Year B

John 3:14-21

The Rev. Denise Vaughn

Love Verses Darkness

There is a story that has been passed down through the ages about the apostle John. This story tells of his being invited to preach in various congregations of Christians and when the sermon time came, he would look out on the group that had gathered and say these words: “Love one another.” The emphasis of what he had to proclaim was “love.” That was all John really needed to say for it sums up the scriptures and especially his gospel. His whole life and the entire body of his writings centered on that greatest of all gifts and today, we hear one of John’s best-known and beloved statements in the scriptures about love; John 3:16. There was a time when this familiar verse of scripture would show up everywhere, on T-shirts, billboards, even painted on the side of buses but if we are not careful, these powerful words can get lost in a text that has become a cliché.

Jesus first shared these now-famous words as part of a secretive nighttime visit with Nicodemus and their conversation helps us to more fully understand this verse. Jesus had just told this leader of the Jews, in the verses prior to our text today, that “no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above. Nicodemus misunderstands Jesus’ words so perhaps to help Nicodemus, who was well versed in the Hebrew Scriptures grasp this radically new and profound understanding of his words, Jesus draws an analogy between the “lifting up” of the Son of Man and Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness so that all who looked to the serpent might be saved from death from poisonous snakebites. In like manner, Jesus says, the Son of Man must be “lifted up” so “that whoever believes in him may be saved from sins death and have eternal life.”

The lifting up of the serpent called the Israelites to repentance and gratitude, but through the “lifting up” of the Son of Man, the stakes are considerably higher. For the Israelites, the bronze snake twisted around a staff which has long been a symbol of healing brought a much welcomed but temporary solution.  What Jesus offered was everlasting health, wholeness and peace to all who believed in him. This had to be a mind-boggling idea, especially to a Jewish leader who considered his nation, among those in the entire world, to have been chosen exclusively by God. Nicodemus was probably convinced there were boundaries to consider and conditions to be met, even for God’s love. Jesus did not debate the point but explained to a bewildered Nicodemus that God’s love has no boundaries whatsoever. Indeed Jesus says, “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved though him.”

Yes, indeed God so loved the world that God sent himself into the world in Jesus with a desire for the healing and salvation of that entire world and when we read the Scriptures from creation to Revelation, we hear God’s love story for the world. However, God’s desire to save humanity is thwarted by human failure to love God. Some do not believe and as John says they are “condemned already.” John announces that judgment, or condemnation, and says eternal life occurs at the moment of decision for or against the Son. In essence, to believe is to have eternal life now.  In the Greek, the word for condemnation means both judgement and decision. Therefore, eternal life refers not only to resurrection life, but to “knowing” God and Christ, to being born again; making a choice of having a relationship with God in this life, because Jesus did not come to come to condemn but has brought judgement. Judgement, John says is based on one’s response to the light that reveals one’s true identity.

You may remember, in the beginning of John’s Gospel in the prologue, he declares Jesus as the “true light, which enlightens everyone.” Jesus brings light to the darkness so those who believe “do what is true:” their deeds are “done in God,” or in accordance with God’s will and therefore, they do come to the light; a light that exposes those who love darkness, evil deeds, rather than light. Lent is when we struggle with the darkness, and may not always find answers to why it is so pervasive. We cannot answer why evil seems so prevalent because we can’t readily see it in our own choices. So, asking to be part of the light, will reveal what is hidden in our darkness, that most of would prefer not to see. That is why self-examination and confession are rare and avoided by many of us. But we have strayed like lost sheep and have followed too much the desires of our own hearts, to the point where, left on our own, we are truly lost.

In a world where there is such darkness, the light of Christ shines with enough light for us to live by and hope by. Each person must choose whether they will live in the light or continue to live in the darkness. MY Story… It is this choice between the darkness and the light that Nicodemus faced standing in the shadows of the night talking with Jesus. The text does not give us Nicodemus’ response to Jesus’ teaching and therefore, we might assume he chose to stay with what he knew and stay in the dark. Yet, when we look at the whole story, we find Nicodemus stepping out into the public view, in broad daylight after the crucifixion when he asks for the body of Jesus. He and Joseph of Arimethea bury Jesus’ body. It would seem that Nicodemus leaves the secrecy of night and steps into the light for when Jesus is “lifted up,” that “moment of judgment” comes for Nicodemus and for Joseph of Arimethea, who may have been keeping their faith quiet.

This kind of faith Paul tells us is a gift of God called grace. It is amazing because it is a wonder that God doesn’t lose God’s temper with us because we desire darkness over light but here is where the love story reveals God’s true self. Instead, of getting rid of us, God embraces us with immense mercy and an incredible love. God took our sin filled lives and made us alive in Christ. By grace, this love of God, we have been saved and “lifted up” with him. And thanks be to God, we are the receivers of this a remarkable gift of God, to help us live a transformed life; a life of being who we truly are but that means we have to be willing to walk out of the darkness with Christ and follow his example of living in love’s light which requires placing our trust in God through Christ, because God so loves the world that it is our responsibility for the outcome. So let us love one another. John opens to us an awareness of the gospel in which the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit become not a cliché’ but who we are.