Sermon for March 15, 2015
Fourth Sunday in Lent (7:45, 11:15)
The Rev. Vicki K. Hesse
St. Philip’s In The Hills, Tucson, AZ
John
3:14-21
Listen here (on Sound Cloud)
Lord, Open our Lips, that our mouth
shall proclaim your praise. Amen
When
I was growing up,
we
had a family tradition for giving.
On
birthdays, Christmas or anniversaries,
someone
would give a gift wrapped in a giant box
that
contained a somewhat smaller wrapped gift box
that
contained a smaller gift box…
until
the last, smallest gift actually contained the gift:
a
gift card, or a tiny piece of jewelry or an ornament.
You
get the idea? I’m guessing that this was
not a unique-to-the-Hesse family practice?
In
a strange way, our Gospel reading today reminded me of that family practice,
well, the opposite of it.
Here’s
why. In my young adult years, before I
knew God
the
seemingly narrow, tiny, tightly wrapped “gift”
of
John 3:16
made
me wince and turn away from the Church.
But
as I gained a broader understanding of God’s love,
this
gift has been wrapped and been given to me
in
bigger and bigger proportions
and
now just fills me with wonder.
For
context, just prior to the reading for today,
Jesus’
was talking with Nicodemus.
Nicodemus,
you may remember,
was
the Pharisee who came at night,
under
cover of darkness, to meet Jesus.
Nicodemus
asked Jesus about his personal salvation.
It
was a very narrow, tiny request.
Jesus
taught Nicodemus about being “born again.”
Jesus
then took this “teachable moment”
to
offer an important lesson to all listeners
(including
us), not just Nicodemus.
Jesus’ tells of God’s love that grows and
grows
until
that climactic verse, John 3:16.
“God
so loved the world that God gave God’s only Son…” – that proclamation affirms
the unbounded love of God.
John
3:16 – probably the best-known bible verse.
In
the South, it is not uncommon
for
an entire billboard to state, simply, “3:16.”
Many
football fans will remember
Tim
Tebow’s eye-black delicately inscribed
with
this reference.
Feelings
about this ubiquitous verse range from
fondness
to ambivalence to flat out dislike.
Why?
Well,
motivations for John 3:16 being a favorite
are sometimes
curious…
Is
it because people really believe
that God loves
the world?
Or
is it because the repetition of the verse
is a reminder
they are saved while others are not?
Or
is it used as a threat for those
unwilling to
accept God’s love?
Suddenly,
rather than hearing an invitation
to
participate in spreading God’s love, it’s an excuse for excluding those we
think God does not love.[1]
For
many Christians, this concise summary
captures
the whole of the gospel.
For
those who hold a dualistic framework
of heaven and
hell,
the
verse justifies that we are saved (go to heaven)
by
believing that Jesus is the only son of God,
who died for
our sins.
The
trouble is that necessity of belief
makes
God’s love conditional.
I
don’t buy that. That’s a
misunderstanding.
The
late Marcus Borg offers some guidance
to
unpack this four-part phrase with an expansive heart:[2]
First,
“For God so loved the world…”
That
is, God loves the divinely created world –
not
just Nicodemus, not just Christians,
not
just people, but the whole of creation. (show globe)
God’s
love is the gift that started out small
and
becomes bigger and more expansive
with
broadened understanding.
God
loved The World – the cosmos!
From
the billions of galaxies visible only through
the
telescope at the top of Mt. Lemmon
to
that annoying fly in your kitchen.
God
loves the world.
Second,
“That he gave his only Son…”
The
gift of God’s Son in GJohn refers to incarnation
of
the whole cosmos - the universe, the created order. Everything that is,
is the gift, not just the death of Jesus.
Christ
emerged from God’s love for the world,
not
God’s love for a new world, a perfect world,
or
a redeemed world, but the world as it
was and is.[3]
Last
week Fr. Richard Rohr spoke at a Diocesan retreat.
He
reminded us that
“…the
incarnation of God did not happen
in Bethlehem
2000 years ago.
That
is just when we started taking it seriously.
