Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
You’ve seen signs that say, simply, John 3:16. It’s written on single pieces of paper, spray painted onto bedsheets and hung from the sides of football fields, printed on bumper stickers, worn on T-shirts and even on signs and knick-knacks on our own walls and shelves. For most of us, we can automatically recite those 25 words from the King James Version of the Bible without even having to think about it. I bet I could wake you at 2am and, after you got over the shock of me being in your bedroom at 2am, you could say it without missing a word. That’s part of the issue, isn’t it? John 3:16 is memorized, minimized, commercialized, and economized down to simply “The Gospel in a nutshell.”
Don’t forget, John 3:16 begins with a story, a narrative, of a man who comes to Jesus in the middle of the night. Nicodemus is a Pharisee, an expert in the Law. He can measure out one’s standing over and against God’s Law, and he can meter out judgement against those who miss the mark of God – or, at least, who miss the standards of self-righteousness set by the Pharisees.
Nicodemus calls Jesus, “Rabbi.” Rabbi means, simply, teacher, but it indicates a nod of respect to Jesus for His ability and wisdom as a scholar. Further, Nicodemus admits that Jesus must be from God – not as much because of His wisdom, although that is probably part of it, but because of the signs Jesus does. In the Gospel of John, “signs” means “miracles.” Nicodemus’ night-time visit to Jesus is early in Jesus ministry. John has only recorded one sign, one miracle, by this time: changing water to wine. Nicodemus recognizes that there are plenty of rabbis who teach, some better than others, but no one can do miracles, like the water-to-wine at Cana, unless He is of God.
Nicodemus is a man filled with questions. I take him with full sincerity, that this visit to Jesus is done with a search for the truth. On the one hand, there is what the Pharisees teach and believe about the necessity of maintaining and keeping the Law, but on the other hand is this new teaching Jesus offers and, if He is from God, what does that mean for him and the rest of the people of Israel? Nicodemus comes to Jesus under the cover of night, of darkness, so he is able to sneak in, unnoticed by others – including other Pharisees who might wonder what he is doing entering Jesus’ presence. He is a juxtaposition of two beliefs, two theologies – one of Law and one of Gospel – standing at a crossroad where one or the other must give.
Sign? You need a sign, Nicodemus? I’ll give you a sign, but not one that you are expecting. If you, like Nicodemus, need a sign, a miracle from God, nook no further than your Baptism. With water and Word, there is new birth, a new life of faith conceived by the Spirit of God. This is not your doing anymore than a newborn baby has anything to do with his conception or her birth. In fact, the baby is content to remain right where he or she is: in the mother’s womb, warm, safe, nourished. The mother’s body does all the work, delivering a new life into the world by way of water and blood. Likewise, the spirit of God does all of the work bringing a person to faith through water and Word. As life is a gift of God delivered through the mother, so new life, the baptized life, is a gift of God delivered by the Spirit. God does the work, God does the saving, God does the new-birthing. I don’t remember being born, but here I am. Likewise, you don’t have to remember when you were baptized or recognize the moment that faith was created in you. It’s not your doing. You are simply the recipient of the gift of God.
It’s as if Jesus asks his nighttime guest, “Do you still need another sign, Nicodemus? I’ll give you a sign – but not the sign, not the miracle, you are expecting tonight. You’re an expert in the Law of Moses, so I’ll give you a sign from Moses instead. When the people rebelled and complained against God, God sent fiery serpents as punishment for their sins. When they repented and cried out to Moses to intercede to God to help, God responds in mercy. But, God does not remove the snakes. Instead, He tells Moses to construct a bronze serpent – a type of the very instrument of God’s punishment – and suspend it on a pole. When an Israelite was bitten by a snake, they were to look to the bronze serpent. It wasn’t the bronze serpent that would save – it was just a sculpture. It was the promise of God that saved.
So, Nicodemus, if you want a sign, look not at a serpent but at the Son of Man for the Son of Man must be lifted up, not on a bronze pole, but on rough-hewn wooden cross where He will die for the sins of the world. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Did you play the game with your children when they were babies where you would raise their arms while slowly saying “soooooooo big” and then bring their arms down? Or, maybe you would do this, spread your arms out while saying, “I love you sooooooooo much.” If I asked you, “How great is the Father’s love for us?” I suspect many of you would answer like that: God loves us sooooo much. That’s not what Jesus means. It’s not a quantitative description of the breadth or depth or width of God’s love. If you want a quantitative description, here it is: it is boundless, without end or limit. Instead, Jesus is describing the quality of God’s love. God loved us in this way: He sent His Son, His only Son, His holy, sinless Son to die for His sin-stained, unholy children who rebelled against Him. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly... But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:6-8)
Remember, Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. Through the course of John’s Gospel, he continues to reappear, slowly emerging from the darkness, then from the shadows, then into the open. Later, he will question his own Pharisees and Saducees, inquiring whether they have given Jesus a fair hearing (7:50). Finally, when Jesus dies after being suspended like Moses’ serpent, Nicodemus dares to ask permission to take Jesus’ body and bury it with the 75 pounds of expensive spices he purchased (19:39). Nicodemus, by the power of the Holy Spirit who moved like the wind, creating, growing, and sustaining faith in Nicodemus, was able to move from private, nighttime discussion to public witness. It took time, and the gracious working of God.
That is the picture I want you to remember as you leave this house of God and head to your own homes, your places of work, your schools, and your places of rest.
It is more difficult to have a faithful and faith-filled conversation today with people around us – especially people we don’t know, and people with whom we have disagreements. Some have disagreements with the church’s social positions. Others cannot grasp the church’s teaching on life, or grace, or marriage, or love. Some simply hold disdain that the church has been a voice in the darkness.
That means that this most public of verses may need to be examined and encountered in private ways. It will be in personal relationships where God will work through His Word. There may be late night, or early morning, or lunchtime conversations. Some simply think the Bible is a list of things they have to do to please God, as if John 3:16 read, “So that God loves me, I must…” As Spirit-filled people of God, you instead get to tell them, “No… God so loved you that you may have eternal life.” And you point them, not to a serpent on a pole, but to the Savior of the world on the cross.
And, some will not be easy. I began by asking you to remember the signs you’ve seen with John 3:16 printed on it. If you want easy, go print a sign on your computer, buy a T-shirt, or slap a bumper sticker on your Dodge. To enter into private conversation, however, is to boldly follow the spirit of God. It takes trust – not just in the Spirit providing what to say, but also a relationship of trust where you trust the other person and he or she is able to trust you to listen to their words and their thoughts before demanding they listen to you.
In you, through you, the Spirit of God blowing through you like the gentle wind, Jesus delivers His gifts. He has come, not to condemn the world, but to save it. His death was public for all to see. His resurrection was public for all to believe. He choses to save the world, one soul at a time, in ways that are public, yes, but also in ways that are intimate and private. He chooses to be found in your private and personal conversations. In you, through you, in the Word you speak, through the Word you speak, He changes lives to change the world.
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