The Moment When God Loved the World More Than He Loved the Son
When Christ said, “I and the Father are one,” (John 10:30) we knew for sure that the unity between the Father and the Son is so perfect that it is inseparable. Therefore, God is not only present in Christ, but with those saints and witnesses of the past, also to the present day with the people who are clothed by the spirit of the Father and Son, who are still present and active in our community. When God sent His Son to us to reveal to us the Father, He did so by revealing to us how much our Father loved the world. His Son becomes an ambassador of the Father from heaven. St. John calls Jesus as our ambassador and faithful witness of the Father. Other places in the Gospel, St. John qualifies the Son as “the beloved son of the Father.” Christ, who is the beloved Son of the Father, reveals to us the Father in His absoluteness. The primary function of an ambassador is to represent the interests of a country or organization; the primary function of Christ, the ambassador of the Father is to reveal the Father (in attribute and knowledge), and reveal His interest and plan for humanity--to save humanity and be reconciled with them.
There is something greater than being an ambassador, for Christ is the beloved Son of the Father, and He not only reveals the Father’s interest, but goes much beyond to reveal the secrets of the Father. No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father's side, has revealed Him. (John 1-18) St. John was known as the beloved disciple of Christ, for at the Last Supper seating John got the prime place at the table at Jesus’ side. “One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus’ side,” (John 13:23). Just take a moment to reflect: Christ is at the side of the Father, He is known as the beloved Son of the Father; St. John was seated at the side of Christ and he is known as the beloved disciple of Christ.
Each Christian, in his or her Christian life, should become aware of this double relationship: he or she is at the same time an envoy, a ambassador, who ought to accomplish a task of revealing the Father. At the same time, there is something even greater: for we are all beloved children of the Father through Christ. The bond of love, which we ought to realize in our most intimate heart, is the closeness with Jesus and with the Father. It is perhaps there that we touch on the great secret of our Christian life: Jesus is a witness of the truth, as He revealed the truth of the Father before Pilate when he asked Christ, “what is the truth?” Pilate was not a Christian, but to Pilate, a person without faith, Christ witnessed His Father. St. John, the beloved disciple of Christ, witnessed Christ to the pagans and people without faith. We, too, as beloved children of the Father must witness the love of the Father to others.
Christ reveals to us the truth of the Love of the Father. As Christians, we must understand Jesus as the Beloved Son of the Father, and that Christ loved the Father with utmost care. The love between the Father and the Son is so perfect because this love is a divine love that is always real. Why it is divine love? It s because the Father and the Son are divine. Earthly love is weak, for we are only human; we often fall in love as much as we fall out of love.
The entire life story of Jesus in the midst of us, whether concerning His hidden life, concerning His public life, or concerning the mystery of the Cross and of the Resurrection, all this shows us the mystery of the divine Love of the Beloved Son. He states it Himself: “When I am lifted up to the cross, I will draw all men to myself,” (John 12: 32) It is perhaps there that we must better grasp a powerful, unique attraction that Jesus holds for us. We must allow it to happen to us, and we must have a strong desire to discover what is most profound in Him. From the very beginning, St. John tells us that the Son remains in the Father’s heart. It is quite daring, and marvelous to state that the Son remains in the source, the heart of the Father, the source of all fruitfulness, the source of all love, the secret source.
When we look at the Baptismal scene of Christ, the Transfiguration scene, we will be impressed by this presence of the Father; the Father says, “this is my son, the beloved,” (Mk. 9:7); we will be even more impressed by the presence and absence of the Father at the Cross. The Father kept His silence when His beloved Son cried out to the Father, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27: 45-46). Why the Father did keep silence? Did Christ lose the Father for a moment to show His love for the world more intensely than for His beloved son? Why did the Father not to speak in the same manner when He died? Maybe for a moment the Father loved the world more than His Son.
Jesus is the master of love; it is He who, through His life and teaching, His gestures, never ceases to lead us toward being loved by the Father: He has chosen us from many, it is He who has loved us first, and we should respond to His love. He has brought us near to the Father, the source of all true love. When we understand this, our whole life would be changed, because we share this deepest thirst, which in fact brings out what is deepest in us. We then have a thirst for loving, and we become sure that we will never be disappointed by His love.
God bless you all,
Fr. Tom
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