We've All Been There

Sometimes in the stands at a baseball game or other crowded event,

You'll see someone holding a banner that says simply: John 3:16

It refers to one of the most well known and most assuring verses of the Gospel.

Basically, it is the Gospel.

It's the Good News condensed down to one sentence.

A sentence we heard today.

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.

That's Good News! Great News!

But it does have that qualifier in there, that condition.

As it's phrased, the specifically stated assurance is only for those who believe in Jesus.

And it raises the question, How much faith is enough?

It would be even better news, even greater assurance, without that qualifier.

And, indeed, our Church interprets the Gospel to allow for a broader hope.

A hope that imperfect believers, and even non-believers, might attain to eternal life.

In prayer, in interpretation, in life—we're often faced with questions of faith.

How much faith is enough?

How strong a faith is sufficient?

Thomas put his finger in the nail wounds and believed.

But Jesus criticized his belief saying, You believe because you have seen.

Blessed are those who have not seen but yet believe.

Thomas' faith was not perfect, but it seems to have been sufficient.

If faith the size of a mustard seed would move mountains, our faith must be pretty puny.

How can we increase our faith?

By working at it and by simply asking for it.

By prayer, fasting and good works.

Prayer that builds our relationship with Jesus.

By frequently talking with him and listening to him.

We might pray as in the story of that father who asked Jesus to heal his deaf and mute son:

Lord, I do believe, help my unbelief.

Focusing on faith can be hard in our environment—in our materialistic, secular, cynical society.

There's a little story about letting faith carry us beyond our current knowledge and environment.

Its analogy isn't perfect, but with a little artistic license it makes its point.

     Two babies—twins—were together in a their mother's womb.

     The first said to the other: Do you believe in life after delivery?

     The other replied, Why, of course. There has to be something after delivery. 

     Maybe we're here now to prepare ourselves for what we'll become later.

     Nonsense said the first. There is no life after delivery. What kind of life could that be?

     The second said, I've actually seen it in my dreams.

     We'll live in light instead of darkness.

     We'll walk with our legs and eat with our mouths.

     Maybe we'll have other senses and abilities that we can’t even imagine now.

     The first replied, That's crazy-talk. Walking is impossible.

     Why would we eat with our mouths? The umbilical cord supplies everything we need.

     But see how short the cord is. There's no way it could sustain us after we go through delivery.

     The second insisted, Well I think there's a new life and it’s different from life here.

     Maybe we won’t even need this physical cord anymore.

     The first replied, If there's life after delivery, then why has no one ever come back from there?

     Delivery is the end of life, and in the after-delivery there is nothing but darkness and oblivion.

     I disagree, said the second, and certainly we'll meet Mother and she'll take care of us.

     The first replied, Mother! You actually believe in Mother? Maybe you really are crazy.

     If Mother exists then where is She?

     The second said, She's all around us. We're surrounded by her. We're of Her.

     It's in Her that we live. Without Her this world would not and could not exist.

     Said the first: There's no proof of that. We've never seen Her. Logic says She doesn’t exist.

     And the second replied,

     Sometimes, when you’re silent and you focus and you really listen, you can feel Her presence.

     You can actually hear Her loving voice, calling down from above.

God wants us to have the joy and live the life that comes with that kind of faith.

Many times in the Gospel we see Jesus heal someone and say, Your faith has saved you.

God wants us to have great faith, and if we ask, he'll increase that gift

So we should redouble our efforts and our prayer for greater faith.

And despite seeing that many people seem to not believe in Jesus or his message,

Despite our own imperfect faith and imperfect actions,

We can hold onto our trust in God's great mercy.

And our hope that he will somehow bring all of us to that eternal life.

Some imagine that Jesus might go so far as to come to us in that instant before death is final.

It's as if time is frozen for that instant and he talks with us.

And he gives us another chance to truly believe in him.

That's one nice way to imagine how God's mercy might overcome his just judgment.

But clearly it's only conjecture, no one really knows precisely what happens at death.

But we do know that God does not want even one of us to be lost.

We know that he sent his Word into the world and that his Word does not return empty.

We know that none of us can save ourselves, but everything is possible for God.

We know that God has gone to unimaginable extremes to prevent our being lost.

We know that 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.

4th Sunday of Lent

Jn 3:14-21     Read this Scripture @usccb.org