In our Gospel reading for today, Jesus is telling a mixed crowd of Jews and Gentiles that without belief in him, we will die in our sin. In this case our sin is the sin of unbelief in Jesus as the son of God. Belief in Jesus requires faith and action, and not just words. It is an all or nothing belief. Our responsibility is to always share our belief in all that we do.
Earlier this year, I had the great privilege of attending the ordination of our former parishioner Christopher Montella to the sacred order of priests. The ordination weekend was extraordinary, filled with love, joy, and the celebration of Jesus as our savior. The Sunday following his ordination, Christopher preached as well as celebrated his first Eucharist.
He proclaimed the love of God through Jesus beautifully, and included a reference to Ascension as his first glimpse of what it means to see Jesus in others. His closing blessing included these words;
The world is too big for anything but truth, and too small for anything but love.
Let us take Jesus’ message of love for one another as truth and show our belief in him through our love in all we do and to those we meet. Jesus’ final commandment issued at the Last Supper is for us to love one another. Let us do so, showing we are true believers, saved from the sin of unbelief.
