Fourth Sunday of Lent Redemption as a work of love

Today's Gospel passage follows the dialogue reported by John between Jesus and Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee, an expert in the law; but unlike his companions, he was sincere and genuine. He admired Jesus from the first time he met him, because he had realised for once that here was a man who was genuine and had something worthwhile to offer. It was therefore to him that Jesus revealed unambiguously for the first time the necessity of faith for salvation and of a new birth through baptism.

Hence, today's Gospel begins with Our Lord's solemn proclamation of redemption as a work of love on the part of God, "who gave up his only begotten Son, so that those who believe in him may not perish, but have eternal life".

No matter from which angle we look at it, redemption is a work of love on the part of God: love for the world, and love for each of its inhabitants created in His image and likeness, as we read in the book of Genesis. As the proverb runs, "love either finds equal, or makes equal".

Far from being equal to God, all human being are sinners. But God's redemption in Christ had precisely this purpose: to render all human beings, so different from each other as they may be, equal before God: because they all share the same human nature, they all are His children, they all are sinners because of original sin, they all have been the object of His salvation through Christ the Redeemer.

Christ's sharing in our own human nature and His suffering and death on the Cross were a sign of God's unconditional love for each one of us: "so that those who believe in Him may not perish, but have eternal life". Faith in Christ the Saviour means commitment to him and all that he stands for: goodness, sincerity, dedication to whatever is right and genuine, and above all sincere love for all our fellow men, whether friend or foe.

Our love too, if motivated by faith, will also have a redeeming effect as far as others are concerned. There is no such a thing as a desperate case, for all are called to salvation and all are given the necessary help to attain it.

At the very beginning of today's Gospel we read: "God so loved the world, that He gave up his only begotten Son, so that those who believe in him may not perish, but have eternal life". In the history of theology were not lacking those who interpreted these words in the sense of a 'vindictive justice', as if God would not give in and forgive mankind's sins except at the price of the death of his own Son.

Here comes to mind Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, in which we used to be shocked by Shylock's insistence on his pound of flesh from poor Anthony's body. There was no similar demand on the part of God, who is Love itself.

Hence, the truth is that God wanted redemption to be an act of love. Sinful man by himself was unable to offer to God such kind of love. Hence, the Son of God became one of us, made us all one with Himself, and so the supreme act of love offered by Him was taken by God as coming from all sinful humanity. In this way it was not God's vindictive justice that was duly satisfied, but his infinite love for sinful humanity.

As faithful Christians we are all called to give testimony to this love by being ourselves, sincerely motivated by it in all we do, and by letting it shine in us in such a way, that all may become so to speak 'contaminated' by it and so become able to glorify their Father who is in heaven.