It’s All About Love…
Every week or two I get a little ping on my phone - and I am rewarded with pictures of my friend’s grandson. He is adorable - and so are the pictures of him with his mom and dad. I especially loved the pictures of them at the airport. You see, the dad is from Spain - but has a green card to work here. In the years before covid, they were married - with a celebration in both countries, traveling back and forth fairly easily.
But, last fall, when they visited his huge extended family in Spain with their new baby, they discovered that the dad could not return to the US with his family because of Covid restrictions and some confusion about his green card. They were upset, frustrated and anxious but… then they got to work to find a way. It is amazing what people will do because of love. It took three months of working through bureaucratic paperwork, lots of covid testing and five flights but finally he was able to get on a plane to Minneapolis. The pictures at the airport were pictures filled with love — and relief.
John 3:16. It’s about love too. It’s about God’s love. Many of you have probably memorized this verse by “heart” in one translation or another. My Sunday school teacher taught me this version: “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” It’s a great verse to memorize. Martin Luther called it the Gospel in a nutshell. It tells the Good News about Jesus - and when you have it memorized - it sticks with you - in your heart and for your life — especially in those days when you need it most.
But sometimes - after we have repeated a scripture or anything really again and again, it loses its “punch” and we stop listening. When this happens to me, I sometimes try reading the scripture in different translation for a different insight.
I’ve been thinking about translations a lot lately. I’m taking a beginners class in German and am reminded of the importance pf the little words in a sentence. This is also true when translating from Greek to English.
Luther Seminary professor Sarah Henrich points out that the Greek word that is often translated as “so” in John 3:16 -“God So Loved the world” is often understood as God loved the world so much. But, she says it actually means “just so” or “in this way”. She argues that the verse isn’t about how much God loved but rather the way that God loves the world. The way God loves the world was by sending his Son Jesus to take on flesh and blood, to become like us, to save the world.
God loves the world. When I think of the “world” I often think of the created earth and sea and all of God’s creatures. But theologian and pastor David Lose says that throughout the Gospel of John, including John 3:16, the Greek word “kosmos,” which we translate as “world,” is not referring to the created world. Instead, it refers to a hostile world, a God-hating rather than a God-loving world. It refers to a world like the one that crucified Christ; a world very much like ours.
So, using both these insights, our translation of John 3:16 becomes: This is the way God loved the GOD-HATING WORLD … God gave God’s only Son, in order that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
In other words, out of love, God sent God’s beloved son into a harsh, hostile world in order to save you and me and everyone else too. As we read in the next verse, John 3:17, “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the God-hating world, but in order that the God-hating world might be saved through him.” It is the people - not the plants and animals - that need God’s transformational saving.
But, when Jesus proclaimed the Good News of God’s love for all to a broken God-hating world, not everyone wanted to or was able to hear these words as Good News for them. Eugene Peterson Message Bible translation describes it as a “crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness… Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure.”
This image of hating exposure reminded me of the time I visited a friend in Chicago. She lived in an apartment over a bakery. When we got to the door, she looked at me, grinned and said, “Watch out!” She flicked on the lights and suddenly a host of cockroaches went scurrying into the cracks of the floor and under the radiator. I was speechless for a second and then asked, “How can you live here?” She just laughed… and then said, “Shake the toaster before you use it in the morning.”
I just about got sick. I couldn’t imagine living with these creepy creatures that scattered when you turned on the light. And yet… isn’t that what John is describing as the way of the world? The world who hates God and God’s way and so runs off to hide, so that their lies cannot be exposed. The world – our world - is still full of injustice, suffering and pain.
This past week, jury selection began for the trial of former officer Derek Chauvin who is charged with the murder of George Floyd. Many of us were shocked and appalled when we first saw the video that went viral of Chauvin kneeling on the neck of George Floyd. We saw, with our own eyes, the way that George was treated by officers of the Minneapolis Police Department, officers who were sworn to protect and serve. This sparked outrage at the racism in our country that many of our black and brown brothers and sisters deal with every day.
Under the cover of darkness, after peaceful protestors went home, violence erupted in the streets and bad actors - the God-hating world - broke windows, looted and set fire to businesses. Pastor Gholston told me that he gathered a crew in his neighborhood to stand guard in front of their local grocery store in North Minneapolis. Three times a suburban van drove through the parking lot… but saw them and drove away.
We have a problem. We need and want a police force that protects and serves - as I have experienced in my work as a police chaplain with the Robbinsdale, Crystal and New Hope Police. But we - as a country - still have a problem with the way that people treat one another based on the color of their skin. After the protests of last summer, Pastor Gholston said to me, “Everyone is ‘woke’ now, but…will it last?” We live in challenging times…and yet… God still loves this God-hating world. God does not love acts of injustice or racism or oppression. But God still loves this God-hating world.
Love. I think love is only one thing that can make a difference. It was love that made my Spanish friend keep trying to unite his family — despite all of the challenges with his green card and covid restrictions. It was out of love of neighbor that Pastor Gholston protected the only grocery store left in his neighborhood. And it is out of love that Jesus calls us to speak the truth and expose injustice, pray for justice and peace; and care for our neighbor.
The world is still a sorry mess, full of injustice and hardship. But God still wants a relationship with us and with the God-hating world around us. And God keeps loving us, and extending to each one of us God’s compassion and grace.
This is why we can sing. Despite the challenges of this world and all the worries and concerns that come our way. We can sing because we know God’s love and we know the end of the story. This is the story of God’s love for us all – and - as we read in the message translation of Ephesians, God has “all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus.” So, in the meantime, let our words and actions be full of love and compassion for all our neighbors and let us give thanks to God whose love, grace and compassion is boundless. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church March 14, 2021 Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane