By Bill Cooley, March 25 2006
Lectionary Reading for 26 Mar 2006: Numbers 21:4-9 / John 3:14-21
When Beth asked me to preach this morning, the subject of my sermon was going to be communion. I have prepared a sermon on communion that I hope to share with the congregation at some time, however, when I read the lectionary passages for this Sunday, I knew I simply had to follow the lectionary -- the text is too lucrative to pass up. You might be inclined to think that the reason I decided to use the lectionary passages was that the gospel reading is a favorite of mine. You’d be wrong. In fact, the verse John 3:16 is quite possibly my least favorite passage in the bible, and one I struggle with often.
The reason for this is two fold. First, the passage presents Christ, and more specifically a Christology that I have trouble with. Christology is simply a fancy word that means an understanding of who Christ is or was – you’ll appreciate my struggles as I move forward in this sermon. Second, the secular world’s clearest image of Christian theology is articulated in this one passage in John. Not because scholars concluded it best represent our relationship to God and Jesus, but because a few good intentioned Christians hold up signs at major sporting events that say “John 3:16.”
So when I discovered the lectionary included this passage, I thought I should wrestle with it. The passage also folds in nicely with Beth’s theme of focusing on Christ. So this morning I invite you to explore this well worn verse with me. One of my favorite preachers ever is Fred Craddock, and he and Eugene Boring recently wrote a New Testament commentary that I recommend and am drawing from today.
I was fortunate enough to attend the Air Force school for mid-grade officers. For those not familiar with the military system, the services typically send some percentage of their Majors (or in the case of the Navy, Lieutenant commanders) to a year long “command and staff” school. The principal purpose is to train them to think strategically. If I were to choose the single theme that continuously affected our studies and our thinking, it would be Context. The importance of context was beat into us with drum-like regularity. In the particular case of studying warfare and strategy after all, the context includes: technology of the day, leadership philosophies, doctrine that represented the “normal” prosecution of a war, and strategy, to name a few contextual elements. Even though I would love to talk to you about French Generalship during World War I, I’ll discipline myself and not wander down that rabbit trail. My point in emphasizing context is simply that as we examine the well know and often sighted scripture for this morning, understanding the context is vital. Without understanding the context of a passage or statement, we risk missing the meaning, and maybe more dangerously, interpreting the meaning in a way it was never intended.
What a fascinating set of passages. Starting with v14 in John 3 “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” This introductory passage directly precedes the passage we all know by heart. Why did John use this story to focus the meaning of his now famous passage about God, Jesus, and why things happened the way they did.
The first contextual elements for us to consider are the writer of John, his audience, when he wrote it, and his key theme. As you already know, unlike the synoptic gospels (Matthew Mark and Luke), John goes well beyond the facts… he interprets and explains. As Craddock puts it “while John contains some historical materials, the author has interpreted, modified, and expanded them to interpret the meaning of God’s presence in Jesus for his own time.” As you also know, the Gospel of John was written for the first century Church and was the last Gospel to be written at the very end of the first century, approximately 90 CE. As a result, the Author almost certainly did not know Jesus, but his insight came from the oral tradition as well as the understanding, that had developed in that early Christian community.
I’d like you to consider this morning that a central theme of John, and his understanding of who Jesus is, appears at the very beginning of his book; that is the personification of wisdom. He begins his book with the beautiful passage… “In the beginning was the word, and the word became flesh and dwelled among us.” What is “the word.” Many scholars believe this is another way of saying “wisdom.” Well then you ask, why didn’t he just use the word wisdom? The answer is: wrong gender. In both Hebrew and Greek, the word for wisdom is feminine (Proverbs 8). We are most familiar with the Greek word, “Sophia”. It would not have made sense if John had personified a feminine word in Jesus. And so he used the masculine term in Greek which is “logos” and means “word.”
So what about the context of this particular passage, and why would John use the story of Moses and the serpent on a staff to introduce the “for God so loved the world” passage? I’d like to take a minute and explore that question.
The story we read from Numbers this morning is interesting and perplexing. It troubles some because we have a clear case of the people of Israel being instructed by God to look to an idol for aid and healing. Reconciling this with arguably more dominate instructions to not make or worship images, is a bit of a challenge. Recall Exodus chapter 20 verse 4, also know as the second commandment “you shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath.”
The story of the serpent on a staff is not one of the Exodus stories we hear often. Most scholars believe this story was written about the time of King Hezekiah to explain the existence of an artifact in the temple and justify the Israelites behavior. In 2 Kings 18 it says Hezekiah “did what was right in the sight of the Lord… and he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it; it was called Nehushtan.” Why had this object been worshiped by the people of Israel when in fact a similar serpent magic was practiced in ancient Egypt. Why was it in the temple among other holy artifacts, they asked. Clearly there must be a logical explanation. And so, whether a particular legend regarding the Exodus got new legs, or an imaginative cleric authored a curious image for centuries to come, whatever the case, the passage in numbers not only linked a serpent on a staff to healing powers, reminiscent of the symbol we use today for the medical professions, but also becomes a powerful image that the author of John uses to help us understand Jesus. Yes, the emblematic staff, call the caduceus, with either one or two serpents wrapped around a pole is used as a symbol of the medical profession, although firmly linked to Greek mythology as the staff of Mercury, scholars and laity alike can’t avoid acknowledging the obvious similarity between our story in the Book of Numbers and the healing power the caduceus symbolizes.
