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The Fourth Sunday In Lent (Laetare)
Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which giveth life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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Scripture citation(s): Numbers 21:4-9; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21
A Sermon by
Fr. Ritter
on
Numbers 21:4-9; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21
✛
The Shape of Love
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“For God so loved the world…” Without question that has to be the best-known Bible verse in the world. John 3:16 – you see it on billboards, in stadiums, in tracts and on bags. You hear things like, God is love or God loves you. People say this love is what Christianity is all about. Of course then, if God is love, then what is my problem? Why can’t we get with the program? Maybe it hits a little too close to home. Why am I such an unloving knucklehead? In some ways that line, “God is love” has come to mean whatever we want.
The context of John 3:16 tells a different story. In chapter three of John’s Gospel, Jesus meets the Pharisee Nicodemus under the cover of night. Nicodemus goes to Jesus because he is looking for answers. Today’s Gospel is part of this conversation. Go back to John 3:16 – most English translations of this verse fail to capture the full sense of the Greek. The “so” of that verse “For God so loved the world” carries the sense of “just so” or “in this way.” And so the verse could read, “For in this way God loved the world, that he gave his only Son.” So the question stands, in what way did God love the world? The meaning of that verse has shifted. It is not about how much God loved the world. It is about the way in which God loved the world. And so the meaning of John 3:16 depends on what precedes it. Go back one verse to John 3:15. Jesus says:
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.
Jesus is quoting a curious event recorded in Numbers 21, which we heard in our first lesson. The Israelites are in the wilderness; they are impatient because they are living in a desert, a place without food or water. And even though God is faithful and God provides, they rebel. Does that sound familiar? Here is where the story gets a little odd, poisonous snakes bite them and they begin to die. So Moses, acting on God’s instructions, makes a serpent, puts it on a pole and lifts up this mysterious symbol for the people to look at. And at this point, Jesus tells us that in a similar way, the Son of Man must also be lifted up. In John’s Gospel, the lifting up of the Son is his crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. It is one united single movement and it is his glorification and enthronement. This is precisely the way in which God loves the world.
Of course, we do have a few things in common with the Israelites, who are wandering around in the desert. We are on a journey and sometimes we wander about in circles. We can feel stuck in a no man’s land in between God’s promise and fulfillment. We fail to trust God. We love darkness rather than light because of our deeds. Jesus reminds us, “All who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.” We do not want to be exposed. We have been bitten by sin and death and we will die. We have been infected. Sin is not only something that we do; it is also a power that we participate in. We are stuck in Sin. Jesus tells us that anyone who commits a sin is a slave to sin (John 8:34).
Any yet, God loves that which is not God. God loves this fallen creation. God loves that which does not do what God wants. God loves that which actively works against the will of God. God loves you and this love is concrete and real in the incarnation of his Son. When Jesus is lifted up, God is addressing sin, evil and death. When we look at the cross, we see the way that God loves us; we see what God’s love looks like. In fact, when we look at Jesus on the cross it is the definitive demonstration of God’s love. God’s love consists of three things. 1. It is cruciform, that is, cross-shaped. 2. It consists of costly giving, that is, giving out of that which is essential or necessary. 3. It is for you. This is the shape of God’s love.
What will you do when this love finds you? What will happen when you encounter this Jesus? Jesus reminds us that the light comes not to condemn but to save. But this encounter will bring about a crisis, a moment of truth. We will be at a crossroads. Think back to Nicodemus. When he leaves Jesus in chapter three, he is confused. We don’t hear what happens after that, and we don’t hear from him again until the end of John (19:39) when Nicodemus appears without warning to help care for the body of Jesus after the crucifixion. We don’t know what happened after that early encounter, but Nicodemus was never the same person. What we can say is that he underwent a kind of Baptism, a death and new life encounter that marked him forever.
We are now well into Lent. We mark and intentionally set aside these forty days for an encounter with such a love. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica tried to summarize all that can be known about this love, about God and our relationship with God through Jesus. It came out to be around 3000 pages. But then in the sixteenth century, that irascible and contrary monk Martin Luther said the whole work could be boiled down into just two short statements, “I, the sinner, God, the justifier.” And while not outright disagreeing with either approach, I would add, “I, the sinner, God, the Lover.” For these next three weeks keep these two poles in sight and watch Jesus. Watch as Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem. He will be betrayed by those closest to him. He will be lifted high upon the cross. There on the cross is God the Lover. That is who God is. That is the shape of God’s love made flesh for you.
