Lent 4 B: God’s Offensive Love
Dear Partner in Preaching,
John 3:16, everyone’s favorite Bible verse. But I’ve wondered whether, if people thought about what this verse says for just a little longer than it takes to read a bumper sticker, it might just prove to be one of our least favorite verses in the Bible. Let me explain.
Jesus articulates in this statement what Luther called “the Gospel in a nutshell” – that God is fundamentally a God of love, that love is the logic by which the kingdom of God runs, and that God’s love trumps everything else, even justice, in the end.
I realize not everyone reads it this way. After all, Jesus says “everyone who believes…” will eternal life, which perhaps implies a different outcome for those who don’t believe. But read on, for in the next verse Jesus states that, “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Period. Moreover, the “judgment” to come is not punishment but simply the crisis that befalls those who will not come out of the darkness for fear of the light. It is not judgment as punishment, but judgment as crisis, as tragedy, as loss. God comes in love to redeem such loss, turn such tragedy into victory, and demonstrate true power through sheer vulnerability and sacrifice.
Which is the first reason we might not name this as our favorite verse if we gave it any real thought, as our world – and quite often our lives – operate according to the more traditional belief that security comes not through vulnerability and sacrifice but through power and might. Oh, we probably don’t go around wearing t-shirts that say “might makes right,” but we live according to such logic regularly. For we live in a world that seeks security not only through power but also through wealth and consumption, and we are taught from a very early age to avoid true vulnerability – and the truly vulnerable – at all costs. So, sacrifice? Sure, when we can afford to. Love our enemies? Maybe if everything else is taken care of first. Vulnerability? Only if there is no other choice.
The kind of self-sacrificing love Jesus offers is frightening to such a world. No wonder some run and hide, as it requires us to trust nothing other than God. And most of us find it impossible to embrace Jesus’ example…except when we ourselves have been brought low by illness, or loss, or a broken relationship, or disappointed hopes or some other way by which the world taught us that no matter how hard we try, no matter what position we may achieve, no matter how much money we may save, yet we cannot secure our destiny or save our lives. Only God can do that. Only love can do that. And it’s frightening to be so utterly dependent on God.
But there is a second reason this may not be our favorite verse as well, and that’s because of the claim it makes on us. Notice that God doesn’t ask our permission first before sending Jesus to die for us. I know, I know, that may seem like an odd detail to point out. But think of the claim a person – any person – has on us once they’ve saved our life, let alone died doing it. In the face of such love, such sacrifice, we must surrender all of our claims.
Years ago I preached a sermon about the offensive nature of God’s grace, suggesting that we might add four words to the end of our service of baptism, saying, “Child of God, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…like it or not.” A few weeks later, a friend shared a bedtime encounter he’d had with his then six-year-old son. Upset that his father was putting him to bed earlier than he wanted to go, Benjamin said, “Daddy, I hate you.” Benjamin’s father, exercising the kind of parental wisdom I hope for, replied, “Ben, I’m sorry you feel that way, but I love you.” Benjamin’s response to such gracious words surprised his dad: “Don’t say that!” “I’m sorry Benjamin, but it’s true. I love you.” “Don’t,” his son protested, “Don’t say that again!” At which point Ben’s father, remembering the words of the sermon, said, “Benjamin, I love you…like it or not!”
Why was Benjamin protesting his father’s love? Because he realized he could not control his father’s love and twist it to his advantage. Indeed, in the face of such love there is no bargaining and, ultimately, no control whatsoever. If his dad had said that if he ate all his vegetables he could stay up, or agreed that Ben could stay up later this night if he went to bed earlier the next, then Benjamin would have been a player, he would have exercised some measure of control over the situation and, indeed, over his dad. But in the face of unconditional love we are powerless. Yes, perhaps we can choose to accept it or not, perhaps we can run away from it, but we cannot influence it, manipulate it, or control it. In the face of this kind of love, we are powerless. And only when we’ve died to all of our delusions of actually being in control do we realize that such loss of perceived freedom and power is actually life.
God’s love, you see, is tenacious. And so God’s love will continue to chase after us, seeking to hold onto us and redeem us all the days of our lives, whether we like it or not.
