The Gospel passage describes the way in which God’s total unselfishness, God’s total self-giving, is worked out by Jesus coming into the world. He came not to wreak Divine vengeance on sinners but simply to offer life. It is in freedom that we accept or reject that life. There is no coercion. If we “prefer darkness to the lightâ€, if we prefer evil deeds to doing good, if we choose deliberately to do wrong, we have chosen the consequences ourselves. No one can force us to be channels of love and self-giving. No one can make us live in the light. But if, having looked upon the face of Christ opening His arms on the cross, we believe that His way is the one we want to follow, then we have all that He can give us – a share in the life of Divine bliss.
Christ opened His arms on the cross and invited us to believe in Him. When we believe, we commit ourselves to living a certain kind of life, the very kind that God intended that we should, which is designed to make us happy. If we can only accept the love that God freely offers us and follow the light of the world, we will receive gifts beyond our own imaginings. As the letter to the Ephesians says, “We are God’s work of art.â€