You are so loved as you are

“…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.” (John 3:16)

John 3:1-17 (Year B: Trinity Sunday, 27^th May, 2018)

Trusting..

John 3:17 speaks to people in all ages and cultures. The Good News (literally Gospel) is that someone has been sent to befriend us and to help us and to save us.  Trusting in this good news is the key. It may not be easy as many may feel left down and left out in their lives. ‘There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Romans 8:1). May this be repeated again: ‘There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’. Jesus is the Healer who seeks us out here and now. And when he finds us and we open the door we are gently faced with reality – now, completely and holding nothing back. And the Truth will set us free (John 8.32). And what a freedom it is.

And being lifted up..

Jesus, in being lifted up on the cross (‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ (John 12:32), lifts us up too. The word ‘exalted’ or hypsóōin Greek is used here and, also in Isaiah 52:13:

See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.

Part of that healing is facing, naming and ‘shaming’ our own inner demons. Only we can do this – through Jesus who is the Healer (a rare one-in-a-millionanam-chara or spiritual soul friend might also help). Those demons may reflect deep shortfalls, guilt, insecurities, hurts, resentments, past traumas – all buried deep in the psyche. But, ‘those who hide in him shall not be condemned.’ As it says in Psalm 33:23*.

There are experiences and memories in our lives that echo hurts. Deep hurts linger.  These concern things others said or did that wounded us. Perhaps, we experienced bullying in some context – at work, in the family or in the community. Perhaps someone said things about us or to us that were untrue and very undermining.  Perhaps we acted likewise towards another?  It is not easy – but we must learn to let go of these things. They belong now to Christ and are covered by his Cross. Letting go means acknowledging these things – facing them, naming them, addressing them and then letting go of them. The cross stands between us and these things and we can leave our baggage there so that we are free to move on.

Going for joy and freedom...

The evangelist Luke locates a freedom story in terms of those who are lost, outside the tent so to speak and not well regarded by society. He reports Jesus as saying during the encounter with Zacchaeus:

‘For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.’(Luke 19:10)

As in John 3:17, we are told that God sent his only Son – before we knew or wanted or asked for it.  And He did this because he loves us as we are now and here not after some course of meritorious actions or assent to creedal matters. Actions and assent stem from a sense of profound freedom and freeing by a Gracious and outrageously compassionate God who turns normal rules of human justice upside down.

The liberation in store for us is spelt out further in the first letter of John as follows:

And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world. ’(1 Jn 4:14)

(words above = 569)

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Further reading: notes and questions, verse by verse

Preliminaries

As often is the case in the Gospel of John, the scene for an important teaching is a conversation between Jesus and someone who comes to him.

1-2:  Nicodemus slips out at night to see Jesus

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘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.’ 

What did a leading religious figure do when he wanted to have a conversation with Jesus? He slipped out at night. May be he met Jesus in a secret location or, perhaps, where he was staying (or both). He was afraid and, yet, curious. Are there times and places where we can have safe conversations with Jesus in our own hearts?  Sometimes, we need to have an honest conversation – on our own – with the Saviour of the World and our best friend ever. Would we risk it? Nicodemus had a lot to lose. He was not only a leading member of the Sanhedrin but he belonged to the Pharisee party.

Nevertheless many, even of the authorities, believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue. (John 12:42)

We hear of Nicodemus again in John 7:50-53. And we meet him again in John 19:39 where he gives Jesus a royal burial. No doubt, according to John, we can conclude that Nicodemus was a ‘stand out’ guy who did not lose his soul in the group think. He stepped out – cautiously at first – and inquired of Jesus and thought it through and decided to follow him.

3-7   Spiritual re-birthing

Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above. ’Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.”

These lines are rich in imagery as they bring to mind sight, Kingdom, birthing, ageing, water, spirit and flesh.  The conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus is in full flow.  The Kingdom of Heaven is within each of us if we could see it. We must be reborn in the spirit to enter it. This reminds us of our own baptism. However, it also prompts us to recognise the Kingdom which is already here among us and within us as well as beyond and above us.

8-10   The Holy Breath of God blows where it wills

 The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

The breath of God is the Holy Spirit. The love of God is breathed forth as the mutual love of Father and Son giving life and love to the whole world.

11-15   Belief as the way to life

Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

Nicodemus is still immersed in a this-worldly perspective. It is like a form of 1st century religious atheism. He needs to make a step and leap in trust. The truth is that he cannot make this leap without help from above. When Jesus is lifted up the cross we are lifted up too. The breath of God from the Cross generates new life.

16-17   The point of the Gospel

‘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. ‘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.

God has sent Jesus not to condemn but to save. If there is a judgment of any person to be made we must leave that to God. We all face judgment. Jesus stands beside us as does the Holy Spirit the helper to plead for us.  In this we are confident of being reborn and of seeing the Kingdom of God.