Eternal life begins right here, right now - reflex on John 3:16-21

Sometimes, Scripture readings are so familiar that I can “skim”over them. Hearing them so many times should embed them in our minds andhearts, but the adaptability of the human brain can have the opposite effect:we can fail to give familiar things our full attention.

Today’s Gospel is like that. We’ve all heard John 3:16 somany times that it is easy to overlook how stunning this passage is. “For Godso loved the world that he gave his only Son….” Why would God do this? When weare learning about someone, we want to know their interior – their thoughts anddesires and motivations. If we want to know God’s thoughts and desires andmotivations, we would do well to study deeply today’s Gospel! Here we are toldexactly what God is about, and what motivates His actions, and our part in thewhole thing.

First, God is love. And God loves the world. God loves theworld so much, that when we were lost in darkness and doomed to perish, Godsent his only Son to bring us the light of Truth and eternal life. If God sentHis Son, this means that God is FATHER, and we must believe that Jesus is SON,and that we can become children of God through our baptism into Jesus.

Second, we learn that the direct mission of the Son of Godis SALVATION, not judgment. He comes into the world in obedience to the sendingof the Father so that we can be saved through him. He is the light that hascome into the world to be the Way and the Truth and the Life for us. This isthe Good News.

But we have a responsibility here too. We must use ourfreedom to enter into this mission of the Son. If we do not accept the Truth,if we do not believe, if we do not receive the Gift that is given, we keepourselves outside of that mission. Some people choose wrongly; some love tohide and revel in the darkness by denying their createdness, their dependence.Like Adam and Eve in the Garden, they want to choose for themselves what theythink will make them happy. They do not trust that God will give them all theyneed.

In order to receive the gift that God is giving us, we must “dowhat is true”. So we are called to freely enter into relationship with theTrinity: we must believe in the Son Who has been sent for us, so that we canlive as children of the same Father. We must receive with faith the gift oflight and truth and goodness that Jesus constantly pours out for us. This isthe way of Truth, that “whoever believes in him should not perish but haveeternal life,” and eternal life begins right here, right now.