The
Rev’d Stephen E. Stults
St. Barnabas Anglican Church
St. Barnabas Anglican Church
Trinity
I, 2015
7
June, 2015
The 1st Letter of St. John can be referred to a “love letter”
from God to us. Why? Because not only
does it come from the apostle “whom Jesus loved”, and who leaned upon His
Breast at supper, but also from the only apostle who had the courage to stand
at Jesus’ feet while He was crucified.
The others fled out of fear of persecution. It is evident that John reciprocated Jesus’
love by this action.
So it is that John’s writings speak so consistently and persuasively about
the chief quality of God: Love. In the
first sentence of today’s Epistle from 1st John, we read: “He that loveth not knoweth not
God; for God is love. “ [ii] In
the entire 4th Chapter of this letter, we see again and again one
theme: God is love. John tells us : “ Beloved, let us love
one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and
knoweth God”[iii]
How are we to know that God is love?
The answer, according to St. John is this: “In this was manifested the
love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the
world, that we might live through him. 10
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”[iv]
Thus, the Love of God is manifested by one monumental event: the coming of
Jesus Christ into the World. It is the absolute proof of God’s love for us. Yes, one can say that God’s love is manifested
forth by His Creation and by its beauty and magnificence. One can also say that
God’s Love is shown forth by the natural love mankind shows (at times) one to
another. Both these statements would be true.
Yet, the love of which mankind is capable is only a faint reflection of
God’s overwhelming love for us.
Lest this is too cerebral, and perhaps too abstract, let us bring it down
to a human level… picture the greatest earthly king imaginable, say a
Nebuchadnezzar, or the Pharaoh of Egypt, or Alexander the Great, at the height
of their power. Now, see them stripping off their royal robes, coming down from
their exalted thrones, and donning the clothes of an ordinary worker. Imagine further their taking up a hammer, or
a saw and commencing the hard manual labor of a carpenter. Imagine further as
they leave this occupation to travel around the countryside, teaching,
preaching, and healing, if it were possible. Finally, imagine them, who were
once the absolute ruler of all they surveyed, accused falsely, lashed savagely
like a common criminal, and then nailed brutally to a wooden cross, to endure
an agonizing, horrible torture-death. Additionally, think of these kings,
hanging upon their crosses, praying for and forgiving their torturers. The
final thing is that they did this to protect their people from terrible danger.
It would never happen. Not in this
fallen world so in love with power, prestige and riches….yet, beloved in Him,
it did happen through the incomprehensible love of God. With adoring eyes, we see
Christ on the Cross; with hearts aided by the Holy Ghost, our spirits burn with
gratitude for what He did for us. We
recognize, to some degree, the terrible danger of complete separation from God,
from which He delivered us. Yet, the scope of this beautiful love is too much
for us. It is too hard for us to think
of a Love so great that One would go to the Cross for us. We truly cannot
understand its magnitude. The scope of it is just too great.
Yet, God’s Love knows no bounds, it has no limits. It cannot be measured by
the breadth of men’s minds. It can only be summed up by this: “Hereby know we that we dwell
in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and do testify
that the Father sent the Son to be the
Saviour of the world.”[v]
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. AMEN
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