John 3:16

 

     In Nomine etc..

     Not so long ago, it used to be the case that, during a sports event seen on television, as a camera panned the spectators, it came upon at least one person holding up a sign that read "John 3:16." This refers, as we know, to today's Gospel, chapter 3, verse 16: "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." Perhaps some of us have actually been at events, where we have seen people holding up this sign.
     This behavior, holding up a sign like this, showing only an abbreviated Scripture reference, has always seemed odd to me. The person holding up such a sign apparently assumes that anyone who sees it will understand the reference. After all, the sign displays only a common name and three numbers. What can such a sign possibly mean, to anyone not a Christian? Nothing, perhaps, except possibly the unsurprising thought that the sign holder is just another attention seeker, of which there are many at such events. I was personally reminded, some time ago, that "John 3:16" doesn't communicate much on its own. I was talking with an acquaintance about the reference, and it became clear that my acquaintance did not know what I was talking about. I took it for granted that my meaning was clear, but it was not. And I suspect that stadium sign bearers take its meaning for granted too.
     Another question that comes to mind is, what can such a sign mean to anyone who does understand the reference? Does the sign bearer think that anyone seeing it, definitely needs to be reminded in this way? What is the point of such a reminder? Whom does the sign bearer think he is communicating with, and what is his message?
    By now the drift of my questions is becoming clear. I'm interested in what the reference may mean to the sender, and to the receiver. I'm also concerned, of course, with what the reference means to us.
     The person holding up this sign at the ballpark probably thinks that he is evangelizing, proclaiming the Gospel to all who can see the abbreviated reference. The verse has, indeed, been called the "Gospel in a nutshell." But it is no Gospel at all, to anyone who does not already know what it means, and so it becomes, it seems to me, a kind of passive-aggressive behavior, a kind of bullying, where the recipient of the message is expected to chase down the meaning of the message, and supposedly adopt a new behavior or opinion to conform to it, while the sender of the message does not have to take any responsibility for the consequences. This kind of behavior is not evangelizing; it is not even Christian.
     On the other hand, to the person who does know what the sign means, who sees it, whether on television or in the ballpark or wherever, it may be a useful and necessary reminder of the message of the Gospel. It may be a reminder that we Christians need to proclaim the Gospel, in season and out of season. I've thought for years that the real liturgies of our world are sports events and rock concerts and similar events. The message at these events is not usually Christian, although there is occasionally a religious component to them. So it is not surprising, perhaps, that someone will attempt to insert a Christian reference, to balance or contradict the other messages being sent out.
     "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." The surface meaning of this text is clear: believing in the Son of God is necessary to attain eternal life. For centuries Christians have understood its meaning in exactly this way, as exclusive, and, furthermore, as explicitly condemnatory of any other theological claim. Indeed, the rest of today's Gospel reading rather emphatically reinforces the point. The reading says, "those who do not believe are condemned already." It is clear that we have a very challenging text before us.
     What are we to do with this, in this time of ecumenical and inter-faith endeavors, when many people are working hard to ensure peace between, and within, religions? Our text appears to reject such efforts, and yet we all sense that there is something not right about such an attitude. We are all aware that there is something universal, something non-exclusive, in our religion and in our Scriptures, that contradicts any such exclusiveness. What is it, and how are we to understand it?
     In today's reading itself, there are texts which warn us away from understanding the whole text exclusively. Verse 17 says, "God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world." We must keep this statement in mind as a counterbalance to the texts which appear to state the opposite view. And we remember what it says in the Prologue to John's Gospel, that "the true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world." And of course, our text says "for God so loved the world." That alone undermines the suggestion of judgement and exclusiveness.
     We can also balance our text with the words of the Apostle Paul, who wrote, in his Letter to the Romans, that "God shows no partiality." He goes on to write, "For it is not the hearers of the Law who are righteous in God's sight, but the doers of the Law." I take Law to mean Christ's command to Love. And we have the letter of James, who wrote in plain words that "faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead." Works, of course, are works of Love. These texts and others warn us not to take John 3:16 too literally or too exclusively. The great privilege we have as Christian believers does not exclude others from God's love and from the light and salvation he is bringing into the world.
      So it is not enough simply to flash "John 3:16" at an anonymous crowd, and imagine that the Gospel has been proclaimed. It is not enough to recognize the meaning of John 3:16 when we see it, and to suppose that nothing more is required of us than mere belief. Rather, it is our privilege, and our challenge, to live out the tensions, and, dare I say it, the ambiguities that our text presents, in a time when there are many competing religions, philosophies, and atheist critiques of belief. This is the will of God for us in our time, strengthened by the belief that he has graced us to have, to keep "the true light, which enlightens everyone," shining in our world.

In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.