John 3:1-17
Well…as we look at today’s gospel reading…we come across a verse that has kind of become a cliché.
- It is probably the best-known Bible verse ever.
- While many people may know very little of scripture…they know John 3:16.
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
OK then…our basic school-age understanding of John 3:16 goes something like this:
- God created us and all that is…but because the first woman ate something she should not have we are messed-up for all of time.
- And since we are all so terrible at following rules God needs to punish us.
- But here is where Jesus comes in.
- Jesus is God’s only son…and God only had one child.
- And he loved that child very much.
- But he had to kill that little boy because we stole a candy bar and lied to our mom and used swear words.
- (Mom didn’t need God to Punish me).
- The important thing to know is that God killed his little boy rather than punishing us.
- Because someone had to pay.
- And we should feel so grateful about all of this so that we believe and we behave.
- But the good news is that if we believe all of this and if we try hard to be good…
- Then…when we die…we get a special all-inclusive vacation package called Eternal Life.
So…here’s the thing…That version SO misses the point of what Jesus is saying.
- That version has instilled fear in people’s lives.
- That version has created a religion that is permeated with judgement.
- Judgement that Christians impose upon others.
- Far too often…this passage has promoted an understanding in which the story of Jesus is about God having to be pacified.
- Or a God having to be persuaded to forgive.
- Far too often we carry around within us an image of an angry…unforgiving God.
- And a loving…forgiving Jesus.
Quite honestly…that understanding of God has been used as a tool to scare people out of hell by promoting what is known as decision theology.
- Ironically…these very words that Jesus was speaking to a rigid and legalistic Pharisee named Nicodemus…
- Trying to help him see salvation more expansively…
- Have become the very symbol of conditional love instead of unconditional
God is not someone who sends Jesus in order that Jesus might be punished so that our sins will be wiped out.
- God is not the angry monarch…seeking vengeance or retribution for our sins.
- No…God is more like the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son…
- Who is not happy until his wandering children have come home.
- God is love…love is the essence of God’s being.
- So…let us understand this verse for what it is.
First…in the gospel of John…the word for “world” refers to the cosmos…to everything.
- And…when John uses the words “eternal life” he is not only talking about life after death.
- John’s use of the words “eternal life” means the same thing as Matthew’s use of the words… “kingdom of heaven” …or Luke’s use of the words… “kingdom of God.”
- “Eternal life” is about the “reign of God.”
- In John… “eternal life” is something that we are already living.
- It is living life that truly matters right here and right now.
- It is living life to the full.
- With that in mind…let’s take another look at today’s reading.
In the beginning…God…the source and ground of all being…
- Set the universe into motion through sound and breath and self-giving in a love song.
- God so loved the world that he gave his own breath to speak into existence that which was not.
- And then…God so loved the world that he gave his own breath at another time…
- Breathing into dust to create humanity.
- Through dust and the very breath of divine love we were created.
- In the image of the Songwriter…we were created.
- And we too were given voice and language and breath and song.
- And that love song of creation continued.
- But we tended to create our own melodies in another rhythm…in another key…in our own key.
So…there is the song of life which rings through eternity.
- And then there are human-generated temporary alternate songs.
- With our own breath…language…voice…
- We still tend to create our own rhythm and melodies.
- That we think will save us…songs of domination…violence…greed…and power.
And so once again…God’s breath was given to us.
- Through sound and self-giving.
- Only this time…the sound interrupted the confused noise of the Roman empire.
- This time…God’s divine love song was heard in the cry of a newborn baby.
For God so loved the world that God gave his own self to it in the form of a son.
- This was such a big deal that angels sang back up.
- The heavenly hosts joined in the divine love song interrupting our regularly scheduled program of soldiers and taxes and purity codes.
God so loved this corrupt world of empires and victims and violence that God gave his own self to us.
- God so loved the world that he came to us in the most vulnerable and fragile way possible.
- God so loved the world he created that he walked among us as love.
But not our kind of love.
- Our love is limited by self-interest…biology and time.
- No…God’s love takes no account of opinion or history.
- But insists on ignoring information we think of as important.
- Data about worth…beauty…status.
- God’s love has quite ignored the Kelly Blue Book Value on us.
For God so loved the world.
- For God so loved soldiers and prostitutes and traitors and unwed mothers and soccer moms and CEOs and ex-cons and Burger King janitors…
- That God gave of his own self in the form of Jesus.
And Jesus was like a clearer set of lyrics so that we might be saved from the noise of sin and self-preservation.
- So that we might not perish.
- But be reminded again of the true beat…the real rhythm…the clear lyrics of the song of creation…
- And salvation that is life and that is eternal.
And those who heard this tune…began to sing it to others.
- They expressed it in Gospels and hymns and art and hospitals and colleges and universities and camps and conference centers and social services ministries.
- And we who are gathered here…hear it for ourselves.
- And we know it is life and it is right here.
- It is eternal life and it is for us.
The love song that God has been singing from the beginning of time…is the song of life for all eternity.
- Sometimes…it is drowned out by the white noise of the world.
- But…this love song will never…ever…leave us.
- Yes…God so loves the world with an immense…redeeming
- A love that holds us…and a love that will never let us go!