The
incarnation actually happened 14.5 billion years ago
with a moment
we now call “the Big Bang…”
Two
thousand years ago
was the human incarnation of God in Jesus,
but before
that was
the first and
original incarnation
through
light, water, land, sun, moon…
this
“Cosmic Christ” was how
God
revealed God’s mystery.
Christ
is not Jesus’ last name,
but
the title for his life’s purpose.”[4]
God
loved the world so much that
God
was willing to become incarnate in Jesus,
became
part of it, vulnerable to it, participating in it.
Third,
“So that everyone who believes in him...”
The
use of “believe” here translates from
a
pre-modern understanding of “believe.”
That
is, it is not “believe” as in our head, or our brain,
but
“be-love” of the heart.
So,
“everyone who beloves in him,”
means
that you don’t have to be perfect,
you
don’t have to be righteous,
you
don’t even have to be the “right” race, vocation,
or
sexual orientation. Any of that.
To
be-love in Jesus means to engage God with singularity,
to
love with your heart, in loyalty to the beloved, God,
and
with commitment to the way of Jesus –
the theme of
Lent.
To
be-love in Jesus means you love because God loves.
Fourth
and finally,
“May
not perish but may have eternal life…”
Eternal
life, in the Gospel of John,
means not the
afterlife,
but our
current experience,
filled
with a spirit of abundance and possibility and hope.
It
is the present and the age to come.
To
know God and belove in Jesus gives us
eternal life
of participating in God’s dream
of wholeness
and healing –
when God’s
shalom will exist for all creation.
This
four-part verse,
this
gift so cleverly wrapped up in the bow of 3:16
affirms
that the well-being of the world is God’s passion.
Today,
we unwrap this narrow gift and
find
out how truly expansive and gigantic it is.
Today,
we can see Jesus’ message
filled
with the good news of loving God
and
following Jesus in a path of
love-life
for all of creation.
Knowing
this 3:16, however,
may
not seem to address our struggles in life:
We
still yearn deeply to know God and be known by God.
We
still hope to see explicit acts of God’s grace in our life,
for
the manifestation of Jesus’ healing power
for
our ill loved-ones.
We
still ache for a time when
·
unjust
laws do not break up families just for the sake of the law,
·
children
who are hungry find healthy food in abundance,
·
fear
of refugees and immigrants dissolves into generosity and hospitality,
·
and
a spirit of justice drives our
political process, not a spirit of scarcity.
Knowing
this 3:16, instead,
points
us to God’s great love for the world
–
and for all of creation.
This
unbounded gift of love
spurs
us to respond:
We
can love and care for all of creation,
the world that
God loves,
and we can,
practically speaking,
by attending
the upcoming “Green Team”
gathering this
coming Thursday evening (p. 34),
We
can use our voice to tell government representatives
of
our community needs.
We
can notice and name
times
of reconciliation in our relationships,
We
can welcome everything, not resisting,
knowing
that God loves the world,
and
us, even us.
With
this gift of love, God spurs us to respond.
Poet
Mary Oliver suggests one response; she writes:
It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don’t
try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
into thanks,
and a silence in which
another voice may speak.[5]
another voice may speak.[5]
Perhaps
our response to the gift that we have been given
–
God’s love for the world in all of creation –
is
simply to receive the gift.
And
in receiving the gift of love,
God
invites us, today to work together with all of creation,
not
just for humanity but for the whole world.
In
receiving the gift of love,
we
can recognize the face of Jesus in our neighbor.
In
receiving the gift of love, we, too, can give it away.
Amen
[1] Inspired by Karoline Lewis in
Working Preacher commentary, at http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=3550
[2] Inspired by Marcus J. Borg’s
book Speaking Christian: Why Christian
Words Have Lost Their Meaning and Power – And How They Can Be Restored, (New
York, Harper-Collins, 2011), p.161-163
[3] Inspired by
Earth Ministry’s offer by the Rev. Dr. Rodney R. Romney, preached at Seattle
First Baptist Church, “Earth Sunday,” 1995, at http://earthministry.org/in-love-with-all-creation/
[4] Huffington
Post article, “Creation as the Body of
God,” Posted:
03/04/2011 by
Richard Rohr captured his ideas nicely, at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fr-richard-rohr/creation-as-the-body-of-g_b_829257.html
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