The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, June 7, 2020

John 3:16–18

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. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

A feast in honor of the Most Holy Trinity appears for the first time in parts of what is now France in the 8th century, and other dioceses and regions adopted it over the centuries.  St. Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, ordered it to be kept in England in the 12th century.  In the year 1334, Pope John XXII ordered it for the whole Church, and that it be kept on the first Sunday after Pentecost.  The purpose of the Feast is to commemorate the Holy Trinity following the feasts of the Resurrection of the Son and the Descent of the Holy Spirit.

The reading from St. John’s Gospel follows the discussion between Jesus and Nicodemus about the Holy Spirit and what it means to for a man to be “born again” through him.  It is unclear from the text who is speaking at this point, Jesus or John.  The Greek manuscripts containing the Gospel do not contain punctuation or paragraphs, or, in many cases, spaces between the words, which would help us to know.  It would seem from the context that John is speaking here, reflecting on the words of his Master.

“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.”  These words cause us to catch our breath.  God loves the world unconditionally, despite the world not loving or insufficiently loving God.  The way John phrases the words tells us that God would refuse us nothing in order to save us.  And we do need saving because left to ourselves we will perish, and not merely our bodies will die but our souls, which cannot die, will endure the fires of hell for all eternity.  Not satisfied in saving us from this fate, God even offers us eternal life with him.  He does all this through his Son.  John emphasizes that “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world”.  The world might merit condemnation based on its disobedience, but God still sends his Son to save it — to save us, who belong to it.  

We must believe in the Son: “whoever believes in him will not be condemned”.  That is, we must believe that he is the Son of God.  Nor is this a mere intellectual exercise.  The consequences of this belief are that we must obey his commandments.  “Whoever does not believe has already been condemned”, that is, those who reject Jesus and his commandments.  The one who rejects the Lord “has already been condemned” in that his fate remains what it would have been if Jesus had not entered the world.  In this sense, we encounter very many “dead men walking” each day, those who have “not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

God loves us passionately and he will never withdraw his love for us.  The enjoyment of his love is our heaven.  Let us enter this heaven by loving him in return, just as unconditionally as he loves us.