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HEART OF LOVE
- by Revd Gilbert Wong Opening Prayer: Merciful God, you know our struggle to serve you: when sin spoils our lives and overshadows our hearts, come to our aid and turn us back to you again; through Jesus Christ our Lord. SERMON IN A SENTENCE: Christ calls us to live in the light. VERSES 14-15: THE SON OF MAN MUST BE LIFTED UP These verses answer Nicodemus' question, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?" (v. 4). Just as the "lifted up" serpent conferred new life on Israelites who looked on it, Jesus confers new life on those who believe in him. "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness" (v. 14). The story is from Numbers 21:4-9. The Israelites had sinned by grumbling against God for bringing them out of Egypt into an uncomfortable wilderness. God punished them by sending a plague of fiery serpents that killed many Israelites. The Israelites confessed their sin and begged for mercy, so God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and to hold it aloft on a pole. Whoever looked up at the bronze serpent was saved from the fiery serpents -- given new life -- born anew (keep in mind Nicodemus' question, v. 4). "so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life" (v. 14). The parallels in the Moses story and the Jesus story are several. In both stories: -- The people were in danger of death because of their sin. -- God provided the agent of salvation -- the bronze serpent in the first story and the Son of Man in the second. -- The agent of salvation was lifted up -- "the deepest point of connection between the bronze snake and Jesus was in the act of being 'lifted up' " (Carson, 201). -- The people were saved by looking at -- or believing in -- God's agent of salvation. However, there are two significant differences: -- The bronze snake was only a piece of bronze, having no saving power in itself. When Israelites began making offerings to the bronze serpent, treating it as an idol, Hezekiah destroyed it (2 Kings 18:4). Jesus, however, is himself invested with saving power. -- Looking at the "lifted up" bronze snake gave the Israelites extended physical life. Looking upon the "lifted up" Jesus gives us eternal life. The term, "lifted up," has a double meaning in this Gospel. It refers to his being lifted up on the cross, but it also refers to his being lifted up in glorification, which in this Gospel refers to his exaltation -- his death, resurrection, and ascension. Jesus will be lifted up on the cross as the great Paschal sacrifice. He will then be raised up on the third day, conquering death. He will then ascend up to the Father. His cross and his resurrection/ascension are simply different facets of his glorification. (This Gospel does not include an account of the ascension itself, but does include several allusions to it by Jesus -- 6:62; 7:33; 13:3; 14:28; 16:10, 16, 28; 17:11, 13; 20:17). "that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life" (v. 15). This is the first mention of the phrase, "eternal life," a major theme of this Gospel. "Eternal life" occurs 17 times in this Gospel (almost half the New Testament occurrences), and the word, "life," which has the same sense, also appears frequently. We tend to think of eternal life as life without end, and it does have that sense -- a little later Jesus will say, "But the one who eats this bread will live forever" (6:58). However, longevity is a secondary meaning of eternal life in this Gospel. The primary meaning is a quality of life lived in the presence of God. Later, in his High Priestly Prayer, Jesus will define eternal life thusly: "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (17:3). Leon Morris provides this helpful analysis: "The word rendered 'eternal'… basically means 'pertaining to an age.' The Jews divided time into the present age and the age to come, but the adjective was used of life in the coming age, not that of the present age. 'Eternal life' thus means 'the life proper to the age to come.' It is an eschatological concept…. But as the age to come is thought of as never coming to an end the adjective came to mean 'everlasting,' 'eternal.' The notion of time is there. Eternal life will never cease. But there is something else there, too, and something more significant. The important thing about eternal life is not its quantity but its quality…. Eternal life is life in Christ, that life which removed a person from the merely earthly" (Morris, 201). "The analogy between Jesus on his cross and the serpent on the pole... calls attention to the importance of where one fixes one's eyes in life" (Williamson, 39). In the Old Testament story, it was only as the people looked upon the lifted up bronze serpent that they were saved. It is only as we look upon (believe in) the lifted up Jesus (lifted up on the cross) that we are saved. VERSE 16: FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD This is an amazing statement for this Gospel, which "generally operates with a negative view of the world, not because the world is inherently evil, but because the world rejects Jesus" (Gaventa, 228). How could God love such a world? Luther said, "If I were as our Lord God, and these vile people were as disobedient as they now be, I would knock the world to pieces" (Gossip, 510). The miracle is that God does not! God gives the Son "so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." Luther calls this verse "the gospel in miniature." God's motive was love and God's objective is salvation. However, God provides not salvation but opportunity to the world. Those who actually receive eternal life are those who believe in the Son. The wording of this verse is very much like that in the story of Abraham, who was commanded by God, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you" (Genesis 22:2). Abraham prepared to obey this command, but was prevented from doing so by an angel of God. God, however, does not spare himself that which he spared Abraham. God's giving of his Son begins with the Incarnation, but reaches its full measure at the cross. God's response is not "weak indulgence (but) divine self-sacrifice" (Gossip, 510). It would have been far less costly for God to ignore the world's sins and to allow people to live in darkness, but that would