So maybe this is a verse, if we took it more seriously, that might terrify us in how it renders us powerless in a world literally hell-bent on accumulating and exercising power. Then again, maybe as we remember God’s tenacious love we might also realize that, precisely because this is the one relationship in our lives over which we have no power, it is also the one relationship we cannot screw up. Because God created it, God maintains it, and God will bring it to a good end, all through the power of God’s vulnerabile, sacrificial, and ever so tenacious love.
Thank you, Dear Partner, for announcing to us this word that cuts through our illusions in order to heal and that brings us to death that we might taste real life. Your words matter more than ever, and I’m grateful for your courage in speaking them.
Yours in Christ,
David
This commentary was a presentation of good news that I needed to hear today. I am preparing to teach a lectionary Bible study and was given God’s Grace through your interpretation. Thank you.
I like this thought very much, “least favorite verse”, and it also works well with the way we are to live as people claimed by God. God’s claim upon us is also relentless and so our lives as God’s agents of grace and love are to be relentless. We are called to live as ferocious agents of grace living for all the “others” in our lives. This is tough and uncompromising, especially when we are the people that usually call out for Jesus Barrabas (savior of the world the way it works now, a call to arms essentially) to be spared and send out precious Jesus to the cross yet again. (I’m thinking, of course, of our gospel from last week, John 2:13-22.)
Truly good news, thanks David. I am currently re-reading NT Wright’s new book Simply Good News…. in it he writes about the 1st Centruy definition of Gospel (the good news) being 1. some significant new event that happens, as part of an ongoing story, affecting a change in the expected outcome of the story in a good way 2. such event also resulting in a time between, of waiting for the expected outcome to happen …… your message to me is truly Good News as it makes the love of God and it’s healing power of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension more acessible and revelant in our lives in the present moment, while also affecting our perspective of what happens as we wait for Christ’s return. Good news worth celebrating, worth sharing with others. Thanks!
Thanks for the reflections on John 3:16– my confirmation verse.
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Sorry, Marie. I took it down because I was having a hard time getting it to work. I’ll try to put it up again, perhaps in a separate post.
Thanks for this marvelously prophetic and intimate reflection, David. It reminds me of that terrible final line of Graham Greene’s novel, “The End of the Affair,” in which a man who has been pursued “with the infinite cunning of God’s love” writes in his diary, “Dear God, please leave me alone forever.”
Dear David,
Your words as always give me hope. Hope of how the Gospel comes alive in this day and age when it can seem we are overrun, and overwhelmed with bad news. I think of my son, Christopher, who is on the Autism Spectrum, who has had some really tough days this week, and how we won’t give up on helping him do as much as he can to be able to live, and succeed in this life. I remember that as much as we love him, God loves him more, and God gave him to us so we might hang in there for as long as we have a breath on this earth. That’s how God loves us and even more then that is the breadth, and depth, and width of God’s love for us, and for the world. God never gives up on us no matter how much we screw up! He is there pushing us on, loving us in the mud and muck of life, telling us we can do it. We can not only feel his love, and know it, but we can share it too. I’m grateful that as busy as your life is these days, you continue to share with those of us who learn, and grow so much from your sharing. Blessings in your work, and in your life, and in your home! Mary Armstrong-Reiner
David,
I love your work and I read your blog, pretty much every week. I have to questions. 1.) How do you find not only the time and discipline to write every day, but where do you find the creative inspiration to say something new each day? 2.) Are you or have you read Dr. Brene Brown’s work. I am seeing her work in your writing (vulnerability, etc) and I was wondering if that was a coincidence or not.
Thanks!
Sara Shisler Goff
*two
Receiving and accepting sometimes is difficult even tho it’s a given. I find solace in that four little words… like it or not. Blessings.
Thank you so much, David, for all your prophetic and challenging words! I have used them several times in preaching as well as in newsletters. Always referencing the source. I can’t say enough how well the ideas, esp with this So many faceted, used, abused passage from John. The challenge is what I usually fell the need to preach on. Keep the good work, brother. God bless you.