Scripture: John 3:14-21; John 3:1-13; Numbers 21:4-9 Series: Lent
Preaching John 3:14-21 in Lent, the sermon insists John 3:16 must be read in its context rather than as a stand-alone slogan. Using the Nicodemus dialogue, it distinguishes taking the Bible literally (to the letter, as Nicodemus does) from taking it seriously and transformatively, sketching the medieval fourfold method and Luther to argue we should read Scripture as Jesus reads it. Jesus’ own figurative use of the Numbers 21 bronze serpent becomes the key: humanity is poisoned by sin and healed only by looking up to the Son lifted on the cross. God’s love is shown in sacrificing not the enemy serpent but his only Son, a sacrifice that is cruel only if Jesus is not truly God. The call is to point to the crucified one in humility, not to use Scripture to justify ourselves, and to be amazed by God’s love this Lent.
Illustrations: john-316-football-signs, chapter-verse-origins, niebuhr-god-without-wrath, medieval-fourfold-reading, nicodemus-literalism, moses-bronze-serpent
March 10, 2024
John 3:14-21
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 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. “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. 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. 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. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. 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.” - John 3:14-21
John the Apostle did not write down verse numbers whenever he wrote the gospel According to John. He did not say “verse one. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God. Verse two, verse three, verse four”, et cetera. He also did not write chapters. The chapters in the Bible came later. They resulted from monks trying to split up the Bible into sections that could be read in one sitting. It was a way to organize praying through all the scriptures. Verses came later still. They were put together in ways upon which scripture could be commented and annotated. The verses that we have come from the lines that people would make comments upon. When we come across the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. This sentence was not written to stand alone. It was not written to be put on signs waved in end zones or to be put under eye makeup by football players. It was not written to be a summary of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was written for here, in this moment, and the context matters. Chapter two of the gospel of John covers the wedding at Cana. And then, as I preached on last week, it shows Jesus going to the temple and overturning the tables. That sets something up what happens next. The beginning of the third chapter of the gospel of John tells the story of Nicodemus, and this is important context for what takes place.
Jesus is still in Jerusalem and Nicodemus comes by night to ask him a question; to talk to him. Nicodemus was impressed by Jesus, son of Joseph. He wanted to learn from this wise man.
”Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.“ John 3:1-13 NRSV
I want to take this moment just to differentiate two terms: taking the Bible literally and taking the Bible seriously.
There is a lot of cultural signification in how people talk about the Bible as the word of God. H. Richard Niebhuhr once said that modern Christians are looking for a A God without wrath brought men without sin into a Kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross. For some, any challenge to the word “literal” opens up the floodgates of this mushy and powerless god. History shows us a different option. Taking the Bible literally and taking the Bible seriously both see the Bible as true and Jesus as true.
Taking the Bible literally means taking it to the letter, it’s what Nicodemus is doing here. He is taking the words of Jesus to the letter and to their plain meaning. The language around the literal meaning came from the medieval world. The ancient church would never talk about the literal meaning on its own. In the Middle Ages, there were four ways to read the Bible: literally, allegorically, morally, and eschatologically. They would first ask : what do the letters say? And then : what is the allegory going on? What is the metaphor going on? And then: what is the moral rule being offered? And then: how does it deal with ultimate things, with the end times with anything like that? So this was the main method of reading scripture up until Martin Luther and the reformation. Martin Luther tried to take away these other methods beyond the literal, but he still used them all the time. He used allegorical interpretation all the time. He used moral interpretation all the time. He just didn’t like how rigid some of the medieval commentators were in this capacity. And so that’s the moment when people started talking about taking the Bible literally. Literal again means the letter, so it’s talking about the letters of the Bible. We need to let go of our preconceptions and let Jesus show us how to read the Bible.
In John 3, this is what Nicodemus is doing. Jesus corrects him and says, no, you must be born of fire and the spirit. What Jesus is telling Nicodemus to do is to take the word of God seriously, transformatively, to take it for what it is and what it does, and what it does is bring life. It’s not a tool to win arguments or to control populations. It’s a gift offered and shared. It is after this encounter with Nicodemus that we get our passage for today and an example of the God’s love and scriptural interpretation.
