The
Rev’d Stephen E. Stults
St. Paul’s Anglican Church
St. Paul’s Anglican Church
Trinity
I, 2016
29
May, 2016
Last week on Trinity Sunday, we spoke about the common denominator of the
Holy Trinity: love.
Our Epistle from the 1st Letter of St. John continues on this
theme. In fact, it is a “love letter” from God to us. Why? Not only does it come from the apostle
“whom Jesus loved”, but also from the only apostle who had the courage to stand
by Jesus while He was crucified. It is
evident that John reciprocated Jesus’ love by this action.
John’s writings speak so consistently and persuasively about love being the
chief quality of God. In the first
sentence of today’s Epistle selection we read: “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
“
[i] The
entire 4th Chapter of this letter repeats 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”[ii]
How are we to know that God is love?
The answer, according to 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.”[iii]
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. One can say that God’s love is manifested
forth by the beauty and magnificence of His Creation. One can also say that
God’s Love is shown forth by the natural love mankind shows one to another.
Both these statements would be true.
Yet, the love of man is only a faint reflection of God’s overwhelming
love for us.
Lest this is too abstract, let us bring it down to a human level… Many of
us in this room are parents. Do you remember the first time you held your
newborn son or daughter? Do you remember the attachment that happened naturally
at that moment? This was your daughter,
or your son. He or she came from you and bore certain similarities. Now, come
forward a few years when that child had first fallen off their bike, or had
some sort of accident. They came to you
crying, and maybe even bleeding a bit. Do you recall your anguish at that
moment? What wouldn’t you have done at that time? Most of us would have even taken on that pain
ourselves, if we could have, to spare our child.
Now, imagine God the Father surveying the scene on earth, as His beloved
Son, who as God, is the absolute ruler of all, now accused falsely, lashed
savagely like a common criminal, and nailed brutally to a wooden cross, to
endure an agonizing, horrible, slow death. Additionally, think of Jesus hanging
upon His Cross, praying for and forgiving His torturers.
You see, Christ did what we earthly parents cannot do. He took the pain of death and eternal
separation from God from us. If this is
not love, what is?
Beloved in Christ, this did happen through the incomprehensible love of God.
With adoring eyes, we see Christ on the Cross;, our spirits, aided by the Holy
Ghost, burn with gratitude for what He did for us. We recognize the terrible danger of
separation from God, from which He delivered us. Yet, the scope of this hard,
beautiful love is too much for us. We
cannot understand its magnitude. The scope of it is just too great. All we can
do is worship, lost in awe and wonder.
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.”[iv] AMEN
No comments:
Post a Comment