Text: John 3:14-21

¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Human One ⁱ be lifted up ¹⁵ so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. ¹⁶ God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. ¹⁷ God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him isn’t judged; whoever doesn’t believe in him is already judged, because they don’t believe in the name of God’s only Son.

-Common English Bible

• The gospel for this Sunday contains one of the most well known passages in the Bible, John 3:16.  But that passage is part of a larger passage that recounts an earlier experience in the life of the people of Israel.  Numbers 21:4-9 talks about the time the Israelites were afflicted with snakes.  Moses sets up a bronze snake that could save people from the poinsonous venom if they looked at the bronzed creature.    The following is from Lutheran theologian Sarah Henrich:

The purpose of God’s having sent the Son was to save the world, just as the purpose of commanding Moses to erect a serpent on a pole was to save the people from death. The son came to save, to grant eternal life because God loved the world. That was Jesus’ announcement. I’m here because the God who loved you of old, still does. He sent me to tell you, to show you, to gather you up into life with him forever.

Why do you think God sent Jesus into the world?  What does eternal life mean?

• The cross is the symbol of Christianity.  It was method of execution used by the Romans.  What does it mean that the cross is used as symbol of Christian faith?  Is this a good thing?  In a sermon I preached in 2009, is the following passage:

God has healed us, all of us. The cross remind us that not only that something is not right in the world, but that God is doing something about this. As a community of faith, we are called to go and tell people that they are loved by God. There is nothing that they have to do to earn God’s love, because it is by God’s grace that they are loved. We have a story to tell.

What do you think the cross means?  What does it say about God?  What does it say about you?

We want to ask, “What was Jesus’ intent here?” But maybe that’s the wrong question. Maybe this enigmatic passage acts as a mirror to show us our own faults, biases, and prejudices.

Text: John 2:13-25

¹³ It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ He found in the temple those who were selling cattle, sheep, and doves, as well as those involved in exchanging currency sitting there. ¹⁵ He made a whip from ropes and chased them all out of the temple, including the cattle and the sheep. He scattered the coins and overturned the tables of those who exchanged currency. ¹⁶ He said to the dove sellers, “ Get these things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a place of business. ”

-Common English Bible

• Where is God?  Where do you expect to see God at work?  The following is from Lutheran theologian David Lose:

…But I think the unintended consequence of this salutary emphasis on Sunday worship and church in general is that we’ve unintentionally given the impression that church is this great big God-box where people should come to experience God. I mean, think about: almost all of our evangelism efforts in recent memory have been geared toward getting people to come to church. (And the gauge of just how strong the impulse has been is your immediate and unconscious reaction — come on, be honest 🙂 — of initially wondering what else evangelism efforts could possibly be about.)

Is he right?  How does this relate to the the Gospel text?

• Why is Jesus angry?  Before you answer, consider this quote from Anne LaMont:

“You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”

Now that you’ve taken that in, why is Jesus angry?  Does it matter? Consider this quote:

We want to ask, “What was Jesus’ intent here?” But maybe that’s the wrong question. Maybe this enigmatic passage acts as a mirror to show us our own faults, biases, and prejudices.