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God is Love
Fr Chris Thomas from the Emmaus Family of Prayer reflects on those who live on the edge of society and asks us how inclusive we are in our understanding of the gospel.
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As I drew near the gallery that the picture was in I could feel myself getting more and more excited until I stood before the picture. Its rich colours glowed and the mercy and compassion of the father, welcoming back the son, just flowed from it. I was transfixed. If I could have stayed there for a day I would have done. It was a profound experience of who God is and of the loving parental care of God. If you look in chapter 3 of Luke’s Gospel you’ll find the account of Jesus baptism. After it took place Jesus was radically different from what he was before. It was almost as though he was held in the gaze of the Father’s love and that overwhelming transforming love, told him who he was, the ‘beloved son of the father.’ He got in touch with the deepest source of life. He gazed long and deep into his father’s eyes. Here he discovered a love that allows us to know at a gut level how precious we are in the sight of God. Here he learned to trust God, knowing that ultimately the love of God is enough for life, which begins now and lasts eternally. Immediately after his Baptism Luke recounts Jesus ancestry. He’s not concerned with historical accuracy but with defining Jesus’ role as son. In Jesus’ baptism and in the genealogy Luke is defining the roots from which Jesus came. He came from a group of people who were good, bad and indifferent. But like us all he is best defined by, is the way in which God sees him, as beloved son. You and I discover who we are by allowing the transforming power of love to tell us who we are. You then find that Jesus lives his life in the power of that love constantly proclaiming that only love lasts, only love is eternal. Put your trust nowhere else only in the power of love. Everything else will pass away. It was almost as if Jesus simply allowed the father’s love to flow through him. Is the power of love where we place our trust? The challenge for us is whether or not we’re willing to do what he did. Is the power of love where we place our trust? Are we prepared to let go of the games we play and the masks we wear? Is love more powerful than the systems we buy into and compromise ourselves with? Can we let love conquer our need for power and control? Is love stronger than our desire for revenge, our pain, our hurt and our bitterness? Is it more important than our need to be right and secure? Is it more important than anything else? Do we realise that ultimately all we have is the Father’s gaze of love? There is nothing else that we can trust. When we know that, and begin to live it as Jesus lived it, then we’ll have something to tell the world which is life giving. It’s then that we’ll share the Father’s gaze of love with the world. Let’s open our eyes and recognise the gaze of love of the Father. This alone frees us from our preoccupation with our lives and our limitations to recognise that love is the only absolute. Love is the only thing that lasts. We have a God who loves the world. God is not angry but is unconditional love. So let’s commit our hearts and minds to the eternal power of love and let’s proclaim that love to the ends of the earth. It’s the hope of the world!
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Last
year I went to Russia on holiday. The reason I went to Russia was because
I’ve always been fascinated by the Romanov dynasty and particularly
the story of Nicholas and Alexandra. The other reason I wanted to go
was to see the Hermitage which is full of spectacular works of art and
particularly to spend some time in front of Rembrandt’s picture
of the Prodigal Son.