involve apathy rather than love. Earthly parents provide an analogy. It is far more costly in time and energy for a parent to supervise a child rather than letting the child run wild. Some parents see it differently, preferring not to constrain the child, but what appears to be a gift of freedom instead jeopardizes the child's welfare. It is not a "hands-off" policy that demonstrates love, but a willingness to make the attendant sacrifices to keep the child safe. God makes just such a sacrifice in sending the Son to save the world. "may have eternal life." The word, "have," is present tense, suggesting that believers possess it in the here and now rather than having to wait for some future inheritance. This is Johannine "realized eschatology" -- the already-received gift -- eternal life as relationship with God beginning now. John 3:16 is probably the most loved verse in the Bible, and we hear it frequently. "One problem with being so well known is that this passage is often reprinted everywhere -- from T-shirts to bumper stickers -- but removed from its context. "While this verse may be at the heart of the feast, a well-balanced diet requires the rest of the meal -- what accompanies it, and what goes before or comes afterward" (Burridge, 498). VERSES 17-21: THOSE WHO BELIEVE ARE NOT CONDEMNED Verse 17 states God's purpose in sending the Son. It is not to condemn (Greek: krine) the world, but to save it. Krine can mean judged, but in this context -- set over against saved -- it means condemned. God sends the Son, not to condemn the world, but to save it. Jesus' statement in v. 17 appears to be in conflict with 9:39, where Jesus says, "I came into this world for judgment." However, "Unbelief, by shutting the door on God's love, turns his love into judgment" (Bultmann, quoted in Smith, 99). "The separation between those who accept his forgiveness and those who refuse it is inevitable; but the latter are self-judged. The responsibility for their self-judgment cannot be laid at the door of 'the Saviour of the world' (John 4:42; 1 John 4:14)" (Bruce, 90). Jesus' saving work reveals a dark side of earthly life. If it is necessary for God to send the Son to save the world, it must be that the world needs saving -- is lost. Furthermore, the Son's work is efficacious only if the world accepts the proffered salvation. John puts it this way: "Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God" (v. 18). "because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God" (v. 18). " 'Name' in Semitic usage refers to what is essential in a person; the name of the Son of God is Jesus, which means 'saviour' " (Williamson, 37). Those who fail to believe in the name of the saviour have not been saved but "are condemned already." "The perfect tense ('are condemned') refers to the situation in which that person has placed himself or herself" (Ridderbos, 139). "People's response to Jesus constitutes their judgment; their judgment on him is at the same time a judgment on themselves" (Lincoln, 155). "The language of the Prologue returns as Jesus speaks of 'life,' 'light,' and 'darkness' (vv. 18-21; cf. 1:4-8)" (Moloney, 96). Just as we have a clear statement of Jesus' purpose in v. 16 -- that he came to save the world -- so we have a clear statement of the problem of "people who loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil" (v. 19). Such people "hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed" (v. 20). The images conjured up by such language are sinister but all too real. They remind us of the danger of dark streets -- illicit transactions accomplished in out of the way places -- people clothed in dark clothing to make themselves invisible in the night. The reality, however, is that there is some darkness-loving in every heart -- dark secrets that we prefer not to share with anyone. "It is only in the make-believe world of a child that one can turn on a light without creating shadows" (Craddock, 159). There is some sense in which all of us live in the shadows. These verses make it clear that there is a "close connection between doing and being.... Believing is not merely a matter of mental affirmation but of life commitment" (Borchert, 186). While our salvation depends on what Christ has done for us on the cross, it doesn't become effective unless we accept it -- unless we believe "in the name of the only Son of God" (v. 18). Both our history and our newspapers are replete with examples of people who love darkness because their deeds are evil. The twentieth century was filled with examples of monstrous evil. The Holocaust is the most familiar example, but other examples include Stalin's purges, Mao's Cultural Revolution, Idi Amin's reign of terror in Uganda, Pol Pot's killing fields in Cambodia, and many others. Each of these despots was responsible for the murders of millions, and there seemed no end to their blood lust. The twenty-first century is young, but has already demonstrated that there are, indeed, people who love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil -- people who hate the light and will not come to the light -- people who pursue evil and hate that which is good. We are hesitant to judge other people, and rightfully so. We cannot know all the nuances of a person's life, so the judgment is best left to God. However, some darkness is so dark and some light is so light that we can hardly miss seeing the difference. "But those who do what is true come to the light, so it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God" (v. 21). "This strange expression makes it clear that the lover of light is not some intrinsically superior person. If he or she enjoys the light, it is because all that has been performed, for which there is no shame or conviction, has been done 'through God' in union with Him, and therefore by His power' (Carson, quoting Westcott, 208). Closing Prayer: Merciful Lord, absolve your people from their offences, that through your bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the chains of those sins which by our frailty we have committed; grant this, heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ’s sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen..
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Church of the Ascension, 13
Francis Thomas Drive, Singapore 359339 |