John 3:16-21, CEB
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. God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. 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.
“This is the basis for judgment: The light came into the world, and people loved darkness more than the light, for their actions are evil. All who do wicked things hate the light and don’t come to the light for fear that their actions will be exposed to the light. Whoever does the truth comes to the light so that it can be seen that their actions were done in God.”
Perhaps it is not obvious to the casual already-Christian reader of John that the passage above represents a huge shift in the way we talk about humans’ relationship to God. It’s not that apparent because the shift has already taken place and a new normal is in effect for most Christians. For us, we often need a reminder of how things were before the shift.
In first-century Judaism, the system of laws from what we now know as the Old Testament formed the primary way humans related to God. They followed the laws and when they did, the expectation was that God was smiling on them and they would be blessed. The religious leaders were the primary interpreters of how people should follow the laws in the practical details of everyday life. Because everyday Jews relied on leaders and teachers to interpret the laws, the leaders and teachers were effectively the law. The people were to do what they were instructed to do and when they did, God was pleased and extended blessings.
What we read above throws all that out and creates a new basis for our relationship with God. Embracing the truth of what God has done for us through Jesus (this is what is meant by “believe in”) has become the new basis for a relationship with God. We don’t actually do anything, but we embrace what has been done for us. When we do that, we find that God has come as close to us as our breath. No mediation is necessary. Our relationship to God is direct and we’ve done nothing to merit it.
The problem is, humans generally like the idea that we somehow earned, or at least deserve, the blessings we have. Those who have a lot of blessings (wealth, power, position) tend to like this idea the most. When you have more than others, it’s more than bit threatening to admit that you have no more right to the blessings than others who have less. This is not only true of material blessings, but spiritual blessings as well. As Jesus wraps up his speech to one of Israel’s most spiritually blessed, the teacher Nicodemus, that teacher and all who now read the gospel are told that the spiritual blessings of God/salvation is given only on the basis of embracing the light sent by God (Jesus).
Actions are no longer the basis of judgment, but simply a natural response of one who has embraced the light. To use one of the terms used often in this gospel, our actions are only a “sign” that we have embraced the light. Our actions can also be a sign that we have not embraced the light – that we are more drawn to darkness than we are to the light. The darkness that they “love more than the light” (v19) creates its own judgement. Light is its own reward and darkness becomes its own judgement. Further, all light has its source in God and that is revealed most brilliantly in Jesus.
Question: What are “signs” being displayed by your actions these days. In others, what or who do your actions point to?
Prayer: God, thank you for the light we have access to in Jesus the Christ. Show us the ways that we can embrace that light even more fully than we have before this moment. Drive all the darkness from our souls. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Spend some time thanking God today for the people that have made the Light of Christ visible for you throughout your life.
Song: Signs of Life – Steven Curtis Chapman
Weekday Word w/ Eric 
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