John 3:1-17
The Episcopal Café is an online resource offered by the Episcopal Diocese of Washington containing all sorts of information and reflections pertaining to the Episcopal Church. An interesting post appeared there this week. It was entitled, “Is Japan asking for your financial assistance?” Is Japan asking for your financial assistance?
The post began:
We see the images from Japan of the three-fold catastrophe and wonder how we can help. The Japanese government has not called for foreign relief aid except in specific cases. Japan is a wealthy country and largely able to respond to natural disasters itself….The whole issue of “asking” for assistance in times of disaster isn’t one I had thought about before. America, too, is a “wealthy country.” I didn’t have time to really research our own nation’s practice. The fact that I don’t know if we have ever asked for outside assistance suggests that, if we have, we certainly haven’t made a fuss about it. I did discover that the U.S. evidently quietly asked the European Union for some very specific sorts of aid at the time of Katrina. I imagine that, like Japan, we are not in the general habit of publicizing a need or desire for foreign aid.
I have tried to think of reasons why an individual or a country would not ask for aid in times of need. I can’t think of any good reason. There’s pride. “I can take care of myself. I don’t need anyone else’s help.” Then there’s what, for lack of a better term, I’ll call bigotry. “I’d rather die than accept help from the likes of you.”
I also saw a headline sometime this week. The gist of it was… “Reasons why the nation of Japan will recover.” And, of course, the nation will recover. Thousands upon thousands of individuals will not.
The bottom line for us as Christians is simple. Whenever we are aware of a need, we must help. It is the mandate of our baptismal covenant. It is about who we are. Whether we are asked or not is irrelevant. We must offer what help we can.
The post at Episcopal Café continued:
Beyond [these considerations of whether the government has asked], there we are in the position of having ties within Japan. Through the Anglican Communion and companion dioceses relationships, there are bonds between the Episcopal Church and Anglican Episcopal Church in Japan. The church in Japan has asked for help. We asked Brian Sellers-Petersen of Episcopal Relief and Development for background on how giving to ER-D will make a difference in Japan.
"As you know, our primary partner in a disaster of this kind is always the local church, and here we are working in solidarity with the Anglican Episcopal Church in Japan - the Nippon Sei Ko Kai (NSKK). While they are still in the throes of reviewing how clergy and congregations are impacted by the disaster, and struggling with communications in the coastal areas closest to the quake and tsunami, they have indicated they are conducting needs assessments involving survivors in communities that surround their churches.
Our program team is in contact with NSKK. We know that survivors will turn to the Church for both short-term and long-term assistance (particularly in the coming days and weeks as resources are exhausted through other avenues).
As representatives of sister churches, we work in a different manner than [many other charitable organizations]. Just as we were grateful during Hurricane Katrina, when the NSKK supported recovery efforts in the impacted dioceses of the Gulf Coast, through Episcopal Relief & Development, we know that they are deeply grateful for all of our help during this time. The resources of the Japanese people are extensive, but still the people to people contacts that we embody will help the local Anglican Church as it reaches out to the vulnerable in its communities."ER-D is one way to help. It is not the only way. But we must help.
This morning’s Gospel is relevant. As I was reading the Gospel I thought at I might see fireworks set off, or bright lights begin to flash or spirited “Amen’s” arise from the congregation… when I got to John 3:16. But, no.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
We see John 3:16 held up on placards at football games and other public events. I suppose it is meant to be a form of evangelism, although I don’t really see how a citation of chapter and verse on a poster held up by a stranger would bring someone who is unchurched and unfamiliar with the Bible any closer to Jesus.
Considering the importance this verse has for many people I looked it up in Raymond Brown’s two volume commentary on the Gospel of John. Again, I was a little disappointed not to find any particularly enthusiastic emphasis placed on this one verse. In fact, there seems to be some discussion among Biblical scholars whether or not Jesus even said these words or whether they are part of a homily by the Evangelist (our St. John) placed on the lips of Jesus.
In his commentary, Brown focuses on one word, “loved.” “God so loved the world…” Brown writes: “The aorist implies a supreme act of love…” The aorist is a verb tense we don’t have in English. It is a past tense always implying an event or action, something that happened. God’s love wasn’t a feeling, it was an action. Brown continues, “The verb here is agapan; and if Spicq is right, we have a perfect example of agapan expressing itself in action. Agapan. We know the word “agape.” God’s love, expressed in action. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.”
God didn’t wait to be asked. God saw the need throughout the world that all human kind had for God to share, redeem and restore our human nature. So God sent his Son. God responded to our need. No one in Jesus’ day was asking for a Savior. The Jews anticipated the coming of the Messiah, but they were not asking for what they got in Jesus. As for the pagan Gentiles of the day, if anyone had asked them if they needed the Hebrew God to send Immanuel to them, they would have said, “Good God, NO! We certainly don’t need anything from that God.”
But God saw the world’s need, our need, and loved Jesus into the world.
It seems to me the best way to live into the spirit of John 3:16 is not so much to hold up placards in public places. We should act in ways that meet the needs of others. We should bring God’s agape into the world by our actions.
As Christians only two things are important. Need and agape. Need is around us. We can supply agape.
The questions that should persistently be on the lips of all Christians is “How can I help?” How can I help? Not, can I afford the time or resources to help. Not, have they asked for my help or do they want my help. Just simply, how can I help. How can I meet another’s need? How can I make God’s love real in the lives of others?
We should ask ourselves this question not just with respect to Japan, although the need there is profound right now. Wherever there are human beings, there is need: spiritual need, physical need, emotional need. Harkening back to John 3:16, there may be people in our lives who do not know the love of Christ, whose lives are desperate and faithless. We must act in response to that need with evangelism, by somehow sharing the Good News.
There is need within the parish. Think about your immediate neighborhood or local community. Even within our mighty, self-sufficient nation, there is need. And, sadly, Japan is not the only area world-wide where human beings are in grave physical need. We must act. As Christians, we must act, as best we are able, to help. No individual, of course, can meet the needs of the world. And for some of the need that surrounds us, it is not always clear how best to help. Prayer is always an appropriate response. And when we, in worship, pray for the needs and concerns of the world, we are acting to help. But we must always remember that indifference or inaction are never options for Christians. No matter what the need, indifference or inaction are never options. Whether or not we have been asked to help. Whether or not we know those in need or have any kind of ties with them. Whether or not our help is even welcome. Indifference or inaction are never options.
Wherever there are human beings there is always need. And, to God’s glory, there is always agape. And it is always our job to put agape into action.