As we examine the Numbers passage, it is important that we not scrutinize the story too closely. As Marcus Borg so eloquently puts it, the bible is true, and some of it actually happened. What is important here is the fact that John connects Jesus to this well know Jewish story and specifically links Jesus to the image of the serpent on a brass staff – a staff that the people looked to for help, for life, and for salvation. What is John trying to communicate to us and how can we better understand the verse we learned in Sunday School, or maybe by watching televised sporting events.
Reading from John 3-14, “and just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.” The verb used here “lifted up” is the same verb John uses at the crucifixion and ascension, John foreshadows and explains the crucifixion as a “lifting up“ so that people can look to Jesus, just as the Israelites looked to the serpent staff. This interpretation aids our understanding of the crucifixion… this is about exaltation and providing a beacon of hope for us to turn toward when we are in need. IS that not what the Israelites did when they were bitten by snakes… look to the staff for healing and salvation. In a similar way, John would have us look to Jesus the Christ when we are metaphorically bitten by snakes -- bitten by the hardships in life that pester us and cause us to loose focus, that injure us physically, emotionally, and spiritually – that we look upon the resurrected Jesus for wisdom, for as I have already suggested, John’s understanding of Jesus is wisdom personified -- the word made flesh.
Now let’s look at the text that immediately follows verse 16 to bracket our contextual understanding. As Bob read this morning, from versus 17 to 21: “Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed… For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.”
As a government employee, the first thing that comes to my mind is the fashionable notion of transparency that seems to be in vogue right now. Of course I am not denigrating transparency, in fact I am very much an advocate of transparency, but we have all seen trends come into fashion and then over time migrate to the back burner. Right now it seems transparency in government is in fashion, and here we see John urging us to live our lives in such a way as to be exposed in the light, without fear, open and transparent.
Notice the statement, “those who do not believe are condemned already.” This isn’t about a judgment to come just inside the pearly gates, this is here and now. This is about living in such a way that we are not afraid of light, exposure, transparency. The prescription John gives us and the way to live free from fear of exposure and without guilt is to quote “believe in him.” Clearly we need to understand what is meant by this key phrase – a phrase that also shows up in verse 16 that we will take a close look at now.
We are all familiar with the passage in verse 16: For God loves the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Based on our contextual study this morning, and again using insight from Craddock and Boring, I’d like to propose a variation of John 3:16 for your consideration beginning with the phrase “for God so loved the world”.
The Greek word translated here as “so” appears thirteen times in John’s Gospel with a primary meaning “in this way”, or “in this manner”. The word “world” as it is used here encompasses all of Gods creation, so with your permission, I’d like to make this reasonable substitution.
Now let’s consider the phrase “Gave his only begotten Son.” Again, the Greek translation of the word “only” means “unique”, or “the only one of its kind”. As an interesting aside, the common translation which reads “only begotten” turns out to have been a miss translation and miss understood in the Latin Vulgate. Begotten relates to Jesus’ birth, but as you recall, John’s Gospel doesn’t include a birth narrative in his text – his focus from the beginning is the personification of the word & wisdom. Fortunately most translations today more accurately preserved this understanding and leave out the “begotten” term.
“Whoever believes” clearly refers to our role in the God--Christ--Human relationship and emphasizes the human possibility and responsibility. This is not a top-down decision in John’s theology. This is not God’s choice and initiative – where ideas like predestination creep into theology – this is about our free will, decision making, and an act on our part – we must choose to believe.
The pronoun “him” is ambiguous. “Whoever believes in him.” Does it refer to God or the Christ? May I suggest that substituting one or the other misses the point and narrowly focuses the intentional ambiguity. Consider that this is not about believing in God, or believing in Christ, but believing in the two which are one in John’s gospel. Again returning to the idea of Christ as wisdom personified, a possible substitute for the pronoun “him” might be “God-Wisdom.”
Lastly, the phrase “eternal life” is nearly unique to John. Surprisingly, while other gospel writers sparsely use this term, John uses extensively. So what does John mean when he says “eternal life?” As Craddock and Boring put it: “Eternal life does not mean just an endless extension of this worldly life, but a new order of being, the life of the age to come, in John’s theology already present in the life of Christian Faith.” So this is a new existence and new way of living in Jesus, realized here and now. (Realized eschatology)
Putting it all together now, let’s try and see if our understanding and faith are deepened. Reading John 3:16 with terms based on this contextual study:
God loved all creation in this way--God send down his unique wisdom in human flesh, so that we have the opportunity and responsibility to choose God-Wisdom, and live in truth and light.
OK Bill, that’s very interesting, but what’s your point. Give me the bumper sticker that I’ll remember this afternoon over lunch, or after my Sunday nap.
The point is, this beautiful and well worn passage, which can become so common place that we no longer hear the meaning, communicates to us that Jesus is a wisdom way for us to learn from and follow, and to do this in the here and now. So the next time you come under attack by metaphorical serpents, look to Jesus the Christ– the personification of God-Wisdom –and know that healing and salvation will surely follow.
Pray with me: Creator God, source of Wisdom, we pray that you touch each of us with your healing power, understanding, and wisdom, that we might look to you as a beacon to guide our lives. Amen.