by Bishop Thomas Gumbleton
Last Sunday, you may remember we heard that short Gospel lesson from St. John that is so widely known, the 16th verse of the third chapter, John 3:16. The verse was, “God so loved the world that God sent God’s only Son, and the Son so loved us that he gave himself for our salvation.” When we heard those words last Sunday, perhaps they did not bring about within us an understanding of the price that Jesus paid. It sounds so simple in a way, “God so loved the world that God sent Jesus, and Jesus so loved us that he gave himself for us.”
If we listen to today’s lessons, we begin to understand how Jesus, because he was solely human — I think this is what we forget sometimes. We think he’s the Son of God, so of course he knows what’s going to happen. What difference does it make? — but he’s fully human, and we get that spelled out for us in our second lesson today. In this passage to the church in Jerusalem, the people are told, “Jesus, in the days of his mortal life, offered himself with tears and cries.”
To read all of this reflection on the NCR website, click here.