4th Sunday of Lent

March 14, 2021

We all know that the central theme of Scriptural religion is that God is a lover of people-all people and we hear this so often that it is very easy to let it go in one ear and out the other. However, the more I reflect on it, the more I come to the conclusion that it is a very difficult statement to comprehend. For example, it is difficult to believe that God loves murderers, terrorists, child molesters, and brutal dictators. Then we look into our own hearts and we see what is hidden there and sometimes I have to ask myself the question, “Why does God love me?” There are problems that make it difficult. The first one is size. There are about 7 billion people in our world. We do well to stretch our love to a small number of people that we know. It is difficult to comprehend God’s love for all people. The problem is size. The second problem is suffering. We live in a world where disease ravages bodies, where poverty destroys families, and where fear torments minds. And we wonder why. So, the love of God for all people is not an easy concept to comprehend.
 
But it is important to note that God’s love is universal. Some may have a tendency to think that God has a special affinity to a particular group, a particular race, a particular religion, a particular nation. We sing the song “God Bless America” with enthusiasm and that’s good. I love that song, but I also think we need to be careful not to let our religious faith and our patriotic fervor get all mixed up together. The Gospel truth is that God loves the entire world. His love is universal.
 
God’s love is also personal. In fact, some of Christ’s most famous parables emphasize the personal quality of divine love. For example, one was about a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. Now the whole focus centers on the lost sheep. I believe that he deals with human beings like that too. So, this brings me back to where I started. What about the terrorists, the robbers, the rapists, the child molester, the brutal dictators? Don’t all of those come under the heading of lost? How does God deal with all of this? Well, I prefer to leave these judgments to God just as I prefer to leave all judgments to God.
 
Then of course there is the famous Parable of the Prodigal Son. A man had 2 sons. He loved them both, but one went astray as sometimes happens. Then we see that the father had a deep longing for the wayward son to come back and when he did come back there was a great celebration. So, we can see that God’s love is inclusive in that he loves the entire world, and it seems specific in that he loves and cares about one person and that is you and me. God’s love is also redemptive, and this is brought to us more clearly at Easter. So, stay tuned. The best is yet to come.

May God go with you.