Love Wins is a book about God. The author, Rob Bells writes this book for people within and outside the church whose image of God is unhealthy. For example, think of people so unsure about God that they never quite know what to expect when we meet God face to face; or, people who think that God is like a watchful policeman looking out for infringements; or, that God is far beyond our human experiences. Bells writes for people like this. And his point is simple: that Jesus shows us what God is like. And the most significant thing that Jesus showed us about God is that LOVE WINS.
What do you think? Can God’s love prevail over the greatest rejection of God – the bloody murder of Jesus? Do you think that, as Bells says, one day hell might be an empty place because God’s love is greater than the powers of hell? Do you think that even hell itself is no longer a place of separation from God? After all, does not the Psalmist say, ‘If I make my bed in Hades, you are there’ (Psalm 139:8)? Karl Barth, the famous Protestant theologian once said: ‘Strange Christianity, whose most pressing anxiety seems to be that God’s grace might prove to be all too free …, that hell, instead of being populated with so many people, might prove to be empty!’ Rob Bell’s is saying something similar. He is saying that Christianity is a celebration of God’s boundless love, a love ‘as wide as the sky and as small as the cracks in your heart that no one else knows about.’
Bells book does raise many questions about heaven and hell. But this Easter, along with the entire church, I want to stand with him on the roof top and shout, “LOVE WINS!” I want to stand beside the still wounded yet risen Christ and say to the rest of the world, “LOVE WINS!” I want Christ to look right into my eyes and with tender assurance whisper to me, “LOVE WINS!”
Let me bring this to a more practical level. I would like to offer three points.
1.What would this world be like without the knowledge of the love that Christ came to show us? In other words, what if Good Friday was the last we heard of Christ? What if the tomb never opened again? What if the Mary and the women at the tomb sat there day after day, week after week and then finally went home in despair? What would it mean if the tomb was the end of an otherwise eventful life of a man named Jesus?
The best way to answer these question is to take our minds to a time when we buried someone we love; or we accompanied someone through a terminal illness and ultimately, death; or think of a parent that has lost a child; or think of a person who lost his or her spouse after thirty, fourty, or fifty years of marriage. And now imagine what it would be for us to bury our beloved knowing that the love we shared is gone forever.
Or, think about a serious sin – an infidelity, a hurtful lie, a damning betrayal, or an act of absolute selfishness. And now imagine that there are no second chances; that love cannot triumph over our sins. Or think of your child battling failure or a loved one battling depression, meaninglessness and darkness. And now, imagine that you could not offer any love and hope through prayer. Think that hatred, violence, failure, despair and hopelessness would have the last word.
But that first Easter day, LOVE moved the stone covering the tomb. That was God’s way of saying to the world, “You can reject me, insult me, strip me, mock me, spit upon me, strike me, crown me with thorns, crucify me and even kill me; But “LOVE WINS!” Nothing… not hatred, lies, betrayal, death or even hell prevails. Resurrection, salvation, hope, reconciliation and peace is ours because LOVE WINS!”
2.At all the Easter masses, each of the second reading is taken from one of the epistles of Paul. One of Paul’s favorite themes is that by baptism every Christian dies with Christ and rises with him to new life. In other words, every Christian now lives the life of Christ. If this is true, then the implication of this is that in our lives too, Christ’s love must get a fair chance. The good news of Easter is that Christ is risen from the dead. This good news is also the greatest challenge for believers. When we are inclined to think that violence and war can solve world problems; when we are betrayed by friends; when marriage and family is threatened by infidelity, misfortune, or illness; when tragedy strikes us or the ones we love; when death is at our door, we are called to live and face life like Christ did. At the end of our lives we should be able to stand before God and say to God, “LOVE WINS.”
3.One of the realities of the post resurrection church was how quickly and rapidly she grew. Somehow, the very believable account of a man who was murdered like a criminal and a very unbelievable story of the same man rising from the death gripped then then known world. Why was that? It is evident from our reading of the post-resurrection church that it was because these Christians took their conviction about Christ to every corner of the world. Not threats, not persecution and not even death could stop them from letting the world know that LOVE WINS. There is term for this phenomenon – it is called evangelization. For many people evangelization means somehow convincing other people to come to church and believe in the same doctrine we believe. The early Christian church tells us a different story. They took the simple message of the love of God and let the world experience it for what it is. Could we be the same? Could we take the message of Christ to our world and let our family, our work, our friend and foe experience that our LOVE WINS? Because of you, could the world be alive with the love of Christ?
After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples, shared a meal with them, spoke to them and lived with them. Today is not any different. Every Eucharist is a resurrection appearance. Jesus speaks to us, shares a meal with us the comes to be with us. Like his disciples, let us too become witnesses of his Love. Let our life be a witness to Christ. Amen.
- Fr. Satish Joseph