Reflection
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:13-17
This passage focuses on God’s unconditional love and the transformative nature of “eternal life” as a present reality not just a future destination. It is a powerful statement of God’s all-encompassing love for the world, a love that is not conditional or limited to those with the “correct” beliefs but rather that everyone who believes in Jesus will not perish. Eternal life is not a reward for believers after death, but a quality of life experienced in the here and now. It is a transformed life that comes from entering into a relationship with God through Jesus. Believing in Jesus means surrendering to the transformative power of God’s spirit, which leads to a new way of being in the world. It is a process of healing and restoring the world.
Adapted from Marcus Borg
Prayer
May the reign of God come.
Action
Reflect on the transformation of which we are called to be a part. Do you believe this? What does that imply?
Suggested Reading
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
Corinthians 11:1
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another,
John 13:35 The Christian cannot keep his faith hidden, because it shines through in every word, in every deed, even the most simple and mundane: the love that God has given through Jesus shines through. Let us pray tyatGod’s kKingdom of love, justice and peace may reign in us and in the whole world.
Pope Francis
Grace is everywhere as an active orientation of all created reality toward God.
Karl Rahner
There is a vision of a world where God cuts through the chaos, where God speaks and there is light. There is a vision where there is protection and where love is binding every relationship together. Jesus did not come to impose Christendom like an imperial system. Every description he offers of God’s Reign—of love, relationship, non-judgment, and forgiveness, where the last shall be first and the first shall be last—shows that imposition is an impossibility!
Richard Rohr
The reign of God is the love of God according to which we live, and when the reign of God is lived by all of us, when it’s come to its fullness in everyone, but especially the poor will have the good news proclaimed to them, as Jesus said.
Elizabeth Johnson
We must restore the human community
Joan Chittister
God’s kingdom is coming in and through the work of Jesus, not by taking people away from this world but by transforming things within this world, bringing the sphere of earth into the presence, and under the rule, of heaven itself.
N.T. Wright
The way of Jesus is the way of death and resurrection — the path of transition and transformation from an old way of being to a new way of being.
Marcus Borg
Our Christian life began not with our decision to follow Christ but with God’s call to us to do so.
John Stott