Light & Judgment

John3:14-21

March 18, 2012

John W. McNeill

There is a temptation to move right to John 3:16.

3:16 "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.

“Believe in Jesus so that you won’t die, but instead go to heaven.”

God loved the world so much, God gave his only Son that God gave us this way out of dying so that we could go to heaven.

But what if we have been reading this in a way that keeps us in the dark?

What if “so” means not “how much,” but “in what way?”  So a better translation might be: This is how God loved the world: God gave his only Son.

And further, what if “believe in” does not mean accepting some particular facts as true or giving intellectual assent, but instead means giving ones trust and submission. What if it really means “following?” Believing into, handing ones whole self over to the Son? I’ve read this week that the grammar of the sentence in Greek indicates this is more likely the appropriate translation.

But before rushing to John 3:16, perhaps we should pause a moment and give the verses that surround it some attention.

The first verse of today’s reading is peculiar:

3:14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

But let’s hear what this is about. This refers to an incident as Moses was leading the Israelites on their journey from slavery in Egypt to the promised land of freedom. Once again the people were grumbling about being in the desert with no food and no water. God heard them grumbling and sent poisonous snakes among them to bite them. Many died from these snake bites. Finally some of the people went to Moses to tell him that God was punishing them with poisonous snakes and that they were sorry. Moses prayed for the people and God told him to make a serpent out of bronze and put it on a rod and hold it up. Whoever had been bitten by a poisonous snake could look on the bronze snake and would be healed.

Now this story may sound in many ways silly to our ears, but the point Jesus makes in telling this story is that we must pay attention, look at the things that are killing us. And, more than that, when he is lifted up – that is crucified – that we are to look at that. Look carefully at that crucifixion and all that has gone into it if we are to be saved.

If we give ourselves over to him, we will be saved. Again, the way to read this is not about acknowledging some particular facts, but rather about  how we follow Jesus. Later on in John’s gospel this made abundantly clear when Jesus says: I am the way, the truth, and the life. To find life, we must live in Jesus’ way.

So how do we know whether we are living in Jesus’ way? How do we determine this?

Well, let’s look at the verses that come after John 3:16. It actually talks about the judgment.

3:19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

3:20 For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.

The judgment here is actually a little surprising, it’s not a judgment in the sense that God has looked at someone and said, “You’re bad.” The judgment is that the folks who are in trouble are hiding in the darkness. They will not come into God’s light. They do not come into God’s light because they do not want to be exposed. They hold themselves back from being saved.

On the other hand,

3:21 But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God."

Those who are living in God, doing deeds done in God, doing what is true, want to be in the light, want to be revealed in God’s presence, do not hang back from living in Jesus’ way.

And this gives us an understanding of verses 17 & 18, which we skipped over:

3:17 "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.

3:18 Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Jesus has not come to condemn, but to save.  Those who are following him, believing into him, allying with him, are not condemned. On the other hand, those who are not following him are condemned because they are avoiding the light that will illuminate their lives and save them. Hence they remain in the darkness. There is no salvation in darkness.

Contrasts that are developed in this passage:

Believing into (Following)	Not believing into (Not following)
Light	Dark
Do what is true	Do evil
Saved	Condemned
Have eternal life	Perish

Some sections of John’s gospel have this format of churning around in the relationships among several concepts. These passages immerse us in contrasts and connections to draw us into  deeper understanding of Jesus’ meaning.

But these contrasts are governed by the first verse of our passage this morning:

3:14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

As the passage develops we come to understand that encountering this passage puts us in the position of judgment. We are brought to a reality check about who we are. We must ask ourselves:

Are we willing to hold our lives up to the light?

Paradoxically, only by willing to be judged will we escape judgment.

Perhaps we can better understand this if we see how the same principle is true in another sort of case.

Let’s think about dentists. Dentists use a lot of light. 

So imagine this situation:

You take good care of your teeth. You floss twice a day. You brush with the right kind of toothbrush and toothpaste. Maybe you also use an anti-plaque rinse. You minimize sweets. You visit your dentist every six months. It’s almost a joy. The cleaning is barely uncomfortable because you have so little tarter. There are never any cavities. No extra costs. No problem. Your life and habits are arranged so that you do not hesitate to go to the dentist because you have no reason to expect any real problems. That dentist’s light will simply reveal a gorgeous smile. All your teeth will live.

On the other hand…

I can imagine a situation in which one does not floss even once a day, or even once a week. I can imagine a situation in which one never flosses. I can imagine someone brushing their teeth only in the morning and never before bed when it is most important to prevent tooth decay. I can imagine someone using a toothpaste not recommended by American Dental Association. For such a person going to the dentist might well fill them with dread. Especially if they have some discomfort in a tooth. The cleaning will take a long time, it will be uncomfortable. I may need a filling. It might hurt. It may cost a lot of money. Maybe I won’t go to the dentist. Maybe it’s nothing. Maybe it will get better on its own. I’ll start brushing and flossing more regularly. Starting tomorrow. Or next week. My teeth will die.

I want to show you a clip from the film Bruce Almighty. Bruce Nolan, played by Jim Carey, has had some terrible things happen in his life. One of the worst is that he’s lost his job. He rails at God. He accuses God of being like a big mean kid, interested in watching him squirm. He begins to get mysterious text messages telling him to come for a job interview. That’s where this scene begins. It turns out to be much more of an interview than he’d bargained for. He’s invited to come into the light.

Clip from Bruce Almighty.

http://www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/bruce-almighty/im-god?play=1

Bruce has some real problems. If he is going to get better he will have to begin to pay attention to how he is living and what his expectations are. He will have to be open to testing whether his attitudes and his actions are leading to life.

I’ve talked before about judgment being a kind of diagnosis. It is not for our condemnation, it is a step toward healing, a step toward knowing how we must change. Judgment is God taking us seriously and us taking God seriously. Engaging God intentionally and deeply.

Jesus’ words here are not a threat. They are statements of how the universe is. If we avoid judgment, if we avoid diagnosis. That in itself leads to our failure to get better. If we step into the light of judgment we are taking the first step toward wholeness and peace. The first step toward salvation. So in that sense, the judgment is not judgment at all.

In this season of Lent we look ahead to Good Friday, when we remember the Son of man lifted up - lifted up on the cross that shines a light on our rebellion against God’s goodness and invites us to be healed.

 The cross shines a light on the injustice of the powerful against the weak and invites us to follow Jesus’ way of justice.

The cross shines a light on the cruelty of which we are capable and invites us to follow Jesus’ way of compassion.

The cross shines a light on the love of God for the world and invites us to follow into that very same way of love.

The cross shines a light on the self-giving love of God. It shines a light on the way God loves: not as the overwhelming power that will impose what is right. But as the love that calls us into self-giving vulnerability that is open to that light and embraces the possibilities God is offering us for eternal life in Jesus Christ.

Thanks be to God. Amen.