Dealing with the demons

 ‘… For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him’. (John3:17)

                                     

Numbers 24:4-9

Psalm 107

Ephesians 2:1-12

John 3:14-21

 New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

(Year B: Fourth Sunday in Lent, 14 March, 2021)

The Gospel of St John is in a league of its own. Whatever about the precise historicity of some events and details recounted in this Gospel, we can spend a lifetime deepening our understanding and relationship to this gospel. Any questions about historicity need not be an obstacle to growing in faith when we read scripture on our knees but with our God-given critical minds.  In this Gospel I have three favourite sayings – all within the first 8 chapters of this particular gospel. They are, in sequence of references:

‘… For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him’. (John 3:17)

 ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ (John 8:31-32)

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ (John 12:32)

For me, these three sentences sum up the Bible – Old and New – and the Law, and the Prophets and the early Church’s mission and what we need to know and do today.

Being honest with ourselves..

The first of these three passages is well known and often cited. Spectators at sporting events over the past decades may recall seeing a sign held up in the crowd ‘John 3:17’. There is something very reassuring, calming and energising about John 3:17. And it is to the point.  Deep within us there are worries – little and not so little. Am I on the right track? Is this right? How do I know? Where is God in this situation? What will others think? Am I sure? I am afraid of this or that in the future? Others don’t like or love me so much? Or, I am worried about so and so that he or she is not well or safe? The truth is that we don’t like condemnation (but sometimes we are easy about dishing out).  We crave for recognition, acceptance, popularity, friendship.  Did we ever doubt that Facebook meets multiple human needs and Google know this only too well?

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. But, there is no condemnation for those in Christ (Romans 8:1). May this be repeated again: ‘there is 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-million anam-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 outrageous 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 testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. ’(1 Jn 4:14)

Smiling at our demons and ignoring them..

John refers to the lifting up of a snake by Moses in the desert (Numbers 21:6-9). The idea behind inoculation for smallpox is to deliberately introduce material containing a small amount of smallpox to establish an immunity. The metaphor when applied to social psychology refers to the following

Expose someone to weakened counterarguments, triggering a process of counterarguing which eventually confers resistance to later, stronger persuasive messages.

In the film, A Beautiful Mind, John Nash plays the role of a brilliant but mentally ill person. He manages to live and partially overcome the negative and paranoid thoughts by looking at them in the face and then gently moving on. While most of us, thankfully, will never know mental illness we can learn the art of masterly inactivity by leaving our worst fears, hurts and hang-ups to Christ at the foot of the cross.

We are all familiar with the sign that appears outside chemist shops the world over – the bowl of hygieia. Hygieia was the Greek goddess of hygiene. The symbol includes a rod with a snake wrapped around it.  While the sign is rooted in Greek myth it is possible that there is some primeval origin to this symbol? St Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:12:

‘God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.’

We are invited to face up to reality, now, completely – holding nothing back.  The whole truth and nothing but the truth.  ‘And the Truth will set you free …’. Not only are we not condemned but we are set free and lifted up. Could we ask for more?