What Kind of Love is This?

   Lent 3                                         March 26, 2025

The question we are focusing on this Lenten season has been on What Kind of love is this?  The Jews offered sacrifices to God in fulfillment of the Biblical command.  We today continue to make sacrifices – these sacrifices however aren’t in fulfillment of the Biblical command but usually are about life.  We sacrifice our time to get ahead in life, we sacrifice our health so that we can work long hours putting money away for a retirement that we hope to reach some day, we sacrifice our relationship with God in order to achieve success and earthly possessions in this life. 

The question asked in this past weekend’ Gospel was ““Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?   With the answer being “ No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”  We ask ourselves are our sins worse than the Galileans or others?  Are we worse because we sacrifice for earthly pleasures and not our Lord?  The answer thankfully is still no as long as we repent. 

That answer is still no because of the love that Christ showed to us.  That love was an unconditional love that wanted to save us from our sins and do what no other sacrifice could do.  That unconditional love that would go to no end for us as mentioned in the refrain of Hymn 542, “You showed Your love, Jesus, there to me on Calvary.”  We all sin and are in the need of forgiveness of our sins and Jesus showed His love for us through dying on the cross at Calvary.  The love was willing to sacrifice Himself that we might have life.

As we continue through this Lenten journey what is our response to that unconditional sacrificial love that Jesus showed to us?  Are we like the barren fig tree in terms of bearing no fruit?  Or will be the fig tree that bears fruit; looking to share the Gospel, looking to share the love of Christ, looking towards God through Christ for the forgiveness of our sins?

Let us pray – Dear God Heavenly Father, we thank you for showing your love for us through Jesus’ dying on that cross on Calvary.  May we repent of our sins knowing that we are forgiven because of that love.  May we respond to that love through putting you first in our lives and share that love you have shown to us with others that all may know of the love Christ showed to all on Calvary.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Pastor Dan Cohn

LWML Albany Zone Pastoral Counselor

St. Mark's Hudson, NY

Circuit Visitor, Circuit 2