“How do we convince them that we love them? We let them torture and kill us, rise from the dead and continue to love them nonetheless. If this does not convince them that their God loves them, nothing will. ”
God has given their love to us. God places no limitations on the gift of their love of us. There are no strings attached to it. No quid pro quo is expected of us. It is not a loan that we must pay back. It is not one side of a bargain. There is no fine print. There are no qualifications, conditions or exceptions. It is a gift. It is a gift from God to us. It is free. God does not charge us anything for it. We do nothing to earn it. We are unworthy of it. We do not deserve it.
The serpent is jealous of God's gift of His love to us. 'How can God love these unworthy and undeserving creatures?', the serpent asks himself. Surely, in loving them, God has made a serious mistake. In loving them, God has made a gross error in judgment.
The serpent does not understand that love can be a gift. And the giver is free to give the gift to anyone.
Indeed, we are unworthy of God's love of us. We do not deserve it. Yet, God still loves us anyway. It is preposterous but God still loves us anyway. This absurdity makes God number one in our book. Giving love to us despite our unworthiness is why we consider God great.
The serpent, however, is a dynamic but malign force who propels himself through human history repeatedly trying to extinguish God's love for us. The serpent tries time and time again to persuade God that God has made a mistake in loving us. History, therefore, consists of a series of failed attempts by the serpent to extinguish God’s love for us. Furthermore, God exploits these episodes to demonstrate to us the indestructibility of His love for us.
The first failed attempt to extinguish God’s love for us occurred with Adam and Eve. The serpent induced them to abdicate paradise for godlessness. Surely, their ingratitude would extinguish God’s love for us, the serpent thought. But it did not. God continued to love us nonetheless.
The serpent’s final attempt to extinguish God’s love for us took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection. It was predicted that the Son of God would pay us a visit. The serpent waited and watched for the visit. When the time of the visit came, the serpent induced us to torture and kill the Son of God while He was human, alive, tender, vulnerable and our guest upon the earth. We tortured and killed Him. This is the sin of sins. We could have done no worse evil to Him. Surely, this insult to the very person of the Son of God would extinguish God’s love for us, the serpent thought. But, again, it did not. God continued to love us nonetheless. That this very personal insult to the Son of God did not extinguish His love for us, tells us that nothing can. Nothing can extinguish God's love for us. God's love for us blazes like an out-of-control bonfire in His most sacred heart.
As a result of events that transpired on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection, the serpent finally realized the truth about God's love for us. And the serpent despaired.
His love for us is indestructible.
His love for us is invincible.
His love for us is invulnerable.
His love for us is inextinguishable.
His love for us is intransigent.
His love for us is steadfast.
His love for us is obdurate.
How do we know? The road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection tells us so. The bombshell of revelation that erupted from the violent collision between Jesus and the evil that we did to him on road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is the proof. It is the irrefutable proof. The survival of His love for us guarantees this. If God's love for us were counterfeit, it would have faded as we tortured Him and died when we killed Him. But it did not. His love for us survived the evil that we did to him. Therefore, His love for us is genuine.
The road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is the rock on which the wise build their understanding of God. An understanding of God built on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is infallible.
The only open question after the dramatic demonstration of divinity that took place on the road from the Crucifixion to the Resurrection is, 'do we recognize the truth about God's love for us?'. The dramatic demonstration of divinity opened the serpent's eyes to the truth about God's love for us. Has it opened our eyes?
“Christianity in a nutshell: We tortured and killed him. He suffered and died. Yet, He did not stay dead and he did not stop loving us. Score the victory for God. Celebrate the victory at Mass.”
The brutality of the Crucifixion makes the intransigence of his love for us extraordinarily amazing.
