Like a snake on a pole? Sermon - John 3.14-21

John 3.14-21

The Juggler

·         You are sitting in your car at the traffic lights, perhaps you are a bit late for an appointment. A young man in fancy dress steps out in front of you and starts juggling. He’s pretty good – and you can’t go anywhere until the light changes. How do you respond? On a good day your mood lightens, you relax, smile and when he walks towards you holding out his hat, you roll down the window and give him a coin or two. On a bad day…

·         Other things people do (or suffer) have a deeper, longer lasting effect on our emotions and behaviour. Examples – your neighbour suffers a racist attack; you visit a holocaust memorial; you witness a surprising act of forgiveness.

·         When we see things like this, we may be healed of a prejudice; snapped out of complacency; led to consider a change in the direction of our life.

Jesus and Nicodemus

·         Towards the end of his famous conversation with Nicodemus (born again, born from above), Jesus reminds his confused Pharisee friend of that strange story we heard about the time Moses put a bronze snake on a pole:

·         The Israelites were in a mess, grumbling and turning away from the God who had brought them out of slavery.

·         Moses didn’t juggle, but he did something very unusual to grab their attention, confront their wrong attitude and give them a sign of God’s powerful, healing presence with them.

·         When the people saw this they were healed and changed (notice it was the people who needed to change; not God).

·         Nicodemus knew that story but he didn’t see what was coming next. Jesus predicted that the same thing that happened to the bronze snake was going to happen to Jesus.

·         And for essentially the same reason. Religious people like Nicodemus had lost their way and had become disconnected from God.

·         Jesus being “lifted up” in front of them would be both a visual aid to startle the people into deep, long lasting change AND would be the means of healing of all that was wrong with the human race (Isaiah 53.5).

Was the crucifixion extraordinary?

·         I said earlier that it is usually the really extraordinary things we see which have the power to change our lives in a deep and lasting way.

·         But the crucifixion of a convicted criminal – even an innocent man – was nothing unusual in the Roman empire; it was an everyday event.

·         What made it unique in the case of Jesus was who he was – in John’s terms he was the Word made flesh, the Light of the World, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

·         These things were evident in the extraordinary life of healing, teaching and confronting hypocrisy and injustice, which Jesus had lived.

·         Then there was the extraordinary way he behaved during his trials and execution; saying nothing to defend himself, forgiving his persecutors, fixing up his mother with a new son (John the gospel writer).

·         Then after his death came another “lifting up” of Jesus on the third day – a unique event which would change the world – more of that at Easter.

What effect does the lifting up of Jesus have?

·         Next week’s reading will take us deeper into the meaning of the cross for us, as we look at John 12. In the meantime I suggest we need to think about what we are reading and be careful not to jump to conclusions.

·         It is tempting to just link 3.16 (the most famous verse in the Bible?) with 3.18 and assume it is all about God’s desire to divide humanity into 2 groups; “good” believers and “bad” non believers, so he knows whether to send them to heaven or hell after they die.

·         BUT that wouldn’t do justice to 3.17 which tells us Jesus did not come to judge but to save the world (the kosmos), or to verses like 1.7 and 1.9 which indicate that Jesus came to save everyone.

·         It is also tempting to see these verses as confirming the mediaeval theory that God had to punish his innocent son in our place, so that he could have a change of heart and not punish us (at least some of us).

·         BUT that wouldn’t do justice to the clear teaching in Numbers and in John that it is US who need a change of heart, NOT God.

Keep looking, keep thinking…

·         The lifting up of Jesus in crucifixion and resurrection is a mystery which defies simplistic explanations, so we need to keep looking and keep thinking, to stay in its light instead of turning away.

·         Maybe as we do so we will experience a change of mood, like when we are confronted by a juggler at the traffic lighhts.

·         Maybe on a good day we will feel more grateful and generous and put a few coins in the bag.

·         But perhaps as we see the face of God on the cross, not raging in his agony, but forgiving the world that put him there … we will receive healing and be challenged to make some deeper and more lasting changes. I want to end by singing a great hymn by Isaac Watts, who had a great understanding of thes things (“When I Survey”)