Jesus mentions how Moses lifted up the serpent. This alludes to the book of numbers chapter 21, when there is a plague of serpents going around the Israelite camp and many are getting bitten and die. And God tells Moses to make a serpent out of bronze and to lift it up. And whenever anyone was bit by a serpent and then looked upon the bronze serpent, they were healed again. Jesus is using figurative interpretations of scripture. He isn’t saying that the son of man will be dipped in bronze. The son of man will be lifted up.
If we believe Jesus is the Son of God, we should read the Bible has he reads it. That should be the guiding light. Jesus shows us the way. In John 3:14, Jesus gives us a figurative way of understanding this passage. The serpents represent something and the bronze snake represents something. this is how Jesus connects the words to Nicodemus, “You must be born again” with the famous John 3:16. It’s not out of the blue. You must be born again. As well, there is destruction going on in the world. My people are dying. They’re being poisoned. They’re being poisoned by sin. It is when I am lifted up that they will be saved. One thing about Numbers 21 is unclear. Did Moses make a sculpture of a serpent? Or did Moses take a serpent and dip it and molten bronze killing it? But in so doing, saving the people. Was it a sacrifice offered in this way? Whatever the case, what matters is that we have been poisoned. We have been bitten by the serpent of sin, and we must be healed or else we shall be destroyed, rotted away from the inside. This is where we get the famous line. God looks out on the world in need and wants to do something. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Begotten son, the son that came from him, so that the ones believing in him shall not perish but have everlasting Life. John 3:17 is just as beautiful. I don’t know why they cut it short. 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. We have been bit by snakes and need healing, and all we are asked to do is look up to see the Son of God offered for us. That looking up, that looking to Jesus is not a work of will or strength. It only takes place because God is already with us. The God who created everything saw us in our weakness, saw us in our sickness, and sent out the love between the Father and the Son, which is the Holy Spirit, to be with us, to begin transforming our heart so that we can look and see the son lifted up. so that we can start emptying ourselves of all but love.
John 3:16 is about looking to the cross of Christ as the healing source of the destruction in our hearts; looking up to where Jesus has offered himself for us. You are loved so much that God did not lift up a serpent, but his son. God did not make a sacrifice of Satan, his enemy. God made a sacrifice of his child. The sacrifice is only cruel if he is not God. It is cruel and twisted if Jesus was just a man, just a teacher, just a priest, just a prophet. If Jesus was just a man, that Niebuhrian “Christ without a crown” makes sense. The world of practical atheism seeks that god which makes us feel better but asks nothing of us. That god who leaves us to self-destruction. And it is by faith, by the power of the Holy Spirit, opening our eyes that we see Jesus Christ as the Christ, the anointed son of God, the one who, when he is lifted up, heals our sins, heals our division, brings on a new kingdom.
Let us point to the one lifted up. Let us not use the Bible to point to ourselves or our desires or the way we think the world should be or the way we think others should change their ways. Let us point to the crucified one. Let us share this truth, not with hubris, but with humility and amazement. Let us be amazed at what God has done For God loved the world. How do we know that God loves the world? This is how we know that God loved the world. He sent his son, not just any son, the only son, the single son, the image of the Father. He sent the image of the Father, the logos of God, through whom all of creation came to be. So that all who believe in Him, all who have faith in him, as well, all who have his faith, all who have the faith of him, all who he believes in, shall not perish, shall not be destroyed, shall not continue in the poisonous ways of this world, but have everlasting life. Have life without end. Have life without asterisk. This is offered for you. In the season of lent, Be amazed by this. Take a step of faith by this. Do something radical by this. Let us pray,
Heavenly Father, who through your Son reconcile the world to yourself, help us to see your Son lifted up. Lift us up so that we see as Jesus sees, we read as Jesus reads, and we love as Jesus loves. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.