John
3:13-17
“God did not send the Son into the world to
condemn the world.”
What exactly does
that mean? How would anyone find
themselves condemned by God living among us?
Isn’t it a good thing that God lived among us in Jesus? Well, yes, but… It isn’t always such a
comforting thing to be around someone whose life is so pristine, so pure, so
(in Jesus’ case) perfect. A bright light
casts a sharp shadow, after all, and one that is focused will show the flaws in
even the best diamond. Jesus, simply by
being who he is, can make the rest of the human race terribly aware of the
things that are wrong with us.
When I was in college, I took
organic chemistry, which was torture for me.
I’ll spare you the details. No,
honestly – I’m sparing myself details that I don’t want to remember. I will note, though, that I was not the only student
who struggled with the intricacies of synthesizing carbon tetrachloride from a
can of Pepsi and a bottle of White-Out, or whatever we were supposed to
do. I know that because the professor
one day, shortly after we had all gotten the results of our midterm exam,
announced, “I just want to comment that a lot of you have said that you thought
the exam had some unfair questions on it.
There was, however, somebody in this room who had a perfect score. If he or she wouldn’t mind, would they
identify themselves?” And one hand went
up, one hand attached to somebody sitting in the very front row (of
course). All around the room arose a
low, echoing, universal “Boooo!” Here
was the person who had ruined, completely ruined the grading curve for everyone
else. Other people had struggled and
strained and done their best, and for what?
It isn’t the folks who don’t care
who get upset when they are confronted with someone better. It’s the ones who have something riding on
their own efforts. I had to keep my grade
point average up to maintain a scholarship.
A lot of other folks in that room wanted a good grade in organic
chemistry on their transcripts before they applied to medical school. Nobody wanted anyone else to fail, and I
don’t think anyone really wished anything bad for the next person. Having somebody in the class score a 100,
though, was out of the question and there was real resentment in that booing,
along with the laughter. He wasn’t
trying to show us all up, but that was the effect.
You know who got angry with
Jesus? It wasn’t the people who knew
that they weren’t going to make the grade.
It wasn’t the Samaritans and the prostitutes and the tax collectors and
the lepers and the untouchables who generally had a problem with him. They welcomed him. He didn’t threaten them in any way. They already knew where they stood. They were at the bottom, and for Jesus to
enter their lives was an honor. It was
God’s declaration that they were every bit as important as the more respectable
folks. No, the people who got upset with
Jesus were those respectable folks themselves, the scribes and the
Pharisees.
Those were people that Jesus pointed out to his disciples as
being good teachers.
“Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on
Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever
they teach you and follow it;” [Matthew 23:1-3]
He knew that in many
ways, they got it. They knew right from
wrong. They knew the way that things
should be. But he also knew their failings
and said,
“but do not do as they do, for they do not
practice what they teach.” [Matthew 23:3]
He troubled them
because he understood their shortcomings, which were as often as not the unseen
things of the heart. He understood, as
they did, that what was inside did not always match the outside.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you
tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the
law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced
without neglecting the others. You
blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For
you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of
greed and self-indulgence. You
blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may become
clean.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For
you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside
they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So you also on the outside look
righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and
lawlessness.” [Matthew 23:23-28]
That was why they
found Jesus threatening. He hit a
nerve. He messed up the grading curve.
No wonder he had to let people know
that wasn’t what he was there for. He
didn’t come into the world to condemn it.
There’s enough condemnation around already, and much of it comes from
the people who try hard but still miss the mark, and end up judging themselves.
Then along comes Jesus, who gets
everything right, both the letter and the spirit, and they see their failures
and feel them sharply. Jesus came to help them as much as the folks who could
use an obvious dose of forgiveness. It’s
just so very hard for people in that spot to open up enough about the needs of
their souls to leave room for grace and mercy.
It’s hard to be the one who comes in second or third all the time.
| Nicodemus Visiting Jesus by Henry Ossawa Tanner |
He came to help the people who fail
big-time, but also the people whose shortcomings are known to them alone. He came to help, not to embarrass, the person
who tries and tries and tries to be kind, but often does it with resentment
inside or with gritted teeth. He came to
help, not to make things worse for, the person who knows who knows to love God
with heart and soul and mind and strength, but just cannot manage to love that
neighbor God has asked him to love.
Jesus came to help, not to put down, the people who come so very close
to getting things right but mess up at the very last moment every time.
“God did not send the Son into the world to
condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
[John 3:17]
I’ve wondered, from time to time,
why the chemistry professor asked the wunderkind to hold up his hand. Surely he knew, and surely the professor
knew, what kind of response would follow.
Maybe, though, somewhere in the lecture hall that day was someone who
instead of being put off was able to see someone who could help. Maybe there was someone who went up to him
afterward and asked if he could explain benzene rings or left-handed chelation. Maybe there was someone who knew that he was
being put forward, at some risk to himself, because he could raise someone from
a “B” to an “A”, or keep somebody else from failing. Maybe there were a lot of such people.
Maybe it wasn’t actually about explaining why so many grades
were lower than expected, but about who could help us learn the actual
material. Maybe the real lesson had to
do with more than chemistry. Maybe it
has taken me a long, long time to see that.
What do you suppose God was doing when he sent the Son into
the world, knowing how we would respond?
Could it be that he wasn’t condemning the world, but saving it?
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