By Deacon Jerry Franzen Cathedral 3/11/18
2 Chronicles 36: 14-16, 19-23 Ephesians 2:4-10 John 3: 14-21
Praised Be Jesus Christ Good Morning.
Love is sometimes hard to define.
When I have asked engaged couples if they love one another,
they
say that they do with an attitude of
“Well,
isn’t that a given?”
When I ask them what love means to them,
they
have trouble giving a definite answer.
This problem may arise from the different ways
we use of the term “love.”
*These facets can lead us to a confused idea of what
love is.
One night a man decided to show his wife how much he
loved her.
After dinner he recited romantic poetry,
telling
her he would climb high mountains,
swim wide
oceans, cross deserts in the burning heat of the day,
and
even sit at her window and sing love songs to her
in
the moonlight just to be near her.
After listening to him go on for some time about this
immense love
he had
for her, she
ended the conversation when she asked,
“But
will you wash the dishes for me?”
I
In the first reading, we heard about a time when the
Israelites,
even
the princes and the priests, were terrible sinners.
Yet, God loved his people so much that he sent
prophets to them
early
and often in an attempt to change them.
Eventually God became very angry;
he allowed the enemies of the Israelites to
burn the temple
and take the survivors away as slaves.
After a long captivity, because of His LOVE for them,
the Lord
inspired the pagan King Cyrus
to release the Israelites and to support the rebuilding of the
temple.
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul praised God because
of His love
for him,
Paul, and his brothers and sisters in Ephesus.
It was this LOVE that raised them from the death of
sin
to life in Christ.
Paul says that grace, the result of God’s LOVE,
is the
means by which we can be seated with Him in heaven.
AND the selection of the third chapter of John’s
Gospel includes
this famous
verse, verse 16:
“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 verse has been described as the entire Bible in a nutshell.
Actually one can pick pretty much any reading from any
Mass
and
relate it to God’s love for us.
That is why John 3:16 is referred to as the Bible in a
nutshell.
II
So, let’s look a bit deeper into the word “LOVE”
and how God loves us.
**The earliest known written version of the New
Testament
was
written in Greek, not
English.
Ancient Greek had at least four different words
for the single English word "love?"
Each Greek word implies some kind attraction and
appreciation between someone who loves and someone who is loved.
Each word expresses a different facet of the word “love.”
1. The most basic word for love in ancient Greek is
"storge"
[STORE-gay].
It signifies a bond that we feel because of some natural connection.
An example would be love
between family members.
Jesus, having a human
nature, loved his mother in this way.
He also loves us in this
way
2. The second Ancient
Greek word for love is "eros" [AIR-ohss].
This is an attraction that leads to the kind of passionate feeling
that
carries us away and fills us with intense emotions.
Two people become romantically involved and that carries over
to the physical love of husband and wife.
Jesus loves us passionately, but not with the same emotion
that leads
to married love.
3. The third ancient
Greek word for love is "philia"
[FEEL-ee-yuh].
It describes a bond formed when two people share a common interest
or ideal – a friendship,
It is a bond based on a conscious decision to share one's interests with another person.
This word is used by Jesus at the Last Supper:
"I shall no longer call you servants, because a
servant does not know
the master's
business; I call you friends…..”
Now that they had learned much from Him, they shared
in His life.
We are to be friends of Jesus – the personal
relationship with Him.
4. The fourth
word for love in ancient Greek "agape"
[ah-GAH-pay],
is used far more frequently in
the Bible,
than the
other three words combined.
This is the love that focuses on doing good for others,
serving them no matter
I
feel about them
or what I might get in return.
This self-giving love,
the essential love of Jesus,
not because doing so filled him with ecstasy,
but because WE needed him to do it.
He wanted to restore hope to our sinful hearts
and lead us back from our sinful exile into the Father's house.
“Agape” is the
word used in today's Gospel:”God
so loved the……”
It also the word used when Jesus gives his New Commandment
at the Last
Supper: "Love one another as I have loved
you.”
When St. John in his First Letter writes, "God is love,"
“agape” is the word used.
God is completely focused on our good, happiness and fulfillment.
That's why he created us: not for his happiness, but for ours.
That's why he forgives us as often as we need to be forgiven.
That's why he feeds us with the Body and Blood of His Son.
That's why he carries our crosses with us,
never leaving us to suffer alone.
And since we were created in God's image,
we will find the fulfillment that we yearn for
as we
gradually learn to love in this same Christ-like way.
This is the type of love that is essential between
husband and wife.
III
On Feb. 21, one of the great preachers
of our day,
possibly the greatest, was invited by
God to sit next to Him.
I certainly hope that Rev. Billy Graham is
now with Jesus
who
loved him so much that he gave His life for him.
When Rev. Graham’s body lay in state in
the Capitol rotunda,
President
Trump said that in essence Rev. Gram’s sermons
could
all be summarized as “God loves you!”
Bishop Foys, near the end of his homily
at Confirmation, says
to
those who are to be confirmed,
“If you remember only one thing from
what I have said,
remember
that God loves you.”
**That love for each of us is personal, active, unconditional,
and unlimited.
The crucifix proves it and
our
experience of that selflessness here today confirms it.
In the three previous weeks of Lenten penance, we have been first
reminded of our need to seek the solace of the
desert
to
consider our sinfulness, second
reminded
of how God wanted to impress upon the Israelites
the
seriousness of sin by attempting to wipe it out
with a great flood, and then, last Sunday,
reminded
of the ways of our sin as in the Ten Commandments.
That all may have seemed like a lot of bad news; in a way,
it is.
Today we are reminded that it is precisely because of those sins
and our selfishness that Christ came to earth to save us.
And that is certainly the Good
News.
This Sunday is called "Laetare Sunday," the Sunday of Rejoicing."
That's the reason we wear rose-colored vestments today.
Today as Jesus renews his unconditional love for
us
in this Holy Mass, and especially as we
receive him
in Holy Communion, let's thank him for His love.
May we cooperate with God’s grace not
only to experience his
love,
but to share that “agape” with others, especially those
who are still
living in darkness.
This week, may our active, Christ-like love
be
like a sunrise in the hearts
of others,
giving them hope and drawing them towards
the saving fountain God's grace.
*Story taken from “1001 More Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking”
by Michael Hodgin #789, p 277 Zondervan Pub. House,
Grand Rapids MI 1998
**Information for this homily taken from: https://www.epriest.com/homily_packs/build/125
***The division used in this homily is drawn
from C.S. Lewis's "The Four Loves" and the first part of Pope
Benedict's Encyclical Letter, "Deus caritas est."
