John 3:16

God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.

This is the crucible, that place and moment in history when all of time focuses down to single moment when every prophecy, every promise, every event found in the Hebrew Testament is made perfect.

The angry, vengeful God who rained death and destruction down on petulant, unfaithful people faded out in the light of a new understanding, a new revelation of himself made man. All we know and experience is complete and everlasting love.

In Jewish tradition there was a vague sense of eternal life but it was never fleshed out in a meaningful way down to personal, individual way. God’s promise  to the Jews was that Jewish people would survive and descend down through time. There was no sense of a one one one relationship with God through this world and then on through eternity.

When I was in the seminary I met a Jewish convert who was studying to be an Anglican Priest. I asked him one day why he converted given that he was a rabbinical student. His response was that he longed for a personal relationship with God. He understood salvation was all about him and every one of us could have the same relationship.

Everything flows out from this statement, this the core level and foundation of our faith. I use this passage or a variation of it in every funeral service I have led. It is the statement that gives our lives purpose and meaning. Our believe motivates and shapes how we live out our lives. That is what we talk about every time we seek to understand every other day but not today. Today the message is that he loves everyone who believes enough offer eternal life. Not just everyone but each of you. And me? I believe. I have a hope in life eternal because I am of this world, the world he loves.