Commentaries

Trinity Sunday – Year A

John 3: 16 - 18

“God so loves the world that he gave his only Son.”

Here we have what can be considered one of the most essential themes of the Gospel according to John, and in fact, of the Good News of Jesus. Or in the words of Fr. Michael Winstanley, SDB, it “sums up the whole Christian message of salvation. It is the Gospel in a nutshell.”[1] The Good News that Jesus proclaims by his preaching and action, by his presence and his very life is 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.”

Moreover, this eternal life refers not only to the life after our earthly existence. It is God’s life, which through Jesus, God shares with us even now.[2] Here, we can see the link with what John had written in the Prologue, “He came, … those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God.” (1:11-12)

Jesus was sent to bring “eternal life and salvation to the world”. He came to save, and not to judge.[3] “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” And that is the reality of God’s love: Jesus is God’s gift of love for the life of the world.

Given that background, the second half of the Gospel passage becomes clearer. 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.” (v. 18) Jesus did not come to judge. Nor does God judge. One who refuses God’s love in the Son brings condemnation on oneself.[4]

This Gospel passage was chosen for this Trinity Sunday to remind us that while we can never fully understand the mystery of the Trinity, we live the reality of the Trinity every moment of our life. In Jesus the Son, we share and live the divine love. Again, the words of the Prologue, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth” (1:14). That love and that glory reach the climax on the cross. That is how much God loves us.

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[1] Winstansley, Michael, S.D.B. Symbols and Spirituality. Bolton, England: Don Bosco Publications, p. 96.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Moloney, Francis, S.D.B. The Gospel of John. Sacra Pagina series. Liturgical Press, 1998, p. 96.

[4] Ibid.