4 responses

1. 

   Tom Downs

   March 17, 2012

   I also chose to preach on the Gospel (though I was seriously tempted to dump it and talk about St. Patrick–today is his day). The point I’m trying to lift up is that John 3:16 is not intended to say we Christians are exclusive or better than anyone else. Nor are we to use it to pronounce judgement on anyone (even ourselves). It is our role to show the world (be lifted up as the Body of Christ) what it looks like to be loved by God and to live as his ambassadors loving the whole world.
   I’m very conscious of how the exclusiveness and self-righteousness of much of the Right is driving the 18-30 year-old set away from Christianity. I think the religious right is interpreting this passage all wrong and as a result hurting the cause of Christ (to say nothing of the rest of Christian community).

   Reply
   1. 

      Drew Downs

      March 17, 2012

      You are completely right. As I’ve been praying about it (and writing it) this afternoon, I’ve come to the conclusion that condemnation is antithetical to the gospel as depicted in this pericope. Jesus makes plain (or as plain as he can) that his focus is on the light and not the dark. And I would argue that to even see the light, you have to turn from the dark. You can’t focus on both.

      This seems to jive with his other teachings about love, particularly the idea that real love isn’t just reserved for your friends, but also your enemies. For you to focus your love only on your “loved ones” you must not really be loving. Not as black/white as that, but close.

      Reply
2. 

   Andrew Robertson

   March 17, 2012

   I’m not sure this was open to comment, but I thought I’ld throw in my 2 cents even though at this late point in the day, I doubt its of any help.
   Why must it be just one question? Could there be an in depth discussion that then moves to a wider context? I think that we make our lives so busy and there is so muc information out there that we, as a society tend to gloss over what we feel is familiar. And this verse is a fine example. It has appeared it just about every way possible, and in doing so I think we have
   lost sight of how stunning it is in it’s simplicity.
   John 3:16 sums up Christianity in one easy to read sentence that opens the door to the infinite complexity of of God. God loves you, yes you, with all your flaws, accomplishments, fears, hopes, failures, shortcomings and achievements. He loves you (you as the Everyman) so much he sacrificed his only child so you could find your way out of the trappings of this world to a better life. As I sit here watching my son fall asleep, I realize I never had a chance to understand that sacrifice until he was born. In all honesty, I am the exact opposite. I cannot think of one thing I would not sacrifice to save him. But God gave up his son, his only son for you.
   And what does he ask in return? For you to believe, that’s it. No ritual, no sack cloth and ashes, just believe. When the criminal hanging on the cross next to Christ asked, “Master, remember me when you come into your kingdom,” Christ said, “Today, you will be with me I Paradise.” No questions asked. No list of sins, or how church committees did you sit on. No question of how important were you in your local church/town/workplace/social group. The criminal believed, and was saved. How simple is that? Most of the earliest copies of the books of the bible are in Greek. The closet English translation for the word repentance used in the original writings translates as, “to change your mind”. “I’m going for a glass of water. No, I want to finish this first.” I changed my mind. God really did make it that easy, incredibly easy, frightenlying easy. As an example, Jeffery Dahmer was one of the most brutal killers in our society’s history. But before he was killed in prison, we are told he found faith and was saved. By my understanding of Christ’s message, that put’s Jeffery Dahmer and I on equal terms. My humanity has a problem with that, one of those things I struggle with. But God loved Jeffery, knowing better than we ever could all the horrible things Jeffery had done. God loved him enough to sacrifice his only child so Jeffery could have a second chance. All he had to do was change his mind and believe.
   Our lives are hectic and going at a mile a second. We make them so busy that sometimes we lose sift and forget the truth that is right in front of us. The simple truths that we think we know, the one’s we take for granted. The one’s that make all the difference . . .which segue’s to the wider context of the verse and the excellent points made in the other posts.
   Just my 2 cents.

   Reply
   1. 

      Drew Downs

      March 18, 2012

      Thanks, Andy! Excellent points, particularly in the equality of salvation (and its human recoil–we all feel that way, don’t we) and in the nature of free grace, which is so often forgotten in our rush to better ourselves. That was last week’s sermon!

      I think we find ourselves in a tension between clarity and wrestling: that we have historically valued “opening” the gospels and communicating them with a clear voice and ourselves struggled with the essential part of the gospel that demands we struggle with it. Even in a teaching like 3:1-21, in which Jesus is teaching a religious scholar, he doesn’t make a single, concise, declaritive statement. He speaks about GOD and uses a metaphor to describe how we interact with GOD. It is reasonable to me that we both honor the tradition of clarifying and the Scripture’s own precedent of challenging the reader.

      As a conclusion, I’ll tell you. I had a hard time with how to think about simplicity, but I am thinking about the idea that there is a place for simplicity, if only to illuminate the broader complexity. We do this when we say something like “right now, I hear this in the text,” with the implication that we could hear something different next time. In this way, simplicity is our means of determining revelation. But it also highlights the variety of truths implicit in the same text.

      Reply

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