The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
Some phrases have become so overused by our culture that they nearly lose all meaning. They are like coins that have lost their value because the image that they ought to bear is no longer present, having been worn down over time. John 3:16 is one of these phrases. Nearly every Christian (and even non-Christian) can recite this passage without hesitation. It is on billboards, at sporting events, on bumper stickers, even as episode titles in TV series that have nothing to do with Jesus. We hear and read these words so often that we no longer feel the gravity that the words intended.
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.
As Christians, we know what this means: God loved us — all of us, uniquely and individually — so much that he willingly handed over his son to suffer and die on a cross so that those of us who seek him will never be separated from him again. But in those rare moments when I stop and allow these words do register, I often struggle to understand. Who am I that God should love me so recklessly? But then I am reminded of the words of St. Augustine, who wrote in his Confessions: “You [God] are good and all-powerful, caring for each one of us as though the only one in your care, and yet for all as for each individual.” Similarly, the young mystic St. Teresa of Avila recalled Jesus in a vision, saying, “I would create the universe again just to hear you say that you love me.”
It is in moments like this that I am thankful God asks of me not understanding but faith. I cannot comprehend how John 3:16 could be true, but I can do my best, with the help of God’s grace, to live in this love. In faith, I can choose to believe in this truth until someday, God willing, I am able to truly know. Until then, I will place myself besides Moses and bow down to the ground in worship of the God who exists as an eternal communion of Trinitarian life and love.
Jordan Haddad, Ph.D. (cand.) is an Associate Professor of Dogmatic Theology, and the Director of Lay Ministry Programs and Lay Formation, at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, Louisiana. He lives in Kenner, LA, with his wife, Shannon, of five years and their three-year-old daughter, Lily Marie.