John 3:1-17
Belmont UMC—March 20, 2011
Adam Kelchner, preaching

Audio - MP3

I believe a sermon can only be heard when there is a trust and relationship between the preacher and those who are engaging with the sermon. So let me offer you something significant about my life. I need love to survive. Each and every day I yearn for the experience of love-its smell, its touch, its taste, the way it sounds, or the way it looks. My need for love is as foundational to my existence as bread, water, or shelter. If I were a gambling man, I would bet that every person gathered here this morning needs and might even be looking for love in this place.

So this morning, we look to the third chapter of the Gospel of John to determine how and why God chooses to love us. John 3:16 is the gospel author’s reflection on the nature of God, God’s relationship to the world, Jesus Christ’s work in the world, and the promise of everlasting life. For centuries, this one verse (and verse 17 as well) have served as the touchstone of the Christian faith-it seems to contain and proclaim what may be the heart of Christianity.

In its familiar King James translation, it says:“¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” This verse is considered by many to be the most famous verse in all of scripture. It is often called, ‘the gospel in a nutshell.’ It explains what God has done through Jesus Christ for the sake of the world’s redemption. Perhaps more notably, the verse is seen on television stations such as FOX and ESPN. In every end zone, in every crowd, in every place that a television camera was pointing, it seemed as though you would find someone holding up a placard that read ‘John 3:16.’ At the 2009 BCS college football championship game, Florida quarterback, Tim Tebow wrote ‘John 3:16’ on his face, prompting millions of Internet searches on that particular verse. Because of our supposed familiarity with the verse, there is a great danger that we take for granted the verse’s content.

I invite you brothers and sisters to journey with me as we seek to understand what it means that God loves the world in Jesus Christ? We will explore this text with the help of Nicodemus, who models a conflicted form of following Jesus.

Imagine Nicodemus, under the cover of darkness, hustling through the streets of Jerusalem, with his long robe and cloak trailing behind him. Perhaps he moved quietly through the darkness with his head lowered so as to avoid attention or hid in doorways and alcoves as Roman soldiers held their watch. When Nicodemus finds Jesus, there is no mention of the disciples who are surely nearby Jesus, as they spend the night in Jerusalem. Indeed, there is no mention of the disciples until they depart into the Judean countryside with Jesus later in the chapter. The text does not supply us with details about how Nicodemus found Jesus in the night, or explain why Nicodemus set out to find Jesus in the first place. However, the author of the gospel does provide the key detail that frames Jesus’ later discourse-it is Nicodemus, who approaches ‘by night.’

The utter darkness of night in which Nicodemus approaches Jesus, is a telling metaphor of Nicodemus’ distance from God. Nicodemus seems to prefer operating under the cover of darkness. The imagery of spiritual tension between light and darkness reaches its peak at the end of Jesus’ discourse (in verses we didn’t read), as he says ‘the light has come into the world and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.’[1] This indictment against those who live in darkness points back to the way Nicodemus first approaches Jesus, by night. This telling sign of Nicodemus’ approach anticipates the way Nicodemus responds to Jesus throughout the conversation-without understanding.

Nicodemus begins the conversation with self-confidence that he knows who Jesus is and what Jesus is doing. I imagine that is a pretty good feeling to have, to know with certainty the ways of God. In many instances, individuals approach Jesus with a question like, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ No. Nicodemus begins with a definitive statement. “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Nicodemus reminds me of a confident teenager, assured in his or her complete knowledge of the world, eager to show off that knowledge. Instead of first seeking the wisdom and teachings of Jesus, Nicodemus rushes into conversation unaware of where it is headed.

As a leader of the Jewish community, Nicodemus speaks a communal acknowledgment that Jesus is a rabbi, a teacher, who performs signs with the power of God. Jesus’ signs are something like a trademark of Jesus’ work in the Gospel of John. Many of us are already familiar with the signs of Jesus in this gospel: Jesus turning water to wine, the feeding of the multitude, and multiple instances of healing. Of course Nicodemus affirms God’s presence with Jesus because the signs are awe-inspiring, larger than this worldly life. But we can’t get hung up on Jesus as a miracle worker who goes around Judea and Galilee curing everyone who is sick. That kind of reading sells short the work of Jesus Christ and leads to a sign-based faith, where we only believe what we can see.

