March 14, 2021
Hope Lutheran Church
Rev. Mary Erickson
John 3:14-21; Numbers 21:4-9
Trusting in the Greatest Love
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Today we hear one of the most cherished Bible verses of all time, John 3:16. It’s the gospel in a nutshell. Jesus says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.”
This famous verse is spoken within a conversation Jesus has with Nicodemus. Nicodemus comes to visit Jesus in the middle of the night. He was a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council. Nicodemus was a man of significance. He would be well recognized by many. He doesn’t want to risk being seen in the light of day, and so he comes to see Jesus at night. They enter into a theological discussion.
Nicodemus acknowledges that Jesus is a wise teacher. He’s inspired by God. But then Jesus mentions the need to be born again of the Spirit. Nicodemus fails to understand. How can a grown person reenter their mother’s womb? Jesus reminds him of an incident from the Old Testament. This is where our reading today tunes in. Moses and the Israelites were in the wilderness.
God had been providing for all of Israel’s needs. Manna fell from heaven every morning. Flocks of quail alit near the Israelites’ encampment and provided meat. Moses struck a rock and water issued forth.
But as time progressed, the Israelites became impatient and grumpy. They complained against God and Moses. And so God sent poisonous snakes into the Israelite camp. They bite the people. The snake crisis forces Israel to acknowledge their rebellious attitude and repent. So God instructs Moses to fabricate a poisonous snake out of bronze. He elevated it on a pole so that everyone could see it. Whenever someone was bitten by a snake, they looked up at the bronze snake and were made well.
Paradoxically, the Israelites are instructed to look at the very thing that is killing them in order to be saved. It forced them to come to terms with the poison within them – not the snake venom, but their faithless, self-centered mindset. In other words, they have to be confronted with their sinful nature. Jesus tells Nicodemus that the same thing is going to occur with him. Jesus will be “lifted up” and whoever looks up to him will live.
Although Jesus doesn’t mention the cross per se, as people standing on this side of the cross, we understand Jesus is pointing to his crucifixion. Crucifixion was a ghastly and cruel death. It’s been said that the Romans didn’t invent crucifixion, but they perfected it. It was not uncommon for the roads leading into a Roman city to be lined with hundreds of criminals who were crucified. Most famously, Spartacus and his army were crucified along the Appian Way leading into Rome.
Crucifixion was intended to humiliate and torture the one being crucified. At the same time, it intimidated the rest of the populous into submission. People looked up at the ones being crucified, and they cowered in fear.
Jesus tells Nicodemus that just as the bronze serpent became the means to the Israelite’s salvation, he is going to become the agency for God’s plan to save the world. Paradoxically, as the world lifts their eyes to witness the act of Jesus’ humiliating and torturous death, they will see the means to their own salvation. Jesus summarizes what’s going on in his most famous quote:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.” This brief statement encapsulates the entire gospel message.
In viewing Jesus’ crucifixion, we see the great depth of God’s love. As Jesus is lifted on the cross, the full magnitude of God’s love for the world comes to light. It’s a love so overwhelming it’s willing to give itself away for the sake of the world. This divine love becomes real in the person of Jesus. Through taking on human flesh and approaching his destiny on the cross, Jesus was willing to forfeit his own life in order to save a fallen world.
Jesus invites Nicodemus to believe in him. He wants Nicodemus to believe that he’s more than just a wise rabbi; he’s the love of God made flesh; he’s the means of divine reconciliation.
That word “believe” comes up five times in our brief passage from John. What does it mean to believe? We believe that the world is round. Is believing in Jesus like that?
On one level, belief can mean the acknowledgement of facts. We believe that today is Sunday. We believe High Voltage warning signs when we see them.
On Sunday mornings we recite the Apostles’ Creed. We confess that we believe in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Does this mean that we’re making a simple statement of acknowledgement? “Yes, yes, Joe Biden is my president, Tony Evers is my governor, and Jesus is my savior.”
This isn’t what we mean when we say that we BELIEVE in Jesus. Jesus was getting at something much more substantial. Believing in Jesus has to do with placing faith in him. It’s about trust.
There’s a famous story about the great tightrope artist, Charles Blondin. In the summer of 1859, Blondin strung a tightrope across the span of Niagara Falls. The wire stretched over a quarter of a mile in length and 160 feet above the base of the falls.
He proceded to walk back and forth between the Canadian and US falls. A huge crowd watched his daring feat. He upped the ante by adding various challenges: he crossed on a bicycle, he ventured the span walking backwards, he pushed a wheelbarrow.
Each time he asked the crowd, “So do you think I can cross on a bicycle? Do you think I can cross blindfolded? Do you think I can cross pushing a wheelbarrow?” Every time, the crowd enthusiastically responded, “Yes!”
At last he asked, “Do you think I can cross the falls if I’m pushing someone inside the wheelbarrow?” The crowd replied, “Yes!”
And then he asked them, “Who will get in the wheelbarrow and cross with me?” And to that question, nobody said they would! When they said they believed in his abilities, they didn’t mean that they trusted him enough to place their fate in his hands.
Jesus invites Nicodemus – and us – to believe in him with a full, abiding trust. This belief is more than an intellectual acknowledgment. It’s a deep-seated trust in the power of his love to support us in every way. Jesus calls us to rest in him with the same kind of confident trust that a small child has for its parent.
Why, we ask. Why should we so completely trust and rely on him? Jesus points to the highest expression of divine love: his cross. Only there can we see the full measure of the love which sent him to dwell with us. It’s the proof positive that nothing, nothing at all, has been withheld for our sake. Nothing can separate us from the love of God through Christ Jesus our Lord.
In the cross we see a love as expansive as the entire world. This love encompasses all that God has made, all that God has brought into creation. As Christ is lifted up on the cross, this great divine love comes into focus. And there we come to trust a divine love that will not let us go.
Let this love define you. Perhaps there are ways the world sends you messages that you aren’t worth loving. Maybe you’re quaking under an overwhelming sense that you don’t measure up. I ask you, what are you to believe? These other voices? Where are you to place your trust? Listen to Jesus’ answer to Nicodemus. It’s the same truth for you: look up to the cross. It’s the ultimate sign of God’s love for you. Look on the love of God through Christ Jesus our Lord, and believe that you are God’s beloved.
