This comparison is not only expressive of the permanence and strength of God’s love but also indicates the type of love God has towards us: it is not so much a mere emotional attachment but a caring love; it is love that provides comfort and mercy, guides, protects, and provides for basic needs. The reading states very clearly that God’s love is not only a sensation felt inside us but also experienced in very tangible and concrete, even material terms. This gives us an idea of how our love towards others ought to be: tangible and concrete, triggering social and structural change in our world! Our Christian goal should be a society, in which none of us has to suffer hardship. Obviously, this is an ideal which cannot be easily reached, but this should not deter us from going one step at a time towards creating such a society, which will – hopefully – over time increasingly resemble the heavenly Jerusalem, where God’s love permeates every aspect of life. The reading makes it also very clear that God’s Word cannot be locked within the walls of a church building or the confines of a prayerful home. God’s Word is highly political and its power will spill over from churches and homes into every corner of our society and world! God’s Word inspires action transforming the world. Christ says in today’s reading from the Gospel of St. John that “for just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also does the Son give life.” Raising the dead refers to the life in eternal bliss promised to all followers of Christ but also to our mission to raise up those among us, who are “dead” in one way or another, who are, for example, constrained in developing their potential because of being born into a household that cannot afford a decent education, whose health is threatened because of their inability to afford basic health care, and who are depressed because they cannot find work. This, our mission, asks us to reflect not only about our individual ways of showing love but also about our collective mission as church to “raise the dead.” Those of us in parish leadership need to go beyond organizing meetings and events and must also reach out to one another. We priests need to seek out the lost and suffering. And those of us who are bishops need to courageously make statements about our Mission to show God's love to our fellow human beings. Let us be inspired by Christ who said the following in today’s Gospel: “whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life.” Listening to and believing in Christ gives us eternal life and inspires us to give life to humanity, raising others from death by transforming our society and world! |