Today is the Feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross. For today’s Gospel reading, we hear from John:
”For 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.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.”
Note that John didn’t say that God loves only those people who vote for the “right” people.
Or attend the right church. Or believe what we believe. Or look like us. Or talk like us. Or come to the country in the same way as we did.
I don’t believe it’s an accident this reading follows Sunday’s gospel about forgiveness. Maybe one of the things we could work on this week is an eagerness to forgive those who have offended us with no strings attached.
The next several weeks are going to be rocky. We are going to disagree with people. Depending on the channel, the commentators will irritate us. Or maybe all the commentators on all the channels will irritate us. There is a serious lack of clarity in this world when it comes to truth.
But John is clear. God loves the world and anyone who believes this is in pretty good shape. The hard part is acting like we believe it.