5 January 2016 - God is love

[ Today's Readings ]

Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love.

This does not mean that we have to love until we earn the knowledge of God. It means that if we want to love we must come to God to see what it is. We must be empowered by him to be made capable of love at all.

In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.

If we are without love it means that we don't know this. If we don't love as we should it means that we don't know this as deeply as we should. God's love not only shows us what real love looks like but actually gives us the power to love ourselves.

Let us look to love..

When Jesus saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them,
for they were like sheep without a shepherd;

..and learn to love ourselves.

Do we feel like we are without a shepherd? Don't worry, he won't send us to the surrounding farms and villages. He cares too much to leave us on our own. He makes us to lie down in green pastures. He does not send us away. But he uses his own people to feed one another. He does this even though our own resources are insufficient.

He asked them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” 
And when they had found out they said,
“Five loaves and two fish.” 

Even when our own love is insufficient to the task Jesus makes it sufficient.

They all ate and were satisfied. 
And they picked up twelve wicker baskets full of fragments
and what was left of the fish. 

He shows us love and makes us capable of love. When we get hungry for love we must not run for the cities. We must come to Jesus. When those around us seem so hungry for love that we can never feed them we must bring what we have to Jesus. He is more than enough.

Justice shall flower in his days,
and profound peace, till the moon be no more.
May he rule from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.