For God so loved the world that he gave his uniquely begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)The Beatles said: “All you need is love.” And you know what? For once they were right.
Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of Love. It is the day we focus on the very nature of God and his love for humanity.
The Beatles were right. All you need is love. But not like they thought. Not free love, or any of the weird things that went with it. What we need is real love.
The world makes do with a counterfeit. And after a while it gets to thinking that it is normal. It is kind of like that fake cheese stuff that is sold in individual plastic wrappers. It isn’t cheese. It is cheese food. Fake cheese. It isn’t quite as bad as that soy stuff – cheddamelt – but almost.
We used to tell the kids it was children's cheese so we could save money on the real stuff by eating it ourselves. They figured it out sooner or later.
If we eat it enough and pretend enough, it may taste like cheese. And it is the same with love. If we go with the fake stuff, we may settle for it. But it isn’t the same.
Fake love is sex, or tolerance, or smiling on each other, or maybe even living together without fighting. But it isn’t love. Love is a real thing that changes those it affects.
When we are loved, it affects us. And when we love it does the same. Love touches us in a real way that, when we feel it, we recognize the artificial easily.
God’s love is a changing love. It calls us to better things, it makes us want to be better. And he showed us his love by sending Jesus.
What’s more, 1 John 3:16 says: We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. God showed love by sending Jesus. Jesus showed love by coming. A lot of love going around.
Love shown by sacrifice. Love shown by giving something up for the betterment of someone else. Only real people do that.
Next Sunday will be the celebration of that love. We’ll celebrate the Christ child come into this world and love made manifest in the flesh.
Don’t miss it. Anything else you do will be just children’s cheese.
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