Fourth Sunday in Lent John 3:14-21 Year B St. Stephen’s, Lubbock

What happens when our gaze is on Jesus? The Gospel lection begins with Jesus making reference to the Old Testament story of Moses lifting up a serpent in the wilderness. The full story is recounted in the Book of Numbers where we see that this is a story of paradox. The serpent an agent of death, yet becomes the way to life. The Hebrews had become quarrelsome and complained about the lack of water and quality of the food that is being showered upon them. They want something better than the wilderness camping experience. When God hears the complaining, he sends serpents into the camp. The serpents bite and kill some of the Israelites. When they realize that this is God’s response to their sinfulness, they ask Moses to intercede for them. God instructs Moses to make a serpent, mount it on a pole, and raise it up where it can be seen. Moses tells the people that if they are bitten by a serpent, they are to look at the serpent on the pole, and they will live. The agent of death which is raised up becomes the agent of life. Jesus speaks of his own lifting up which will come at the end of his ministry. What happens when our gaze is on Jesus? We see the one who keeps promises. God promises Moses and all the Israelites that there will be healing when they gaze at the bronze serpent – the serpent reminds them first of their sins and secondly of God’s promise to heal. We too have a route to repentance and healing. Jesus reveals a promise in these familiar words: …so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3: 14-15) Jesus, in referring to himself, tells us that the Son of Man must be lifted up. The word for “lifted up” hypsoo – also means “exalted” - we have two paradoxical images of lifted up -physically lifted up on a cross in suffering and 2 humiliation and the image of divine exaltation (Pape, 2015). The promise of life for us is realized through crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Lifted up and exalted. What happens when our gaze is on Jesus? We believe. However, the word “believe” has a premodern meaning. To believe is more accurately interpreted to “belove.” Belief by itself does not ask much of us. To belove Jesus is to give our hearts to Jesus. We do this by entering into the life of God. It is a transformative experience. God’s grace brings transformation. Paul tells the Ephesians, “For by grace you have been saved …and this is not your own doing… it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2: 8). Believing/beloving Jesus, giving our hearts, is not easy. Jesus’ words today from John’s gospel, are the concluding discourse from the encounter with Nicodemus. Nicodemus, a Pharisee, is considered a learned man, yet he seeks Jesus out under cover of darkness because he is confused about what it means to be born again. He asks Jesus, “Can a person enter the womb a second time? How can these things be?” Obviously, Jesus is not using these words literally. Jesus speaks of being reborn as an act of baptism; re-creation, God’s kingdom breaking into the now; for beloving Jesus is to be a new creation. What happens when our gaze is on Jesus? We see love. We see love in its fullness. “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.” (John 3: 16) The Good News this morning is that Jesus invites us into the life of God, to be reborn, transformed. During Lent we journey to the cross. We acknowledge our mistakes and ask for forgiveness. And we contemplate the actions of a loving God on our behalf. 3

A fairy tale, entitled “Beauty and the Beast,” tells of a poor man who out of desperation climbed over a wall of a castle to gather fruit from a tree to feed his family (Claypool, 1994). He is caught in the act of stealing by the owner of the castle – a grotesque looking Beast with a torso of a man and a head of an animal. The Beast gives the man two choices, he can either be imprisoned in the castle dungeon or he can go home and ask is youngest daughter, named Beauty, to come and live in the castle. The old man returns to his house and tells his daughter what has happened. In order to save her father from imprisonment, Beauty agrees to go and live in the castle. The Beast confides to Beauty that he has loved her for a long time and wants to marry her. Beast is so ugly that Beauty cannot bring herself to agree to marry him. Beast continues to make his request and each time she declines. Eventually Beauty begins to find Beast appealing in some way and one day she agrees to marry him. When she kisses him, he turns into a handsome prince. He explains that a witch had put him under a spell that could only be broken by being loved. When our hearts are opened we are gifted with the capacity to offer love where none was present before. This is what John Claypool calls the creative power of love (p. 22). When our hearts are opened, God graces us with the ability to love the unlovable just as Jesus does (Claypool, 1994). Jesus reaches out to love all persons – sinners like you and me; those who are prisoners, those despised, sick, and ethnic and religious outcasts.

I thought of the wide embrace of love last week when I received a phone call from a friend that I had not seen or corresponded with in nearly 20 years. I had not seen Bruce since we were enrolled in the chaplaincy program at a large hospital. We had a good conversation about our two year stint in the clinical pastoral education program. That conversation brought back memories of our sessions 4 together and of the other chaplains – we were a very diverse group – Pentecostal, Baptist, Methodist, full gospel, and one Episcopalian. What stands out about my chaplaincy experience was that the love of Jesus is bigger and more powerful than our denominational doctrines and traditions. As an Episcopalian, that is difficult to swallow because we are endeared to the traditions, creeds, and liturgy. Yet, with diverse people we learn that we don’t have to think alike to be brothers and sisters to one another; to share the love of Jesus. We learn to humble ourselves too; to put aside our presumptions and distain for petty differences in how others express God’s love. I learned a broader love from my chaplaincy experience and I hope I continue to have experiences that help me see beyond my narrow gaze. What happens when our gaze is on Jesus? We see the one who fulfills promises; the one we give our hearts to; and the one who gifts us with the fullness of love. References Borg, Marcus (1989). Speaking Christian. HarperOne. (p.119) Claypool, John R. (1994). God is an amateur. Forward Movement Publications. (adapted story of Beauty and the Beast) Pape, Lance. (2015, March 15). Commentary on John 3: 14-21. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common- lectionary/fourth-sunday-in-lent-2/commentary-on-john-314-21-3