John 3: 14-21

Sisters & brothers, grace to you and peace from the God of all love, from the Christ of all compassion, and from the Spirit of all grace. Amen.

For those of you who might have come to church this morning looking for a sign, I didn’t want to disappoint you. (hold up “3:16″ sign) Except that usually you don’t see this sign displayed in church as much as at the end zone of a football field, or in the stands at the basketball game, or some other athletic contest where a TV camera might zoom in for a close-up of the sign or, more often, a close-up of the dingbat who’s holding it up. (present company excluded, of course!)

It’s sort of an insider message actually — because what the bearers of these signs are intending to do is deliver a rather cryptic message. “3:16″ refers to chapter and verse from the Gospel of St. John, our Gospel text this morning. But I’m never quite sure what they expect people to do with those numbers.  Will people think it’s someone’s score prediction?  Will anyone cross the court or playing field to inquire?  Will someone think it’s a secret ratio with a hidden meaning?

If you “Google” it on the internet — just the numbers, mind you! — what you get at the very top of the list is (what else but ?!) the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia’s definition: (quote) “John 3:16 (chapter 3, verse 16 of the Gospel of John) is one of the most widely-quoted verses from the Christian Bible and has been called the most famous Bible verse.” Wikipedia goes on to say, loosely quoting Martin Luther, “[John 3:16] has also been called ‘the gospel in a nutshell’ because it is considered a summary of some of the most central doctrines of traditional Christianity.” (endquote)

Something I did not know about John 3:16 — that is, until I “Googled” it — is that the In-N-Out Burger chain prints it on the bottom rim of their paper cups, the clothing chain Forever 21 prints it on the bottom of their shopping bags, and an aftermarket fuel economy product called Tornado Fuel Saver prints it on their box.  And, as recently as the 2009 college football Bowl Championship Series, Florida Gators’ 2007 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Tim Tebow had “3:16″ printed on his eye black on the night he cemented his collegiate legacy.

Yes, what Martin Luther referred to as “the gospel in miniature” appears in the strangest and least-expected places, and may indeed be the most oft-quoted and beloved of scriptures, but somehow despite its frequent appearances and its precious status among those who memorize and quote scripture, it seems to still be one of the most disbelieved and “un-lived” verses in the entire Bible as well.

For instance, when it is displayed by rabid fundamentalist Christians who gather in protest at Planned Parenthood clinics, gay pride parades, or the funerals of those who have died from AIDS, one must pause and marvel at the profound incongruity.  Such displays of this scriptural citation along with zealous acts of so-called Christian witness are antithetical not only to John 3:16 (& 17!) but to all our scriptures today which point to a God of forgiveness, healing, and life in the first reading; a God of steadfast love whose wonderful works, the psalmist declares, are “for all people”; a God who is rich in mercy, as the letter to the Ephesians reads, and who, “out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. And if that weren’t enough, the writer of Ephesians goes on to describe God as showing the “immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

For just a moment, let’s try an experiment. No, I’m not going to ask you to get up and move to the other side of the sanctuary — that’s SO two weeks ago. If you ever committed John 3:16 to memory — perhaps as a child in Sunday School or Vacation Church/Bible School, let’s try saying it together the way you remember learning it. And for those of you who never did, you have the “cheat sheet” in the bulletin scripture insert. This will be sort of like praying the Lord’s Prayer in whatever version you prefer or in whatever language you learned it; we’ll all end up at at the end together and “have eternal life.” Ready? Set? Here we go!

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

[New Revised Standard Version (NRSV): 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.]

An astute observer and commentator of the text has said that that little word “so” is actually the biggest word in John 3:16.  That “so” magnifies the intensity of the love with which the whole cosmos — the entire world is beloved of God.

And the following verse, verse 17, needs to be proclaimed and heard as well. Since you probably didn’t memorize that one in Sunday School, let’s take out our cheat sheets and say it together:

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.

Sisters and brothers, love dominates the discourse in all our texts today because the purest and most perfect distillation of God in Christ crucified and risen is that very thing: in the words of the hymnwriter: “love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven to earth come down.”

The thing is: it’s our love which so often grows cold; it’s our love which so often wearies from loving; it’s our feeble and conditional love which we so often project on God, thinking that if this is the way we love this must be the way God loves.

But this morning we are reminded again that it’s not about us or our love but about God in Christ and his love for us. As we heard in the second reading: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God — not the result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Just when we thought that maybe our being loving might have something to do with earning some extra credit or special favors with God, this Lenten Sunday comes along to remind us that God SO loved the world, that God SO saves us in love and by grace, and that God SO rescues us from the power of sin and evil that there is nothing left for us to do but to look up to the cross of Jesus and to receive the love of God with joy and gratitude.

And then perhaps, in Christ’s holy spirit of love, and by God’s saving and amazing grace, our lives themselves will be the signs of 3:16 in the world, with the world, and for the world.

A world so saved and so loved.

Amen.