God so loved the world.

***

Gospel: John 3: 14-21

Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, 
so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

For 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.
And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world, 
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light, 
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, 
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

The Gospel of the Lord.

***

***

When I was a boy, I remember a Southern tale about a man who operated a bridge connecting his small town to another.

The man’s job was to raise that bridge when a ship was passing through the local waterway, and to lower it when a train was approaching.

One day, he brought his son to work to show him what Daddy did. The boy marveled at all of the switches, the windows, and the seemingly magical bridge that was raised and lowered by the flick of his father’s finger.

When it came time for the final train of the day to pass through, the father realized that his son had gone missing.

From his tower post, he saw his boy playing at the base of the hill, right where the train was coming and the bridge was set to drop.

He knew if he lowered the bridge without warning that it’d kill his son. But if he didn’t, then the train speeding towards them would be derailed, crashing into the river below, killing everyone on board.

This poor father had to make a split-second decision: to lower the bridge or to rush and save his son.

***

He lowered the bridge.

***

No one onboard that train knew about the sacrifice this father made as the train sped on.

But how might these passengers’ lives have been changed if they known about this father’s sacrifice, that his son died in their place?

Would they have returned to thank him? Or made some effort to pay it forward?

***

In today’s Gospel, Jesus shares, perhaps, his most popular words ever spoken:

“For 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.”

Just as that father lowered the bridge, allowing the train to pass through safely saving everyone onboard, so God lowered the bridge from heaven to earth at the cost of his Son, allowing humanity to pass safely into eternal life.

Imagine all the people onboard this train. God does not discriminate between one passenger and another. All who believe in him Sha find eternal life.

In fact, he’d lower that bridge if you or I were the only person onboard.

***

How does this truth change us?

Are we ever like those passengers onboard the train, which sped along without us aware of what happened? Have we sped through Lent?

Or have our hearts been transformed by Christ’s sacrifice, inspiring us to pay it forward?

***

In three weeks, we will celebrate Easter, this marvelous truth that God has loved us and given himself for us. 

He has lowered the bridge.

May these remaining weeks of Lent be marked with ever deeper faith and gratitude that, “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.”

***

***

Image credits: (1) Alabaster Grace Ministries (2) Reddit (3) Christ is a Bridge to Heaven, Elizabeth Wang, Fine Art America