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The Gospel is not
difficult to understand. It is simply an expression of how God saw us
in great need and extended His love towards us. This love was
demonstrated through one person, Jesus the Christ of God, many years
ago, and such is the love of God that this love continues as a real
and vibrant fact for many people. God, through the life and work of
Jesus, invites us to share in that extended love, to come to know Him
as Jesus knew Him.
The God Jesus
spoke about was not some distant figure or philosophical ideal, but
was a real, loving and caring God who was present in each moment of
life, however good or bad it might be. This God, the God that Jesus
talked about, reached out to all people, not just nice middle class
professional people from good backgrounds. It included the
marginalised, the disfigured, the hurt, the struggling and the dying,
the hungry and thirsty, those who work miracles, politicians,
priests, thieves and murderers, all people from every area in life.
God wanted everyone to be included in His love, no body was to be
missed out.
This was a God
whose love could make a difference, could change things in unexpected
ways, who could make the unexpected happen, who could turn the world
upside down and make something good from something bad, bring life
when there was death, bring hope when there was despair. Jesus knew
this in both his head and his heart. This God was so real to him that
Jesus called God 'Father', and spoke to Him just as you or I would
speak to one another. Jesus just knew how much God loved everyone and
he couldn’t keep quiet about it. Jesus wanted to share it with everyone.
God’s love
was a love that was extended to all, from the best of mankind to what
seemed the worst. No one was denied this love, not even those who
made themselves his enemies. All people were invited to share in this
love without exception, regardless of whatever they were like or what
they had done in the past, and it was a love that transformed people.
It deeply
challenged and confronted people's motives and actions and it exposed
them for what they were. For some, it was a liberating and
transforming power that brought freedom, meaning, purpose and hope.
For others it was
a terrifying power that needed to be controlled and contained and
their answer to this was Jesus had to go. The love Jesus spoke about
was too demanding. A rigged trial, and cruel crucifixion, an
agonising and humiliating death would put an end to this.
It seemed as if in
this one terrible moment that all was lost. It seemed as if the love
that God that extended to all of mankind through Jesus had been
destroyed forever in this one cruel act. Yet, in the midst of all
this, God showed that His love could not be destroyed; this love was
greater than death itself. Jesus was brought from death to life, such
was the power of God's love.
The Gospel writer,
John, wrote, 'the light shone in the darkness, and the darkness could
not overcome it'. This is the gospel of Christ written in the form of
a picture. No matter how dark and terrible things become, God's light
could not and cannot be extinguished, even though it may seem very
distant at times. Not only that, but this is a light that reaches
into the coldest, darkest, most desolate and distant of places in the
whole of God's creation.... in the broken hearts of people just like ourselves.
This invitation to
share in God’s love remains open to us, even if we reject God's
love at this time. It is up to us as to whether we accept this
invitation or not. It remains open to us through Christ because God
loves us, plain and simple. That love is still open to us. We are
invited to share in that love who ever we are, regardless of whatever
we have done, and it is a love that will transform our lives if we
let it.
Do not throw this
invitation away. |
