(Jn 3:31-36)

In the pericope Jn uses descriptive categories [from above, from below, from heaven, from the earth - i.e. our whole "domain"].

Natural terms, to introduce us to the Person of the revealing Son, and the importance of his proposal for real life.

In fact, the divine condition of the Father's Envoy proceeds from the human dimension.

However, his earthly nature is incomparable to his origin as a being from heaven, superior to all competition.

The Messiah's testimony about the world above is a Word that challenges us. But it is not accepted (cf. Jn 1:11) by a "world" (Jn 1:10) i.e. an official religious institution that only loves what corresponds to it.

And yet those who accept this testimony (cf. Jn 1:12) harbour within themselves the same Revealer - because of the identity between the Person and the Word.

In the expressions of the One who unveils, God's designs and action are made manifest (v.33).

It is the Master of Nazareth who shows the truth of the Most High.

For the Father has granted to the Son the whole of his Spirit "not with measure" (v.34); no limits, no restrictions, as e.g. in prophets, kings or patriarchs.

And he who believes in the Son is of the Father - he is already at the level of eternity: he has in himself the same "Life of the Eternal" (v.36).

Whoever accepts Christ already lives in God. He is addressed to the Father; he enjoys its ineffable presence, assimilates and speaks its (unique) language.

He becomes capable of non-one-sided relationships, because he knows how to recover opposites.

Only from the fullness of the Spirit's gifts [and its participation: v.34] comes adherence to a Torah imprinted in the heart, as well as self-acknowledged obedience.

In this way, he becomes Likeness, which takes the story of the new Master as its criterion.

The unlimited fullness of the Spirit granted to Christ means and guarantees that the Revelation brought by Jesus is sufficient and full.

The unveiling of the Mystery no longer needs to be completed through cognitive processes and efforts of will.

Neither does it need a doctrinal system, nor a code of conduct to act as guarantor, as in religions.

The truth of Christ illustrates the Faithfulness of the Father, whose Love is not subject to conditions-typed conditions (which would liquidate it).

The object and end of Revelation is no dogmatic 'truth'.

The Person of the Lord introduces us into a process, into a journey that becomes a means to know and transmit it - a means that is not the end.

We could say: not the Son resembles the Father, but the Father resembles the One who reveals Him.

In short, in Jesus-Logos we are invited to put all half-measures and ancient preconceptions about God in brackets.

It is the decision or non-decision for Christ, his 'Judgement' - which does not punish.

It takes us on the wondrous journey of Faith, which accompanies, dominates the natural devotional level and becomes the... experience of being saved.

Keeping the precepts of the Pentateuch brought "long days and years of life and much peace" (Pr 3:1-2).

From the fulfilments of the Law and oral tradition an expected [normal] fulfilment was assumed.

Salvation, on the other hand, does not come from origins, from 'territory' (v.31) - culture and ethnicity.

Nor does redemption proceed from the outcome of a verification of ancient teaching.

The complete realisation seizes us - rather - from believing in the Son (v.36): absolute birth [always renewed] imparted by the Spirit who does not hinder.

Spirit of divine configuration, communicated precisely "not with measure".

Ancient religions promise 'eternal life' - in some cases, almost a consolation prize after the labours of this vale of tears.

Alienation that breaks wings, produces alibis, and makes one external, already registered and predictable.

Instead, the "Life of the Eternal" (v.36), the very and intimate Life of God, is a condition that inhabits, bursts into our paths.

It does so with eccentric, unprecedented inclinations; previously inconceivable - where we are ourselves, not reduced creatures.

It can be experienced in the concrete, even excessive, ways of being that correspond to an unveiling, a 'revelation' within us.

Especially in the Fourth Gospel, the dimension of the Eternal is a protruding measure, but embodied and in action. Not by natural virtue, but by openness to Totality.

By the action of the Spirit, which ceaselessly creates and regenerates - and weaves a radical understanding into being.

It is not we who produce the Love that fills and activates, or that can restore us to life without restriction.

But the dimension of Sons who from Baptism know and recognise themselves in the Fullness, concerns us.

Then - as in Jesus the Son - everything is placed in our hands (v.35).

To internalise and live the message:

What vocational excess have you left undone?

What experience of wholeness given, received and recognised have you had?

If Christ is one of many realities, what reigns in you? When God has primacy, what changes?

The novelty of biblical faith

9. There is first of all the new image of God. In the cultures surrounding the world of the Bible, the image of God and the gods ultimately remains unclear and contradictory in itself. Instead, in the course of biblical faith, what Israel's fundamental prayer, the Shema, summarises in the words: 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is one' (Deut 6:4) becomes clearer and clearer. There is only one God, who is the Creator of heaven and earth and therefore also the God of all men. Two facts in this clarification are singular: that truly all other gods are not God and that all reality in which we live goes back to God, is created by Him. Certainly, the idea of a creation also exists elsewhere, but only here is it absolutely clear that not just any god, but the one true God, Himself, is the author of the whole of reality; it comes from the power of His creative Word. This means that this creature of His is dear to Him, because it was willed by Him, "made" by Him. And so the second important element now appears: this God loves man. The divine power that Aristotle, at the pinnacle of Greek philosophy, sought to grasp through reflection, is indeed for every being the object of desire and love - as a beloved reality this divinity moves the world - but it itself needs nothing and loves nothing, only is loved. The one God in whom Israel believes, however, loves personally. His love, moreover, is an elective love: of all peoples He chooses Israel and loves it - with the aim, however, of healing the whole of humanity in precisely this way. He loves, and this love of His can undoubtedly be described as eros, which however is also and totally agape.

Especially the prophets Hosea and Ezekiel described this passion of God for his people with bold erotic imagery. God's relationship with Israel is illustrated through the metaphors of betrothal and marriage; consequently, idolatry is adultery and prostitution. This hints concretely - as we have seen - at the fertility cults with their abuse of eros, but at the same time it also describes the relationship of faithfulness between Israel and its God. God's love story with Israel consists, in depth, in the fact that He gives the Torah, that is, He opens Israel's eyes to the true nature of man and shows it the way to true humanism. It consists in the fact that man, living in faithfulness to the one God, experiences himself as one who is loved by God and discovers joy in truth, in righteousness - joy in God that becomes his essential happiness: 'Who else shall I have for myself in heaven? Outside of you I covet nothing on earth.... My good is to be close to God" (Ps 73 [72], 25. 28).

[Pope Benedict, Deus Caritas est]