Jesus begins speaking about being born from above. “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” But in his response, Jesus nearly pushes Nicodemus into an existential and metaphysical crisis. Nicodemus raises the fateful question in which his self-confidence and certitude quickly disappear. “How can anyone be born after having grown old?”[2] Nicodemus must be thinking: ‘I’m a grown man. There is no possibility that I can be born again. It’s just not possible. I don’t get it Jesus.’ Nicodemus is concerned about the material impossibility of being born again from the womb, instead of being born from above with God. With that question, Jesus launches into a discourse about spiritual rebirth, the mystery of the Spirit’s work, the work of the Son of Man, and the glorification and crucifixion of the Son of Man. The discourse ends in verse 15, drawing together belief in the Son of Man with the gift of eternal life, without a final word from Nicodemus. I speculate that Nicodemus listened to Jesus’ discourse wide-eyed and jaw dropped, a bit overwhelmed.

But what does all this talk about Nicodemus’ misunderstanding of rebirth have to do with Christianity’s most famous verse?

Well, I think that Nicodemus does not understand Jesus very well. Perhaps Jesus is not that easy to understand. Nicodemus is no all-star disciple. He does not give up his livelihood to follow Jesus. He does not even understand what the Teacher is teaching. Do any of you ever feel like Nicodemus, puzzled with teachings of Jesus, wishing that Jesus would have explained himself better?...

But some of you might object and say, ‘Nicodemus went to the cross to prepare Jesus’ body for burial along with Joseph of Arimathea. He even brought spices, myrrh, and aloes for the burial. Surely Nicodemus must have understood Jesus’ teachings and loved Jesus if he were to look after his burial?’… Yes, it is Nicodemus who leaves the conversation with Jesus perplexed about rebirth who reverently prepares Jesus’ body for burial. Therein is the ambiguity of Nicodemus. Near the end of John’s gospel, Nicodemus, inquisitive and perhaps confused, prepares the body of the crucified Christ still grappling with the mystery of what Jesus told him about God’s promise of eternal life.

So we arrive at the 16^th verse, where the author provides a poetic reflection on what was just told to Nicodemus about everlasting life. ¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” God loves the world! “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” From these two verses, a person could safely assume that God’s people are called to act out God’s love for the world. Acting out God’s love of the world includes passing on opportunities to condemn our brothers and sisters.

In middle and high school, I had a friend whose family was from India, and worshipped in the Hindu tradition. During the years we shared together in band classes, I began sensing a call to ministry in the Christian church. Accordingly, my friend and I broadened one another’s horizons about our religious beliefs and practices, without the compulsion to convert one another. But I never was able to forget a question he asked me. “Adam, why is it that Christians who talk about God loving them so much tell me that my family and I are going to hell?”….

For some persons gathered here, and throughout the Nashville area, the only message they have ever received from the church is condemnation, public disapproval. Condemnation rather than love has been the principle that guides our public and private conversations in the American context about sexuality, poverty and those who are poor, and those who are of religious traditions other than Christianity. Condemnation is not the gospel of God in Jesus Christ.

The words of this morning’s gospel text can sound like a whisper that is overcome by the roars of society and the judgment of the church. The world in John’s gospel and in our time is a sign of people, systems, communities, and institutions that are alienated from God. In our isolation from God, many people are merely trying to escape the hells of this world-its poverty, its terror, its abuse and violence, and its addiction to death. In the world’s turmoil, can you hear it? Can you hear it? It is the good news, the utterly good news, that the world in its entirety is the object of God’s love.

As people who believe in God, who loves the world in its entirety, we must forego judgments about who should be condemned in God’s sight. We are not the object of God’s condemnation. God did not commission Jesus Christ to tell the world and its people that it deserves the wages of sin, violence, hate, and death.

Rather, God commissioned God’s son for the sake of the world’s redemption. God offered the world a gift, in the form of Christ, so the world could participate in God’s vision. Like any gift, God’s vision can be received or rejected. In one way the world already rejected Christ-that rejection is the story of Christ’s crucifixion. The cross is first the sign of the world’s hatred of God’s gift and rejection of God’s love. But the cross is transformed by God’s love becoming a sign of God’s power for life and love. Even now, our Lenten journey relives this humble movement toward the cross, but the journey does not end there. The cross points to a greater thing-God’s love for the world that is not limited and free to all.

Christ taught that God is calling us all alike to everlasting life, to a life where God is overwhelmingly present and able to be sensed. Believe in God’s love! Place your confidence in God’s promise to love all of creation, including each one of us, until the end of this age. Amen.

© Adam Kelchner, 2011