Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.

Luther calls it the gospel in miniature. It is also described as the world's best known Bible verse. I wonder though, I often wonder, when you see that guy in the stands holding up John 3:16 do you think he is trying to warn or scare people or do you think he is trying to proclaim how much God loves the world? Sometimes it feels like John 3:16 gets used to drive people to God rather than telling how great God's love is.

First off, remember in John's gospel cosmos, the world, is hostile to Jesus, to the ways of Jesus. John 15:18, “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first.” 19, “you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.” 20, “Since they persecuted me they will naturally persecute you.” John 16, Jesus talks about the coming Holy Spirit who will convict the world of its sin, the sin of not believing in Jesus. 16 Verse 20, the world will rejoice at what is going to happen to Jesus. Verse 33, Jesus tells of the many trials and sorrows which will be a part of life in this world for his disciples. Then comes the word of hope and promise, “But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 17:14-16 “I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They do not belong to this world any more than I do.”

Get the picture? The world is set against Jesus. To use that language of the first chapter of John it would be safe to say it is a place of darkness and really wants nothing to do with the light which has come into the world. The world hates the light because evil deeds are then revealed in it. Jesus comes as the one who is the light and life of all people. 

Entering hostile territory, that is Jesus coming into our world because of God's great love. The world is a place of darkness, opposed to the will and way of God. The world is a place which needs to know of the great love of God. We hear John 3:16 quite often. Verse 17 needs to be added as well. Not to judge the world, or condemn as I would have learned it in the Revised Standard Version and it was in the King James Version as well. Not to judge, not to condemn is the reason Jesus is sent into the world, but that the world might be saved through him. It is about the saving, about the abiding, about the remaining, about the relationship Jesus would have with each and everyone of the world. 

So this realm of defiance, of antagonism, of out and out rebellion is where Jesus comes. This dark realm of the cosmos, the world is desperately in need of the light. This whole story of Nicodemus coming to Jesus, in the darkness. Is he afraid of what others will say, what others will do? Nicodemus seems to embody what Jesus talks about to his disciples later in the gospel of John, those verses and experiences which I mentioned. The world will hate you. Your colleagues in the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of Jerusalem and the Jewish world won't be very happy and would likely put you out of the Sanhedrin if they knew about this late night visit. 

Still, this one who is in the dark, this teacher of Israel who does not understand the confusing things which Jesus is saying, has come. He comes and we are not really told if he goes away with any better understanding or not. The conversation happens during the time of darkness which does not bode well for greater understanding. Jesus teaches. Nicodemus asks some questions. Jesus answers in a way that is designed to draw Nicodemus deeper in. Jesus wants to move Nicodemus past awe at the miracles which have been performed. We don't know if it happens or not. No more description of Nicodemus until we get to chapter 7 where he reminds his fellow members of the court they cannot condemn someone without a trial. Maybe the words of Jesus, the experience of Jesus have sunk into the heart of Nicodemus. The last time Nicodemus is mentioned in the gospel is at the end when he helps with the spices which are used to anoint the body of Jesus for laying in the tomb of Joseph of Arimethea. 

Still it is an encounter with the light which Nicodemus has. Encounters bring about changes. Jesus says some things which are hard to understand but serve to draw Nicodemus in farther. The need is for Nicodemus to get past the idea that somehow God is with this one because of the miracles which he is doing and recognize that this one is God. Part of the kingdom is knowing this and living this. Nicodemus seems to be thinking that Jesus can do a good job of pointing him to God since he is the teacher he is and the worker of miracles he is. 

It is about abiding though. It is about the relationship. It is that great theme which runs through the gospel of John. Abide in me and I will abide in you. Relationship, relationship with this one who is God in the flesh, God incarnate is living in the kingdom of heaven. Abiding, it is how we live out that life of disciple. We abide in Jesus and Jesus abides in us. The light comes into our lives and we know what it is to be loved. We know what it is to become children of God. We live in the light of Jesus, the lamb of God. 

What is your need for light? Where are there dark places in your life, in your world? Jesus comes to bring light which cannot and will not be overcome into just those places. Jesus promises to be in those places as the one who is the light and the life of all. Jesus comes to make you who you are, child of God. That is the promise. That is the work. The one who was in the beginning creating all things will be creating and re-creating you to be who you are, child of God. You are the loved one. You are the one. 

So the son comes to save you, to save the world which is already condemned, judged because of the broken relationship, because of no relationship with God. Jesus comes to save those who are opposed to him, those who hate him. Who is someone you consider to be working against God? Who is someone you think is doing all they can to work contrary to what God wants? How does John 3:16 sound with their name in it? How about someone in your life who is the enemy you need to work on loving, how would John 3:16 sound with their name in it? I really don't think I want to hear it. I really don't think I would want to say it, especially for that one person who was just so . . . Yet, that is the promise, the amazing and crazy and radical promise of our God. The ones who hate God are the very ones Jesus comes for. The ones who seek to destroy the kingdom are the very ones Jesus comes to seek and to save, and I for one am very glad he did. 

There are many times when I am not the child of faith, the descendant of Abraham I should be. There are certainly times when I act more like the enemy of God than the friend of God I am declared to be, still I am loved. Still I am one for whom Jesus comes. I am the one to whom new birth from above is given. By the working of the Spirit, in the waters of baptism, new birth is given, new life is mine. I am child of God. New birth, new life, it is ours and it is what we will live, abiding in our Lord Jesus Christ.