6 April 2016 - rescue mission

[ Today's Readings ]

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.

Jesus, the Father gives you to us as to save us. This is a rescue operation. This is the beachhead landing in enemy controlled territory in order to free the world you love. You don't want to see us condemned. But condemnation is inevitable without you to rescue us.

Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.

This isn't because you are mean or vengeful. It is because we refuse the rescue you offer. And we do this sometimes. We have a certain Stockholm syndrome where we come to love our captors.

And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world,
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.

We are like the Israelites fresh out of Egypt.

We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic (see Numbers 11:5).

We forget the slavery and only remember the pleasure. We prefer the darkness to light. But you come into the darkness of the world. You are the light itself. You open the doors of our prisons and lead us out into freedom.

But during the night, the angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison,
led them out, and said,
“Go and take your place in the temple area,
and tell the people everything about this life.”

The chains of the world can't hold us unless we let them. You offer us freedom. You invite us out into the light. And once we get there you invite us to tell the people everything about this new life you give us.

But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

We hesitate at the threshold, LORD. There is still darkness in us, but you are only light. Send your angel to set us free and lead us out.

The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Taste and see how good the LORD is;
blessed the man who takes refuge in him.

Draw us to you, LORD, the great light of the world!

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all (see First John 1:5).