“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.” John 3:16-17
In John 3, Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, a pharisee. Nicodemus us one who had spent his life deciding who was ‘in’ and who was ‘out’ based on how a person responded to the law. Nicodemus comes to Jesus under the cover of darkness out of fear of being excluded from his exclusive group. Nicodemus knows there is something special about Jesus, so he comes in private to discover what that specialness is.
Jesus talks to Nicodemus about how we are born again in the Spirit. Out of this conversation comes one of the best-known verses of the bible, John 3:16. “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.” I have found it troubling that a verse that Jesus used to help someone understand the inclusive nature of God’s grace and love, has often been used by the church to exclude the other.
This is the reason why the second verse from our reading today is one of my favorites: “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.” The Son didn’t come to condemn or to set up a boundary between the ‘in’ and the ‘out’. Instead, the Son came to save the world. To show that God loves all. On top of that, we are born of the Spirit so that we are empowered to do the same.
I pray that by the power of the Spirit, we can be inclusive and loving to all. For in this, God is changing the world.
Pastor Tim
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