Those John 3:16 Signs

4th Sunday in Lent

I don’t like them. Never have, not sure if I ever will. On the surface, the claim might seem odd, right? “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.” God’s love, God’s love for the world, the sacrificial reality of God the Father and God the Son, eternal life- all sound so good, don’t they?

Until you add in a dash of needing to believe otherwise you perish, and all of a sudden, things don’t sound so good for the whole world, do they? Maybe for those who do believe, but what about those who don’t? That’s what can happen if you pluck a verse out of context, especially a rich, imagery-driven, provocative gospel such as John- a set up for failure.

That’s why I love Micah 6:8-  “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” See, it answers itself within the question! Beautiful! Maybe not good sign material though. So what is Jesus referring to here?

In his weekly devotional, David Lose, the president of the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, wrote the following:

But there is a second reason this may not be our favorite verse as well, and that’s because of the claim it makes on us. Notice that God doesn’t ask our permission first before sending Jesus to die for us. I know, I know, that may seem like an odd detail to point out. But think of the claim a person- any person- has on us once they’ve saved our life, let alone died doing it. In the face of such love, such sacrifice, we must surrender all of our claims.

Years ago I preached a sermon about the offensive nature of God’s grace, suggesting that we might add four words to the end of our service of baptism, saying, “Child of God, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit... like it or not.” A few weeks later, a friend shared a bedtime encounter he’d had with his then six-year-old-son. Upset that his father was putting him to bed earlier than he wanted to go, Benjamin said, “Daddy, I hate you.” Benjamin’s father, exercising the kind of parental wisdom I hope for, replied, “Ben, I’m sorry you feel that way, but I love you.” Benjamin’s response to such gracious words surprised his dad: “Don’t say that!” “I’m sorry Benjamin, but it’s true. I love you.” “Don’t,” his son protested, “Don’t say that again!” At which point Ben’s father, remembering the words of the sermon, said, “Benjamin, I love you… like it or not!”

Why was Benjamin protesting his father’s love? Because he realized he could not control his father’s love and twist it to his advantage. Indeed, in the face of such love there is no bargaining and, ultimately, no control whatsoever. If his dad had said that if he ate all his vegetables he could stay up, or agreed that Ben could stay up later this night if he went to bed earlier the next, then Benjamin would have been a player, he would have exercised some measure of control over the situation and, indeed, over his dad. But in the face of unconditional love we are powerless. Yes, perhaps we can choose to accept it or not, perhaps we can run away from it, but we cannot influence it, manipulate it, or control it. In the face of this kind of love, we are powerless. And only when we’ve died to all of our delusions of actually being in control do we realize that such loss of perceived freedom and power is actually life.

God’s love, you see, is tenacious. And so God’s love will continue to chase after us, seeking to hold onto us and redeem us all the days of our lives, whether we like it or not.

So maybe this is a verse, if we took it more seriously, that might terrify us in how it renders us powerless in a world literally hell-bent on accumulating and exercising power. Then again, maybe as we remember God’s tenacious love we might also realize that, precisely because this is the one relationship in our lives over which we have no power, it is also the one relationship we cannot screw up. Because God created it, God maintains it, and God will bring it to a good end, all through the power of God’s vulnerable, sacrificial, and ever so tenacious love.

That’s hard to fit on to poster board sign, isn’t it? Then again, a sign can also be a distinguishing mark by which something is known- so how can YOU be a sign for God’s love to the world?

Jon Wolf, Associate Pastor

Excerpt from David Lose’s blog, “…In The Meantime”- Lent 4B: God’s Offensive Love