“For God so loved the world, he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him should not die, but have eternal life. God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
This is the message. When we sort through all of the debates and disagreements about theology, and how to “do church”…to baptize by immersion or sprinkling, to sing with instruments or without…to believe that God saves us through his own work, or through some combination of his work and our works… this simple passage from the Gospel of John is the very heart of the gospel message:
God loves us, and he gave his one and only son in order to bring us home to him.
Can we believe a message so void of complexity? Can we accept the gift, just as it’s offered? Or will be debate it? Analyze and dissect it? Will we try to make ourselves good enough to receive the gift, or just accept that it is true, and rejoice in the wonder of it all?
Yesterday I shared the story of how my Grandmother used to stand at the top of the carport steps, waiting for our family to arrive home. She waited for our car to pull into the gravel driveway and send the farm dogs into a barking frenzy that hailed our coming, and yet, we had no cell phones then…no way to let her know we were almost there…but she always seemed to know when we were going to arrive, and there she stood…waiting for us…ready to receive us with open arms and a happy smile of welcome.
Did we analyze or debate the authenticity of her love, or the joyful welcome she extended to us? Did we stop a few miles away and rush into a gas station restroom to try and “clean up” for our homecoming? No…of course not! We did not question or debate, or try in any way to earn her affection…we simply trusted the love offered to us, and gratefully received her happy embrace. No clean up was required, and there was never any fear of being rejected…the love was always true, and the welcome was always sure…and this is what made it home.
Funny then, isn’t it…that most of us struggle so much to believe that God loves us…to believe he would give everything he has in order to bring us home to him again? Sometimes religion can get in the way, and the purest and most simple message of the Christmas season can be lost in the shuffle…but this is still the message…and God’s love for us is still the greatest gift.