reach for your checkbook and glumly ask, “OK, how much do I owe you?” How rude! And if the birthday present is worth $100 but you only have $20 in your checking account, this gesture is not only rude, it’s stupid. Since God’s gift of salvation is priceless, how can we possibly pay for it? To think that we can “earn” our way into Heaven by our own efforts is, I hate to be blunt, both rude AND stupid.

Finally, in the Gospel, Jesus offers what is probably the most famous verse in the whole Bible—John 3:16—the one-sentence summary of the entire Gospel message: “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.”

God’s love for us is overwhelming and unlimited. Also, it’s remarkable that He loves us at all, since the history of mankind has been a steady stream of selfishness, ingratitude, hypocrisy, cruelty, idolatry and apostasy. If you’re not convinced, just read the morning paper each day for a week. Frankly, I were God (and let’s all offer a heartfelt “Thank God!” that I’m not), I would have given up on mankind a long time ago.

But God does love us. So much so, in fact, that He gave His one and only Son to pay the ultimate price for our sinfulness—Jesus, the sinless lamb, nailed to the cross as an atoning sacrifice.

The only thing we need to “do” to receive this love of God is just that: receive it. All we have to do is accept it, embrace it, believe it. We simply have to put our faith and trust and hope in God—and that’s it. If we truly accept and embrace God’s love, our good works surely will follow.

Jesus said “the light came into the world,” meaning the light of God’s truth and love and forgiveness. He then explained that many people “hate the light,” preferring instead the evil and wicked works of darkness.

In the last three sentences of the Gospel reading, Jesus uses the word “light” five times. When we see the light, when we acknowledge God’s truth and love and forgiveness, we are judged innocent. But if we refuse to see the light, if we ignore God’s truth and love and forgiveness, the verdict is guilty.

The light of God’s love is shining brightly in the world. Embrace it—embrace HIM—and let His love and peace and joy fill your heart.

©2009