God is Love (Easter Day sermon)

Easter

April 20, 2025

Fr. Tim Nunez

May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen

We live in such interesting and exciting times. The new wonder is artificial intelligence, and I think it holds great promise for us. I use it sometimes as a research assistant. For example, for my Bible study two weeks ago, I wanted to focus on parts of the Passion that are unique to Luke’s Gospel. I asked ChatGPT to summarize them for me, with quotes from the NRSV of the Bible, which is what we use in worship.

It gave me a list within a second or two. I’ve been studying the Bible for about 50 years now, so I could look at that list and recognize it was correct, and use it to then frame our discussion. It’s not doing my work for me, but saving time the way a calculator helps with math and helping to leverage what I already know.

I saw a news article recently about a doctor who had used AI in a similar way. He had a patient with a particular form of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome related to a particular gene. He fed the patient’s lab work and history into an AI. It suggested he look at a study that folic acid had been effective for this specific issue, and gave him a link to the study. He read it. He tried it. It worked.

Here again, the AI didn’t do the doctor’s work for him, but it accelerated and enhanced his study, leveraging his training and experience to the great benefit of his patient. Imagine how that can transform medicine, helping doctors improve their care in less time, lowering costs and expanding access. It should be revolutionary.

Now imagine those benefits and efficiencies across many, really every, discipline. Some people suggest it will usher in an unprecedented era of prosperity around the world, to which I say, as the great Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast, my friend.”

The turn of the 20th century saw incredible advances on many fronts. Electricity, light bulbs, human flight, the telephone and wireless telegraphy to name a few. Progress was so fast, people thought Europe would never suffer another war because communication was so good and the costs would be far too high for everyone. Then World War I happened. After World War I, they were certain they would never go through that again. Twenty years later, World War II was far worse.

In my lifetime, we’ve landed people on the moon and made space travel seem routine. The Internet has put us in instant touch with news and events, and we can reach almost any person on our planet immediately, in real time with video, almost for free. Social media was supposed to create a global village and enhance understanding. (You’re laughing, but it’s really quite tragic.) We will surely have challenges with AI. What keeps going wrong?

We can find out by looking at the beginning. You’ll recall that Satan tempted Adam and Eve into eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He said to them specifically, in Genesis 3:5, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”[1]

The key word is knowing. Part of the lie is this. Yes, knowing something about the difference between good and evil is an attribute that make us a very little more like God than creatures who have no concept of right and wrong.  “Knowing” things, including our scientific and technological achievements, helps is some ways but hurts in others. Yes, God knows everything, but knowledge certainly doesn’t make us like God. Knowledge cannot ever make us like God.

God’s essential nature is not knowledge. God’s essential nature is love. Love, and only love, can make us like God. Late in his life, the Apostle John put it very plainly, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:7-8)

There is no greater example of God’s love than the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, then the Resurrection.

Jesus didn’t go to the cross to teach us about the value of personal sacrifice, so that we would know that and have better lives, families and communities that flow from it – although they do. He went to the cross to save us, all of us.

Jesus went to the cross “For God so loved the world…” God so loved the world. God so loves the world. Loves.

We can’t get anywhere without it. Do you remember what Paul wrote to the church in Corinth? Paul was brilliant. He knew everything. Paul was tireless and driven in his work. But what did he say?

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

There is no greater illustration of love’s power, true love’s power, God’s love, than the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. I said it on Good Friday but not many of you heard it, so I will say it again. I’m going to lay some truth on you.

The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most studied, the most examined and the most influential sequence of events in history. Unlike myths or legends, it is grounded in history and has remained unchanged since Peter stood up to preach it to the people of Jerusalem.

There is nothing Archdeacon John and I, or Bishop Holcomb, Bishop Brewer, Bishop Howe, or even Pope Francis know about God or Jesus that is hidden from you. There is nothing Billy Graham or C.S. Lewis or Dietrich Bonhoeffer knew that is hidden from you. You do not need to rise to some superior level, it is just a matter of your time and effort to look.

There is no secret as to why he died that awful death. It was for you. It was for me. It was for the world. There is no lie, no mistake, no misunderstanding. That is what Jesus said and that is what Jesus did. There is no question that these apostles testified for the rest of their lives, most at the cost of their lives, that they saw him raised from the dead.

The victory of the Resurrection isn’t knowledge over ignorance. Its victory is love over ignorance. Its victory is love over knowledge. Its victory is love over rejection. Its victory is love over pride, love over power, love over greed, love over war, love over sickness; love over everything that has ever conspired to drag you down. Its victory is love over sin. Its victory is love over death.

And that makes me want to shout for joy!

Alleluia Christ is risen!

Alleluia Christ is risen!

Alleluia Christ is risen!

AMEN

[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ge 3:5.