In the broadway musical, Fiddler on the Roof, there is a song in which Tevye asks his wife, Golde, “Do you love me?” Their marriage had been arranged by their parents, both of them not knowing the other until the day of their wedding. Golde, at first, dismisses his question as foolish. Tevye aske her again, “Do you love me?” She responds with statements like “I bore you 5 children. I’ve cooked for you. I’ve cleaned the house for you. I have raised 5 daughters with you. I have suffered and laughed with you for 25 years.” After each of these answers Tevye persists asking her, “Do you love me?” Golde finally admits, “I guess I do love you.”
Let us ask the same question as Tevye, but instead pose the question to God. “Do you love me?” The readings for today give to us God’s answer. In Ephesians, St Paul writes, “God, who is rich in mercy,
because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ.” In the Gospel, Jesus tells Nicodemus, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” Unlike Golde, who at first hedges in her admission of love for Tevye, God tells us straight out how much God loves us, so much so, that God sent Jesus, his only begotten Son, to bring us everlasting life.
There is a story about the Spanish mystic, St. John of the Cross, who encountered Jesus in a vision. John asks Jesus, “How much do you love me?” Jesus replied, “This much,” then spread his arms and died. Were God to ask us in turn, “Do you love me?” how would we respond?
