Gleanings From the Text
These oft-quoted verses are part of Jesus’ monologue that flows directly from a dialogue with Nicodemus, a Jewish leader who comes to Jesus by night. The Fourth Gospel sends a mixed message about Nicodemus, a figure many readers identify with through his struggle to understand Jesus’ words. Though the lectionary includes only a section of this narrative, those preaching, teaching or reading this text may find greater insight by considering it as a whole.
“Lifted up” (v. 14) In Greek, the verb encompasses two meanings – “to lift up” and “to exalt” – and John uses both meanings simultaneously. The evangelist refers to Moses “lifting up” the bronze serpent in the wilderness, an act that had healing, life-giving power (see Numbers 21.8-9), then uses the same verb in relation to Jesus. In the Fourth Gospel, glory and exaltation come not only with Jesus’ resurrection, but also with the crucifixion itself – another act filled with healing, life-giving power.
“Eternal life” (v. 15-16) For John, eternal life is a present-tense reality. It is not something we wait for or hope for our future, but something we experience now as a result of faith in Jesus. As Gail O’Day writes, “To have eternal life is to live life no longer defined by blood or by the will of the flesh or by human will, but by God. Eternal does not mean mere endless duration of human existence, but is a way of describing life as lived in the unending presence of God. To have eternal life is to be given life as a child of God.” (See also John 10.10.)
Food For Thought
We run the risk of not hearing what this text has to say to us precisely because we’ve heard it (at least in part) so many times. As Frances Taylor Gench points out, John 3.16 permeates everything from Vacation Bible School to billboards and bumper stickers to Monday Night Football.
The tendency of some Christians to use this verse as evidence only of the urgent need to ‘accept Jesus’ can have an unfortunate consequence of overlooking a central claim. Before we are given any rhetoric about belief or unbelief, we are again reminded of God’s immense love for the entire created order (see also 1.1-18). We are given the choice between light and darkness, between belief and unbelief – but that choice of whether to love God, or not, is ours only because first, “God so loved the world.”
Other potential stumbling blocks exist. Verses 18-20 contain language of condemnation, judgment, darkness, and evil, intimidating concepts at best. But verse 17 assures us: “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Gench helpfully points out, “God and Jesus do not judge; self-judgment is in view. To John’s way of thinking, we judge ourselves by our response to God’s love in Jesus Christ. Those who receive it receive new life; but those who reject it cut themselves off from ‘eternal life.’”
Sink Your Teeth Into This
Before seminary, I served as the program director of a summer camp. Campers learned a memory verse each morning that they would recite, in cabin groups, prior to entering the dining hall for lunch. One morning, I approached a particularly bouncy child and asked if he knew the verse. “Yes!” he exclaimed. “ForGodsolovedtheworldhesenthisonly . . .” He continued at top speed, each word running into the next. I asked him if he knew what it meant. “Of course,” he said. “It means I get to have lunch!”
We are all invited by God – it is an open invitation, meant “to enlighten every human being” (1.9). Among other claims, this text reassures us that through our faith, we, too, “get to have lunch.” We are given a seat at the heavenly banquet – which begins here and now, in the unending presence of our God.
Works Referenced
Frances Taylor Gench, Encounters with Jesus (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2007).
Gail O’Day, “John” in The New Interpreters Bible Commentary Volume IX (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995).
Sandra Schneiders, Written That You May Believe (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2003).
Biographical Information
Jenny McDevitt is a final-level Masters of Divinity student at Union-PSCE. Originally from Michigan, she graduated from Kenyon College with a degree in English (creative writing). Prior to attending seminary, McDevitt worked within camp and conference ministries of the PCUSA. She assures any concerned readers that all campers received three meals per day, whether they remembered bible verses or not.
Posts
