March 12- Gen. 12 Ps121 John 3 Rom. 4 In some ways we are at square one this morning, the very core of christian belief. We just started a confirmation class, where young people are taking their first adult look at the basics of the faith. In a way John 3 is confirmation class for the student Nicodemus.We are too content to stop there, and we move a bit deeper this morning.Let’s be clear. John’s gospel is a b about jesus speaking about a whole new level of spiritual existence but his hearers keep taking him at the physical level alone.
Jesus recalls the story of the plague of venomous serpents that were threatening the Israelites (Numbers 21:6-9). The anti venom to the bites of the "fiery" poisonous serpents was to look at the "fiery" bronze serpent that Moses lifted up on a "pole" (Numbers 21:9). We should imagine a vertical pole and a bronze serpent entwined around it, like a caduceus, still the symbol of a pharmacy. In Greek, the word for the "pole" is sēmeion, which can also mean "signpost."
In this Gospel the identity of Jesus as the Son of Man, the end time figure, is determined by his heavenly origin and destination.. But just as the bronze serpent lifted up on the sēmeion/pole brought life in place of death in the story in Numbers, so also when the Son of Man (Jesus) has been "lifted up" on another kind of pole--the cross--he will bring, not judgment, not condemnation, but eternal life to all who believe or trust in him (John 3:14-15). If you will Jesus makes use of the instrument of death to bring life to us.It is a wooden beam, not a shining form. Jesus is the anti-venom for sin, for the death-dealing wreckage we produce.
The word s̄emeion is a play on words. Nicodemus whose name means victory of the people, opened the conversational inquiry by praising the "signs" Jesus had been doing. This Gospel identifies many of Jesus' deeds that demonstrated his power as "signs" (see for example, 2:11, 23; 3:2; 4:54; 6:14; 12:18). They are "signs," of the identity of Jesus; they led the story forward to its inevitable conclusion on the cross.The signs themselves point to power of God, but they fade in the light of the turning of divine power on the cross. Nicodemus meets the light of the world at night.Just as the people are saved by looking above, now Nicodemus learns that a new birth will come from above, itself a play on the word again.
In this Gospel, it is Jesus' being "lifted up" on the cross that is the moment of triumph for the one who is God's own presence among us. The word translated lifted up, hypsoō, can also mean "exalt" or "glorify." In the paradoxical logic--the mystery--of God, it is the moment of a cruel and shameful death that is the triumph of eternal life (3:16). The "one sent from God" (as Jesus is known in this Gospel) and God the Sender set a new pattern of divine work. (Ringe)
God is identified as the one who justifies the ungodly, the one who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. God brought us into being, into relationship, gave us the gift of the Spirit, showed mercy, and in all that acted faithfully to the promises long made and never forgotten.The promise to Abraham to be a blessing for all people comes to fruition in and through Jesus, for his people and for all people.Ps. 121 is lived out every day, especially its conclusion, in this world and the world to come.
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