REFLECTIONS TODAY The message of the cross is shocking both to the Jews and Greeks. A crucified Messiah as God’s agent of reconciling a lost world is a bizarre message, not “good news.” The cross can only be “good news” if its meaning is completely overturned. This was shown in the “lifting up” of Jesus in his resurrection. God was pleased with the obedience “unto death, unto the cross” of Jesus that he raised him from the dead. St. Paul, the first theologian, was a theologian of the cross. According to him, the cross is the initiative of God and the demonstration of his great love: “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). Jesus’ cross is not an accident of history, but a historical witness of God’s unmerited love and saving grace. John, the evangelist, opines, “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.” According to Paul, “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ” (2 Cor 5:19). This was the conviction that he then preached to both Jews and Gentiles. When these understood the paradox of the cross, they became believers, ready to lose their life that they might find it in Jesus. Gospel • John 3:13-17 Jesus said to Nicodemus: “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And 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. Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2022,” St. Pauls, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.