The Fourth Sunday in Lent

John 3:16
Numbers 21:4-9
John 3:14-21

If I were to catch you on the sidewalk and ask you to quote John 3:16, many of you probably could. And even if you couldn’t quote the words exactly, you would feel like as a Christian you should be able to. It has taken on an iconic status within our culture. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that all who believe in him may not perish, but have eternal life.” It is the bumper sticker for “real” Christians, often those who would describe themselves as “born again.” It seems to divide all human kind into those who wave it as a poster at a football game and those who don’t. Along with this is the implicit criticism: If John 3:16 is not the slogan of your life, you are not a real Christian.

I’ve always been a bit puzzled by the prominence of the shorthand slogan “John 3:16.” Is it meant to be evangelism when it is held up at sporting events? How could it work? Citing a Biblical chapter and verse won’t mean anything to the unchurched. It seems more like exclusivist taunting. “This is who I am… I know what it means… I’m a good Christian… nah, nah, nah!”

In any case, “John 3:16” has taken on a life of its own in contemporary American culture. The broader Biblical context is interesting.

This morning’s Gospel passage follows immediately after the story of Nicodemus. That’s a pretty familiar Bible story too, although I don’t recall ever seeing anyone walking around with a sign that says John 3:1-10.

Nicodemus was leader among his people, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He was drawn to Jesus. He saw in Jesus something he yearned for, but he struggled. He came to Jesus at night. He challenged Jesus’ teaching. “How can anyone be born again? From above?” Someone described Nicodemus as an example of partial belief. Like all of us probably. Partial belief. A deep, almost irresistible longing. But a struggle to really comprehend or accept belief in Jesus.

To Nicodemus Jesus says, “No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and spirit.” Scholars debate how much of what follows is actually from Jesus and how much of it is John the evangelist. In either case, it is a sermon. To Nicodemus and everyone yearning to believe. This is how it works. This is the one thing you really need to know. God so loved the world that he gave his Son so that all who believe in him might experience eternal life. This verse is the focus of the Gospel, the proclamation of the Good News. God so loved the world.

It may seem odd at such an intense moment of proclamation to introduce what seems to be a relatively obscure image from the Old Testament—the bronze serpent that Moses lifts up in the wilderness to protect the people from poisonous snakes. If we had not just heard the story as this morning’s Old Testament reading, it would most likely not be familiar to most of us.

The people of Israel were wandering in the wilderness. They had been wandering in the wilderness for a long time. Just as we have now been wandering in the wilderness of Lent for a long time. They were frustrated, uncertain, tempted by sin, whining about the food, unsure of God’s care for them.

Although the story of the bronze serpent may not be well known today, it would have been a familiar and powerful sermon illustration for the people of Jesus’ or John’s day. Gerard Sloyan writes about what that sermon illustration would have conveyed: “Moses’ serpent of bronze, if looked upon with trust in God, preserved the Israelites from death. The exalted Jesus, looked on believingly, gives the life of the final eon to those who believe.”

Look upon God. We cannot save ourselves from the wilderness of sin. But if we look upon God, if we place our trust in God, we will be given life. God is a trustworthy source of eternal life. Look up from life’s cares and temptations and look upon God.

One other note about John 3:16. Raymond Brown, writing about all of the Johanine literature, notes that “In all other examples, God’s love is directed to the disciples.” God loves us. God acts because God loves us, God’s own disciples. But here, in this climactic, focal point of John’s Gospel, God loves the world. God’s love is for the world. Believers and nonbelievers, the just and the unjust, all nations, the fullness of creation. God sent his Son to bring life to the world. Because God loves the world.

God sent his Son to bring life even to Nicodemus, even to the whiney Israelites in the wilderness. God sent his Son because he cared especially for Nicodemus, who struggled to fully trust and find faith. God gave life to the Israelites—particularly when they were tired, uncertain and frustrated with their God.

God so loved the world, that all who try to believe in him might have eternal life. The limitlessness of God’s generous love is very good news for us. And it might remind us to show similarly broad generosity of spirit as we seek to share John 3:16 with others.