How Deep the Savior's Love for Us

Translation

Now there was a man of the Pharisees, Nicodemus was his name, a leader of the Jews; 2 this man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one is able to perform these miracles that you perform, if God is not with them.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone is not born from above, they are not able to see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man or woman who is old be born? A person is not able to enter into the womb of their mother a second time and be born[, are they]?”

John 3:1 NRSV

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.

5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone is not born of water and of spirit, they are not able to enter into the kingdom of God. 6 The one who is born of the flesh is flesh, and the one who is born of the spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be surprised that I said to you, ‘It is necessary for you to be born from above.’ 8 The spirit blows wherever she wishes and you hear her sound, but you do not know from where she comes or where she goes. Thus is anyone who is born of the spirit.”

9 Nicodemus answered and said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered and said to him, “You are a teacher of Israel and you do not know these things?”

11 “Truly, truly, I say to you that what we know, we speak, and what we see, we testify; and yet, you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I speak to you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I speak to you heavenly things? 13 And no one has gone to into heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the son of Man.

14 And just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, thus it is necessary for the son of Man to be lifted up, 15 in order that anyone who believes may have eternal life in him. 16 For in this way God loved the world, and so God gave the one-and-only son, in order that anyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the son into the world in order that God might judge the world, but in order that the world may be saved through him.

Sermon

The purpose of Trinity Sunday is not to signify a change in the content of our liturgy, telling our congregation that we are now going to focus on the Trinity. Such a mindset is foolish. We talked about this in staff meeting this past week, but if a preacher so concerns himself with preaching the Trinity on the Sunday after Pentecost, then what exactly is being preached the other 51 weeks of the year?

The purpose of Trinity Sunday is not to signify a change in the content of our liturgy, telling our congregation that we are now going to focus on the Trinity. Such a mindset is foolish. We talked about this in staff meeting this past week, but if a preacher so concerns himself with preaching the Trinity on the Sunday after Pentecost, then what exactly is being preached the other 51 weeks of the year?

The purpose of Trinity Sunday is not to tell of an event, or of a person. Instead, it is one of the few celebrations of the Christian Year that focuses on a doctrinal reality, that is, a concept and not a character. It also happens to focus on the doctrine of the Christian faith that most are satisfied calling a “mystery” that will never be fully understood. I wonder if this satisfaction has produced in our faith the lack of emphasis on Spirit that Mat spoke of last week. Maybe it has become our excuse to allow just one Sunday a year to focus on the mystery, letting us pretend that we do not have to wrestle with it the rest of the year.

Having said that, it is my intention here to speak of the aspect of Trinity that John the Evangelist concerns himself with in his portrayal of Nicodemus’s conversation with Jesus. The lectionary texts this week each deal with an aspect of Trinity: speaks of being blessed by God the Father; speaks of being filled by God the Spirit; our passage here today, speaks of being saved by God the Son; and the call narrative in shows that each aspect has been purified and sent by God for its purpose.

I chose not because of its popularity; in fact, it is its popularity that made preparing this sermon so difficult. In fact, I’m willing to bet that most Christians, and even some non-Christians, are familiar with the 16th verse here; after all, it was made famous—or infamous depending on your perspective—by former Denver Broncos and New England Patriots QB Tim Tebow after he was seen in multiple games with the scripture reference painted on his face during games. This level of notoriety is precisely why I did not want to preach on John this morning.

I chose , however, in spite of this. I thought that the content of this passage was too important not to speak on. In fact, I did some work in translating this from the Greek myself, and saw even more to it than many of our English versions will allow or present. I can only hope that, as I share with you this morning, the truth I saw in this passage becomes clear to you all as a truth from God, even if it may be one that has not been as prominently preached before.

Having said this, we begin with Nicodemus, a man who only John the Evangelist speaks of. If you are familiar with name brand clothing, or if you are an avid runner, you may have heard of a tiny little company…called Nike. Nike gets its name from the Greek νικη, meaning “victory.” Apt, considering Nike markets and sells a sports clothing line that promotes a “Just Do It” mentality in weight training and fitness. If you are familiar with political science, or if you are even remotely aware with the world today, you may have heard of a tiny little governmental ideology…called democracy. Democracy found its earliest forms in 6th century bce Athens, and it means a “rule of the people”, “people” being the “demo-” in democracy.

Nicodemus, then, means “victory of the people.” I find this increasingly ironic on several levels. First and foremost, he was a leader of the Jews, and we are all too familiar with the Jewish hesitation to embrace Jesus as the Christ. According to John, he came to Jesus by night, which seems to indicate that he wished to hide under the darkness from his Jewish colleagues. He represented a very non-victorious confusion in interpreting the doctrine that John reports Jesus teaching him that night. Nothing about this encounter screams “victory of the people.”

Nicodemus is redeemed, however, by his search for truth here. He affirms that Jesus is a teacher who has come from God, knowing that all of these miracles could not be done otherwise. But Jesus returns Nicodemus’s weak support for faith, asserting that if anyone is not born from above, they cannot see the kingdom of God. Another possible translation for born from above is being “born again”. Both translations are valid, as John is being intentionally ambiguous here. On the surface, a physical dimension is easily understood, and Nicodemus is clearly hung up on this, for he asks how a woman or man who is old and grown be born. “A person is not able to enter into their mother’s womb a second time and be born[, are they?]” he asks. Nicodemus is literally picturing a grown adult climbing back into the womb here, and is rightfully confused!

