John 3:14-21
One summer during my college years I
worked for the Forest Service in Montana. I worked alongside a
couple of other college students, and we were supervised by a retired
marine sargent who had never married; his life had been in the marine
corps. And he spoke a different language – every other word was a
curse word or a blasphemy or described some act which was probably
anatomically impossible. But Sarge knew what he was doing, and we
admired him. He was strong, smart, didn't complain, and knew how to
do things. So naturally, as the summer wore on, we were becoming
clones, as young impressionable people often do when they are around
older people they admire. It got so when we talked to each other the
birds would fall out of the sky.
One day my dad came to visit. My dad
never peppered his speech with colorful words, nor did his father.
So we were sitting there over a cup of coffee talking, and even
though I was on my guard, I let slip a few words that I had learned
from Sarge. My dad didn't say anything, just paused and asked me
another question. I could feel my face getting red and the shame
building. I had just come forward into the light, as the gospel
says, and my wicked deeds were exposed. The experience was so
intense that to this day I am limited to words like “darn it” and
“heck” when I need to express my deepest feelings.
Today's gospel seems harsh on first
reading. If you believe, you will not be condemned, but if you
don't, it's all over. The very fact of not believing condemns you.
And naturally I think of all the good people I know who don't believe
in Jesus – and sometimes I even wonder if I have the right kind of
belief. Is it just a matter of acknowledging who Jesus is – the
Messiah, the Word, the Son of God – as some of our brothers and
sisters believe, or is there more to New Testament belief. Because
if you read all the way from Matthew to Revelation, you would not be
at fault in thinking that belief is key – not behavior. Of course
there is plenty about behavior in the New Testament, but Jesus and
Peter and Paul and John all make belief central to salvation.
I think that's why this passage of
scripture is so important; because it tells us a few things. First,
even though the gospel talks about condemnation, it makes it clear
that God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it but to
save it. And God did this out of love – he loves the world and all
that is in it, especially you and I – so much so that he sent his
only begotten Son.
How does Jesus do this? John compares
Jesus' saving action to light, and then points out that there are
people who do wicked things and as a result, hate the light, fearing
that their deeds will be exposed. But there are others who are not
afraid of the light, knowing that there works will be clearly seen as
done in God.
Salvation could not happen any other
way! When God made us in his image and likeness he made us free to
choose the light or the darkness. If he were to save us by force or
coercion, we would not be human, or at least our humanity would be
bypassed. So God offers salvation while totally respecting our
freedom. So what then is belief in His Son all about?
The first part of belief is to
recognize that God to our great surprise, loves us. All through our
lives we have to work at this – how can he love us when such and
such happens, when bad things happen to good people, when I am
subject to sickness and death a all the other things that can happen.
Sometimes it's hard, but we have to keep working at believing this.
The first part of belief is to know something as fact.
It's possible to say, Jesus is Lord,
or I believe in Jesus and mean it. But maybe it's just like saying
that it takes eight minutes for the light of the sun to hit the
earth, or that there are no two snowflakes alike. The second part of
belief is for the fact in question to affect us. And the last part
is to trust that changing our lives because of the belief is worth
the effort. All of this, of course, is something God is involved in.
Everything that is good comes from God, and belief in Jesus is no
exception.
And finally belief in Jesus should
inform everything in our lives; we should not have anything hidden.
Are there things in my life that aren't consistent with believing in
Jesus? Yes, of course. I've got pockets of selfishness; thoughts
which aren't in keeping with Jesus – there's plenty of dirt that I
would just as soon keep in the dark. But someone who believes in
Jesus is constantly trying to change his life so that it can all be
in the light, because that's the consequence of belief.
So one of the things we should
concentrate on during lent is to hold ourselves up to Jesus, and see
those parts of our lives which hide from the light of Jesus.
That's what being a Christian is all
about. We look at Jesus and then look at ourselves. Jesus shows us
where we are on the mark and where we miss the mark. And the amazing
thing is that if we try to become more like Jesus He will help us.
He invites us to be his brothers and sisters. He shares the Father
with us.
The Holy Spirit lives in us, and helps
us to become more and more like Jesus. The light that Christ brings
into the world is not a very bright light. But it is a light that
draws those who love God and love their neighbor. And when we are
drawn to this light, and we ast off everything that keeps us from
this light, we will have become part of the body of Christ, and we
will participate in his resurrection
During this lent let us live in God's
light and let him show us what we need to correct and what we need to
improve. Because Lent is our annual effort to become more like Jesus
Christ.
