Wednesday April 26
The dialogue that night between Jesus and Nicodemus turned into a monologue of Christ, who reveals the heart of God and of mankind. God is not the unmoved mover of some Greek philosophers but a Father who loves and gives his Son to save us. The human heart is torn between two opposing options: to live in faith and righteous deeds in the light of truth which is the Word of Christ; or to choose disbelief, hatred, and the path of darkness. We find ourselves in a crossroad: we can use our freedom for our salvation or damnation.
“The one who does not believe is already condemned.” Does this sound a bit premature? Is it like being called an “infidel”? Think of some friend of yours who has not come to Christian belief: is he or she being branded and left without hope? No, because in another place John says, “The one who believes in the Son has eternal life” (3:36). To us this may sound equally premature. The key to it is the word “belief”. John could not have imagined, I’m sure, that the day would come when believing could mean just a nominal adherence. He would not have called a nominal Christian a believer. And conversely a nominal disbeliever is not beyond the reach of the Good Shepherd: Jesus lays down his life for his sheep, and thinks of those “other sheep who are not of this fold” (Jn 10:16).
That English word “belief”…. The root of it is a now obsolete word “lief”, which meant “love”. Shakespeare used this word frequently. Belief without love is not belief at all; it is only a mental game of nougats and crosses. If John were here today, and aware of our usage, he might say, “Don’t tell me what you ‘believe’; tell me what you love.”