Daily Reading

First Reading

Exodus 34:4b-6, 8-9

So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the former ones; and he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tablets of stone. The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name, “The Lord.” The Lord passed before him, and proclaimed,

“The Lord, the Lord,
a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

Psalm

Daniel 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56

“Blessed are you, O Lord, God of our ancestors,
    and to be praised and highly exalted forever;
And blessed is your glorious, holy name,
    and to be highly praised and highly exalted forever.
Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory,
    and to be extolled and highly glorified forever.
Blessed are you who look into the depths from your throne on the cherubim,
    and to be praised and highly exalted forever.
Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom,
    and to be extolled and highly exalted forever.
Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven,
    and to be sung and glorified forever.

Second Reading

2 Corinthians 13:11-13

Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

Gospel Reading

John 3:16-18

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Reflection

Friends, today’s Gospel gives us the famous assurance that God gave his Son that we might have eternal life.

There is a terrible interpretation of the cross that holds the view that the bloody sacrifice of the Son on the cross was “satisfying” to the Father, an appeasement of a God infinitely angry at sinful humanity. In this reading, the crucified Jesus is like a child hurled into the fiery mouth of a pagan divinity in order to assuage its wrath.

What eloquently gives the lie to this awful interpretation is today’s passage, which is often proposed as a summary of the Christian message. God the Father is not some pathetic divinity whose bruised honor needs to be restored; rather, God is a parent who burns with compassion for his children who have wandered into danger. It is not out of anger or vengeance that the Father sends the Son but precisely out of love. 

Does the Father hate sinners? No, but he hates sin. Does God harbor indignation at the unjust? No, but God despises injustice. Thus God sends his Son not gleefully to see him suffer but to set things right.