Today we lit the second candle of Advent, the Candle of Love. Yet, the scripture readings for today speak of judgment and repentance. Where is the Love that we are celebrating today?
Most of us tend to view love from an earthly perspective. We see love as something that makes people feel good. Whether it is eating a piece of chocolate or being with someone whose presence gives us positive feelings; love for many in this day and age is not steadfast, but as fleeting as the moment of good feelings lasts. This is where we err in understanding love, because we tend to base it on our own feelings and experiences. There is no soundness or continuity in this understanding of love.
The love for chocolate or things is temporary for there will come a time when chocolates and things will no longer matter. This may occur in this life or after we have died. The importance of material things was so significant for some cultures such as the ancient Egyptians that they were buried with their earthly treasures. Today we can go and see many of the Egyptian treasures in museums; so much for taking it with you.
As for relationships that are based on the feel good definition of love, adversity is often the tool that tears apart friendships and marriages. Instead of allowing adversity to draw us closer to one another, it often becomes the wedge that separates and divides people from one another. Like the song says, “There is nothing colder than ashes after the fire is gone.” So too is the fleeting love of today whose presence is based on emotional ties of positive feelings and not on commitments and vows.
Thankfully that is not how God loves. God’s love is the love that is eternal. Of God’s love, St. Paul writes to the Romans,
“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
For those of us who have received Christ as our Lord and Savior this is good news, but for those who have not there is cause for great concern. Some may say that it would be an act of injustice for God to not allow all humans to receive eternal life. Yet, when we do this we are projecting onto God our own human standards of what we think of as justice and injustice.
In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul writes concerning this matter of God’s justice versus our own standards.
“What then are we to say? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ So it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who shows mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘I have raised you up for the very purpose of showing my power in you, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.’ So then he has mercy on whomever he chooses, and he hardens the heart of whomever he chooses.’”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, those of us whom God has chosen to show his mercy by giving us faith to believe and accept His only Begotten Son as our Lord and Savior need to prostrate ourselves in great humility before God in gratitude that our hearts have not been hardened against God’s gift of love. The gift of God’s love is this as written in the gospel of John,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
It is the acceptance of Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah that brings salvation to all who believe in him. Jesus is the manifestation of God’s love for all of humanity. Yet, in His wisdom, God knew from the beginning of creation that not all would accept His gift of love, but for all that do receive God’s immeasurable love through Jesus Christ, there is eternal life. It is not that God wants people to reject Jesus, but rather that God knows that many will reject His love.
Yet, even with this foreknowledge of knowing that not all would accept His Gift of Love, He still chose to send to earth His Beloved Son. This act of love on God’s part goes beyond human comprehension. God gave His Son as the sacrificial Lamb for all of humanity with full knowledge that many would reject His Gift of Love, yet God went ahead and did it. Even if only one person had accepted God’s Gift of Love, God would have sent Jesus to earth, because of His love. True love is a willingness to pay the ultimate sacrifice even if only one person is saved.
In the gospel reading from Matthew today, John the Baptist warns the Pharisees and Sadducees,
“Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.”
In other words, God does not need humanity. At any time He could choose to destroy all of fallen humanity and create creatures that would automatically worship Him. It is because of His love for us that God chooses to find a way to bring us back to Him. The way that God chose is through Jesus Christ, God’s only Begotten Son.
There is no plan B in God’s blueprints for humanity. God knew from the beginning when humans were created in His image that we would rebel against Him. God knew that we would not be faithful in fulfilling our part of the covenant with Him. When God sent Moses the Ten Commandments, God knew that we humans would break them. God already knew that we would fall short of His glory and need Him to save us. So in order to save as many of us as are willing to be saved, God sent Jesus to earth for our salvation. The amazing part of God’s love for us is that He chose to create us anyway knowing the sacrifice that He would have to make on our behalf.
Today on the Second Sunday of Advent, we are called by the Word of God to repent of our sins and to prepare our hearts for God’s Gift of Love. This is a time in which we all need to examine our hearts and minds for anything that is keeping us from living in the fullness of God’s love for us. Whatever is coming between God and us is not worth keeping. We need to turn away from these things to draw us away from our Lord and Savior. For it is only through repentance that our hearts can be prepared to receive the most amazing Gift of Love ever given, Jesus of Nazareth, our only hope for salvation.
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