Today we hear those very famous words, “God is Love” (1 John 4:7), but in a world where people are so quick to use the word “love”, it seems to just rolls of must peoples tongues now without a second thought. What then does it really mean to say that “God is love”? For us to truly open our minds and hearts to this divine love let’s look at a passage in the Bible that is all about love. It comes from a beautiful book called, “the Song of Solomon”. It’s a love poem between a bride and groom. At one point the bride sings, “My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my dove, my fair one, and come away; for behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of pruning has come. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. O my dove, let me see your face, let me hear your voice.” (Song of Solomon 2:10-14)
This is a perfect image or story about what we are celebrating during the Easter Season. That God out of his awesome and boundless love for us has “arisen” and the long winter of sin and death have been destroyed by the power of the Resurrection. The flowers are in full bloom, yes, God’s love has burst forth into the world. This is also the story of God’s love for the entire creation. That is why spring time is so special, the creation itself shows forth, that the death of winter in over, look at all the new leaves, open flowers, and the new life that reveals itself for all to enjoy.
This is also love story with a human face at its heart. Yes, God has let us see his love, God has let us see his face in his Son Jesus Christ. What does this mean for us? Love is not an abstract idea that we simply think about, no, is had legs and walked around on the earth. As the Psalmist so beautifully says today, “The Lord has made known his holy arm and all the nations has seen the salvation of our God” (Psalm 98) God is not hidden, he is not behind some veil, no he is on our very midst. That is why St. John can write, “the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, so that we might have life through him.” (1 John 4:9) See, St. John was dealing with a big issue in the church community that he founded. Many people were saying, “oh Jesus was merely a ghost, not a real person, just a fathom of the imagination”. Meaning he did not truly rise from the grave. There was no resurrection from the dead. But John knows if Jesus is not real, then the love of God is not real. He tells his flock, “This Jesus which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, the life was made manifest, and we saw it, and testify to it.” (1 John 1:1-2) This love with a human face, who ate and wept just like we all do. And then went to the deepest places of pain and despair, living out fully what we heard in today’s Gospel, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:12-13) But from this self-emptying, self-giving love, came forth the new life that we all share in. No longer bond by the darkness of the long winter of exile from God’s presence, but welcomed back into the family of God, as sons and daughters. Yes, through the face of Jesus Christ we see the personal presence of the Living God. It is because of that revealed love that God considers us who a faithful to him and abide in his commands to be called friends. Think about that. The God who made the world, the stars, the sun and moon, yes, the one awesome God of creation, calls you his friend!
This love poem, is also a story with a challenge. Each one of us is called to “arise”, to put this great love that the Father has shown forth in his Son, into operation in our daily lives. Not just on Saturday night or Sunday Mass, but all the time. As the Lord himself said in todays’ Gospel, “I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last.” (John 15:16) This is the reason that in all four Gospels Jesus sends forth the disciples to the ends of the earth; to make the love and mercy that God revealed in his Son, manifest and fruitful in all the world. To show forth light and life, were there so often seems to be only pain, darkness, and death. This the great challenge of the “Love of God”, that each one of us, through our baptism and giving of the Holy Spirit are charged and empowered by God to be his coworkers in his work of new creation. His work of love and mercy is all something we share in. It’s not simply the Church's Job, the bishop's job, priest's job, deacon's job, or religious persons job. No, look around at everyone here gathered, you see the actors, you see the ones that God himself has called to be his fruitful disciples in an often-hostile world.
This is why St. Paul in his longest passage about the Resurrection of Jesus finishes his argument with these words, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1 Cor 15:58) When we work in the Lord, when we become coworkers in God’ love, then our labor endures. Everything that we do has a meaning and purpose, there is no idle or down time for a Christian. We are always at work with the Lord, hopefully being led by his life-giving Spirit. St. John goes on to say after today’s reading, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” (1 John 4:11-12) Meaning that the resurrection continues to bear new fruit and become even more perfect in our work. When we are out in the world our lives should be cross shaped and God centered. Always doing like Jesus, loving others to the end, and never exalting ourselves. This is what the voice in the love poem is calling each one of us to do. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it makes us unconfutable, “Lord you want me to do what?” but the is the call that the faithful disciple hears. Jesus, who during and after his resurrection, moved stones, opened locked doors, and made the earth shake, challenges us to do the same thing. What stones are in our path? What sins are keeping us from being fruitful disciples. Take all those sins and let the power, the great dynamite of God’s love destroy them, like he did to death itself in the tomb. St. Paul, tells us, “Death is swallowed up in victory.” O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:54-55) Yes indeed, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37) Jesus is the only one who can open our hearts and minds by his transforming power. We just have to take the time and listen to the voice.
God has spoken, now we must act! God has reached down and done his part, now we must do ours. He has sent forth his visible love into the world for us all, are we doing our part in plan that God has for us? Do we simply stand at the empty tomb and gaze unmoved? Do we see the resurrection as an idol tale with no challenge? Or do we let the power and victory of the resurrection be at work in us. Let us not be a road block to God’s mercy and love. Let us not put stones up where he has broken them down. This is a difficult and exciting call. It’s a call that comes to us in the shape of a cross. God through the love of Jesus Christ transformed the world down to its very foundation, how are we allowing this same love to transform us. Think about the past year, is your heart in the same as it was last year? Or do you feel closer to God and more at peace with other people? Hopefully we all have grown closer to Jesus through our prayer life and many good works, those great works of love and mercy. Let us all leave here, as we are sent forth into God’s world as his faithful disciples and think about the places in our lives where we can show forth the face and voice of Jesus Christ. We must remember that God desires actors and not spectators. We are not simply here at Mass to watch the priest go through the motions and listen to the prayers. No, we are given the love of God through divine food, then called to take that love and its transforming power into the world. To continue to make the fruit of the resurrection present in our time. Let us all arise and think about and act upon the ways that we can improve and become more faithful and fruitful disciples of our loving God.
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