Who is the Message for?

What do you say about a story from the Bible that has the most famous Christian Bible verse? I mean, really, if you interviewed Christians on the street, I bet that even if they hadn’t memorized any Scripture they could probably tell you this one or at least get it mostly right. John 3:16 “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life.” We see signs of the Bible reference John 3:16 at various sporting events for various reasons and the verse has become, for better or worse, the summary of the New Testament or the New Testament in a nutshell.

It’s not so much an issue that it’s a famous Bible verse, but that just like any other verse in the Bible it needs to be understood in it’s context. It briefly reminded me of the summer we did Bumper Sticker Theology and we took lots of Bible verses or phrases that people associate with Christianity and put them into context. So while John 3:16 may be the most famous verse in the whole Bible, and lots of poeple may be able to quote it, I wonder how many people are able to tell us what is happening in John’s gospel when Jesus says this.

Now we just heard the gospel so we know that this famous quote comes from Jesus’ interaction with Nicodemus. Nicodemus comes to Jesus because he is impressed with the signs that they have seen him do. Now Jesus doesn’t directly respond to this comment in the way that you or I might respond to someone. In fact, if you hear Nicodemus say that Jesus is a teacher that comes from God because no one can do the signs he does, and you see Jesus respond about being born anew to see God’s kingdom you might think that Jesus is just talking about what Jesus wants to talk about and they are having two different conversations.

What we need to do is remember what Jesus said to Nathanael at the end of chapter 1 about how there will be greater things that Jesus will do than just sayiinig he saw him under a fig tree. I think it’s also important for us to remember the story of Thomas after the resurrection when he says he won’t believe until he sees Jesus. Jesus then shows him his scars from the crucifixion and Thomas believes. Jesus then tells Thomas that future generations will be blessed because they believe and have not seen him personally. I bring up these stories because Jesus seems to place the importance of belief and faith above that of seeing the signs. While the signs are important parts of his ministry, especially in John’s gospel, he also wants to make sure that people know it’s more than just the signs themselves. It is always about what the signs point toward.

In the wedding at Cana Jesus is pointing at the abundance of God with new wine that is overflowing from the stone jars as Marsha preached. And then Sharon helped us to see the importance of worship above and beyond the sacrifices and how they had become almost a distraction because of the marketplace they had turned it into. So while I am sure on the one hand Jesus was pleased with Nicodemus coming to him and saying that he came from God, Jesus wants to draw Nicodemus into something deeper than knowing that Jesus came from God. That deeper conversation is about knowing that being a child of God is more than just being born a Jewish person, or like Nicodemus specifically and being a Pharisee who has dedicated his life to the understanding of the Torah, following it, and teaching it to anyone who will listen. Because remember, that if you were born into a Jewish family then you were a part of the covenant with God. Jesus is trying to help Nicodemus reframe that understanding.

Jesus tells Nicodemus that someone must be born anew and Nicodemus takes the conversation literally where Jesus is talking about being born of the water (earthly things) and the Spirit (Godly things). This point in the conversation is where Jesus points out the differences between him and his disciples and Nicodemus and the other leaders of Israel. Jesus shares that while they know he is from God there are many of them that don’t agree with what he says about regular things here on earth and so how is he and the other leaders supposed to really understand what he tries to teach them about heavenly things? So even though Nicodemus says that Jesus comes from God there is so much that he isn’t grasping, whether he and others are just unable to understand or unwilling we don’t know, but there is this lack of understanding between the earthly and the spiritual that Jesus is trying to help them understand.

Then Jesus does this incredible move of helping Nicodemus understand the idea of being born of water and Spirit and not just literal birth and transforms that into an understanding that this birth of water and Spirit is meant for more than just the people of Israel. Once again, Jesus doesn’t point this out directly, but Jesus then compares the event of the snake in the wilderness that saved the Israelites from death to himself being lifted up to save everyone who believes in him. Now that we see that Jesus is talking about the physical and spiritual birth and not just the physical birth, we see him change the context from that of Israel to the whole world. Then we hear John 3:16 and just as importantly, in my opinion, John 3:17 “God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” The whole word is now included in the conversation about being born into the family of God. Jesus tells Nicodemus and us that anyone who comes to believe in the one who was lifted up on the cross and transforms their lives from being one focused on the earth to that of the spiritual is part of the family of God.

And I think this is a message that we need to all hear and share especially in today’s climate. People are focused on earthly things and what the earth can give them in the short time we have. Or they use passages, even ones like this to spread judgement and make people feel guilty for not believing or having the right belief, whatever that means. That’s not the message of today. The message Jesus wants Nicodemus and all of us to hear is that God loves this world. God loved the world from the very moment of creation all the way to today, and will continue to love this world even into the future. God will love this world even when we and others choose the darkness and God will continue to remind us that God love the world so much that God gave us Jesus in this world so that we would know that God knows what life is like. God knows the temptations of the darkness, God knows that difficulty of this life and God knows that joy that walking into the light brings to people. God saw it through Jesus in the very eyes of every life that Jesus touched and transformed and God still sees that today through each and every one of us. So live in the light as God is in the light and and spread the good news, far and wide, that God’s love is made known in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and that that love is for ALL people. Amen.