Gospel • Jn 3:16-21
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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.
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-begotten 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.
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The title “Son of God” is almost always applied to Jesus in the New Testament. It expresses the intimate union of the Son with the Father, in virtue of which Jesus receives from the Father the power to judge and to confer life (cf Jn 5:19-23).
The Gospel also speaks of God giving his “only Son” (Greek ton huion ton monogene). There is here an implicit reference to the story of Abraham, who was commanded to take his only son Isaac, whom he loved, and offer him as a holocaust to the Lord (cf Gn 22:2, 12). While God spared Abraham the sacrifice of his son, God does not spare his own. This is the greatest sign of God’s love for the world.
A sign of true love is giving up something or someone precious.
