In Jesus’ late-night conversation with Nicodemus we receive John’s famous (and much-romanticized (1) ) remembrance of Jesus’ words: “For God so loved the world that God gave God’s only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” They beg the question: what does it mean to “believe in him”?

Professor Samuel Cruz of UTS says this:

“ It is therefore necessary to ask some pertinent questions of him and/or this gospel lesson: What does believing in him (Jesus) mean? Why did Jesus need to come into the world? Was it because of sin? If indeed Jesus came to the world to save it from sin, what kind of sin? For John, sin seems to be concrete and structural (that is injustice, hate, lack of mercy, etc.) rather than individualistic….Therefore, for John, believing in Jesus has more to do with what people believe regarding evil, hate, exploitation, and injustice rather an esoteric “religious” conversion.”

I have left writing this installment of this year’s lent series until last, precisely because this verse, over-simplified and over-romanticized, gives such trouble to the modern reader, especially one who has begun any sort of deconstruction from dogmatic or superficial theological interpretation. But Professor Cruz’s words give me hope that we might be able to figure out what it means to truly believe in Christ, to align ourselves with his values, to take up his mission and purpose, to accept his invitation into a new way of being in the world that then becomes ours too. Hope that we might be able, in Western Christianity, to go beyond a flippant or surface-level reading of this passage and allow it to lead us to our true selves, re-creating the world as we go.

God, here in this Lenten season, we slough off all that distracts us,
All that doesn’t serve heaven’s cause,
All that is not aligned with the highest good,
All that keeps us from becoming our truest selves:
Inheritors of the riches of God’s grace,
Adopted and beloved siblings with Christ…

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This week the Feast of Cross is celebrated in the liturgical calendar. The feast days commemorate the discovery by Saint Helena the mother of Constantine, of the cross on which Jesus was crucified; as well as the subsequent dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Most Protestant folk don't generally know about these feasts, and I only started learning about them when I began following along with the liturgical calendar and lectionary. The Lectionary text from the Gospels for Holy Cross Day, which is in most traditions celebrated on September 14 (in others on September 16), for the year 2016, is John 3:13-17.

I am including this text in my Lectionary litanies even though it is not a regular Sunday text, because it contains probably the most well-known verse in Scripture: John 3:16. If ever there were a text that should inspire and has inspired followers of Jesus to pray, it's this one. I find Eugene Peterson’s translation of it particularly compelling.

God, Creator and Lover of Humankind:
You’ve been reaching out to us since the dawn of our consciousness;
Extending connection and love,
Explaining yourself in ways each iteration of humanity could understand.

You are always convincing us of your love,
Mercifully covering our shame,
Making sacrifices to clothe our nakedness, (1)
Walking with us in the midst of our propensity for evil.

On our own we tend to choose death for ourselves
Even though you have been offering us whole and lasting life from the beginning. (2)

We still need to be convinced of your love
And of your loving nature.
We still need to look upon the person of Christ
And be reminded of what God is.

Your love reaches to the heavens.
Your faithfulness stretches to the skies. (3)

(1) Genesis 3:21
(2) “Whole and lasting life” is part of Eugene Peterson’s compelling translation of John 3:17
(3) Psalm 36:5