I have only one niece. And she loves being my ‘only’ niece. She is now married and has two children. When she was about three years old I would often ask her how much she loved me. When she was mad with me, she would hold her two little fingers just a little apart and show me that’s how little she loved me. Most of the time she would open her arms and say, “This much.” One time, I asked her, “Only that much?” She stretched a little more and said, “This much.” This went on for about four or five times until she could not stretch more without hurting. Of course, I just picked her up and covered her with as much love as possible. That is one time in my life when love – pure, simple, and innocent yet overpowering, overwhelming and indescribable totally overcame me.

On this the third Sunday of Lent I would like to reflect with you on St. Paul’s from today’s second reading. Paul says, “God PROVES HIS LOVE for us….” What God PROVES is not might, power, majesty, glory, splendor, or the immensity of God’s wisdom. What God PROVES is God’s love. Today’s first reading about the rebellion of the Israelites and the gospel reading of the Samaritan woman provide the background within which the Paul can be understood. These two readings are commentaries on imperfect human nature and God’s steadfast love.

Proving Love

The question that emerges in our minds is: Does God have to prove God’s love? Our instinctive answer is NO! God doesn’t have to prove anything. God is love and there is nothing that God has to prove. For example, we do not have to prove that we are human beings. We simply are. Then why did God prove God’s love? I think the readings are telling us that God proves God’s love — not because of God’s need but ours.

God proves God’s love for because like the Israelites in the desert, we constantly stand in need of the assurance of God’s love and fidelity. Sometimes, like the Israelites, we forget God’s love and fidelity. The people of Israel had seen God’s marvelous works that set them free. And yet, when they were thirsty, they tested God saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” It is like me pushing my niece to tell me how much more she loved me. That day God proved God’s presence through the water from the rock. In Jesus Christ, God’s love in proven for us once and for all. In other words, God PROVES his loves for us, because our human nature stands constantly in need of God’s love.

How is Love Proven?

Paul says: “God PROVES his loves for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” The Christian story is not about a God, who if are perfect, meets us at the end of the road. The Christian story is of a God who embraces us in our imperfection, loves us through it all, and meets us on the road to perfection. Even though the Israelites rebelled, God remained faithful. The Samaritan woman was not perfect, but Christ led he to the living water.

Yes! Christ loved and died for us while we were still sinners. And God did not just show us this love or give us a taste of it. Paul says, “The Love of God has been POURED into our hearts.” Love is PROVEN and POURED while we are still sinners.

Folks, I don’t know where you are in life, what your search is, or how you are trying to get there. Please always know this – there is nothing more proven and nothing more abundant than the Love of God. And let nothing, not even your deepest sin keep you away from the Love of God. For, “God PROVES his loves for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”

Faithful Love

There is yet another reason God proves God’s love for us – the mere helpless that we experience in human life. For many of us, life can become unbearable. In the desert, the Israelites were desperate without water. They genuinely feared for their lives. The Samaritan woman had had five husbands.

Often, life puts us in desperate situations too. Sometimes it is a traumatic illness, or an accident, of failure, or a divorce, or a death of a child. Or think about the situation in Gaza. Men, women, and children have been starved to death. We immigrants we have own set of desperations. As refugees who live away from our homelands, not only would we love to visit our families, visit our homes, meet our relatives, but many of us have come face-to-face with death to save our lives. Even today, we live in a country that offers us opportunities, but the uncertainty can be traumatic. In these times, it is OK to ask, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

God is a God is love and fidelity. God understands our desperation. God understands when we cry out, “Are you in our midst or not?” After all, “God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

This Eucharist is a sign of God’s love and fidelity. Like the Israelites, like the Samaritan woman, let us bring our lives to the Lord. Today the Lord gives us not just water, but his own Body and Blood. God proves his love for us that while we are still sinners, Christ offers us his Body and Blood.

Image: Adobe Stock. By HN Works.