But Jesus is speaking beyond this physical understanding. For Jesus, “if anyone is not born of water and of spirit, they are not able to enter into the kingdom of God.” The reference to water here is two-fold; first, it can refer to the elements of childbirth, which John does assert of Jesus, that is, he was born and was fully human; more importantly, however, it speaks to the baptismal waters, out of which Jesus just rose from thanks to John the Baptist. Jesus is referring to a spiritual rebirth here, not a physical rebirth. We see in John chapter one that the Baptist asserts Jesus will come baptizing with the Holy Spirit that was sent from God.

This is one of our best glimpses of the Trinity in the Gospels accounts. Granted, the Synoptic Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, were not concerned with these matters, as they were trying to record an account of the life of ministry of Jesus, but they have enough theology to say they were not merely history books. John the Evangelist, however, wrote specifically with doctrine and faith in mind, and he makes one of our clearest snapshots of the Trinity available to us.

Jesus continued to Nicodemus, “The one who is born of the flesh is flesh, and the one who is born of the spirit is spirit.” The flesh referred to here is not Paul’s “sinful nature” flesh, it simply refers to human nature. D.A Carson writes this, “The point is that natural, human birth produces people who belong to the earthly family of humankind, but not to the children of God… The antithesis between flesh and spirit is therefore not the contrast between lower and higher aspects of human nature, but the distinction between human beings and God. The second occurence of ‘spirit’ is not an adjective… what is in view is a new nature, not [simply] turning over a new leaf.”

Nicodemus did not have the privilege of reading the first verses of John that speaks of the Word becoming flesh, but his study of Jewish scripture should have been sufficient to grasp what Jesus is trying to say here, but he did not, at first. Jesus would go on to talk about the spirit’s nature of mystery, eventually asking how Nicodemus could call himself a leader of the Jews if he was not grasping these things.

Verse 11 signals a shift for most scholars. No longer does it appear that the singular Jesus is speaking to the singular Nicodemus, as the number of the pronouns in Greek switches to plural. The verses that follow here seem to indicate that it is now John and his group that are speaking to John’s audience. Nevertheless, what follows can be considered a major crux of John’s gospel, as this describes the salvific means by which God would save humanity.

John writes “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, thus it is necessary for the son of man to be lifted up, in order that anyone who believes in him may have eternal life, for in this way God loved the world.” The reference here to Moses speaks of the bronze snake that God used to give new physical life to Israel if they were bitten in the plague of snakes. Any Jewish person would be able to logically follow, then, that by God’s provision there should be new spiritual life as well, eternal life, in fact. More importantly, however, was the notion of being lifted up.

I have always wanted to write an Easter musical called “Be Lifted Up.” The disciples, the Jews, and the Pharisees could each sing the same line, and mean totally different things. The four times that the Greek verb for “lifted up” occurs in John always combine a physical state of being at a higher altitude and the notion of exaltation. This is how God most clearly reveals himself and his love: by lifting up his son. Back to Nicodemus briefly. While here he may get the short end of the stick, it is fairly clear that Nicodemus came to understand and believe in Jesus. We see him later defend Jesus in the Sanhedrin, and help prepare Jesus’s body for burial. For me that is why his presence here is important.

Nicodemus eventually comes to signal a victory of the people, as the words Jesus spoke to him not only seem to have made him understand, but the teaching that follows his story provides humankind with their truest victory. John finally answers Nicodemus’s question of “How can these things be?” The kingdom of God is seen or entered, new birth is experienced, and eternal life begins, through the saving cross-work of Christ, which is received by faith.

You will note that earlier, I read only the beginning of with verses 14 and 15 before it: “for in this way God loved the world.” When I translated the passage, I noticed that the Greek could be translated two ways, and given Greek’s beautiful ambiguity, I knew I wanted to highlight both ways of translation as I begin to close.

The most common translation reads something like, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one-and-only son...” This translation speaks to the intensity with which God does love his creation. But it gets misconstrued to mean that the intensity of his love forced him to give Jesus up as a sacrifice. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one-and-only son.” This is incomplete, and for me, it allows an interpretation of “Did God, then, not purpose Jesus for this very task? Was his presence here not to provide the sacrifice from the beginning, arguably from the moment he made a covenant with Noah to never destroy the world again?”

Perhaps. But looking at the other translation, we see more clearly what John is conveying here. Putting the first phrase with the verses before it, we get this picture: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, thus it is necessary for the son of man to be lifted up, so that anyone who believes may have eternal life in him, for in this way, God loved the world.” God knew fully that Jesus must be exalted and crucified to save humanity from itself, for eternal life would only be found in the sacrifice of the cross. This is how God loved the world. This is the means through which God finally reconciled daughter Israel and her foes, and reconciled creation to the Creator.

The next verse and a half finishes a supplemental thought here: “And so, God gave the one-and-only son, so that anyone who believe may not perish, but may have eternal life in him. For God did not send the son into the world so that God might judge the world, but so that the world may be saved through him.” God knew it was necessary for Jesus to be lifted up, for in him was eternal life, the gift that showed how God loved the world. So, God gave him up, to fulfill that very purpose.

It may seem an inconsequential difference here. Maybe I am overly focused on such a small translation issue that I’ve lost the point. But I find a real beauty in how John worded this passage so ambiguously. I think each translation shows a different aspect of the same God. The God so moved by his love that he gives up his only son. And the God who knew exactly how to save the world, and did so faithfully.

God sent Jesus and the Spirit for anyone who believes. God blesses the believer, Jesus saves the believer, and the Spirit fills the believer. God did so because God loves what God created, even if it was known that the creation would need some saving. Still, all we need, all Nicodemus needed, and all we may ever ask or hope for, has been provided to us. Not just on Trinity Sunday, but on each and every Sunday, and the times in between.

“For God did not send the son into the world to judge the world, but so the world may be saved through him.”