John 3:17

I've noted elsewhere that John 3:17 receives nothing like its due, especially when compared with John 3:16, the verse so familiar to sports fans. While the latter's message that God gave his only son is a powerful assertion about the depths of God's love, the former tells us something equally powerful, and even more surprising given the way our world works: Jesus sent Jesus to save, not condemn, the world.

Think about that. God, the omnipotent, omniscient creator of the universe, knowing full well what the people he has fashioned are going to do to his son, nonetheless sends him anyway and with the mission of saving those very same people. Amazing. Just think about it. Simply amazing. No wonder we need Lent! We need this extended period of time to repent, to reflect if we're going to have any chance of even beginning to grasp what Easter is all about.

One can critical about signs like the John 3:16 that appears in the stands of football and other games for being simplistic, for trying to summarize Scripture into a slogan. But they're onto something. The Gospel, after all, boils down to this: God loves us. That's what John 3:17 tells us; that's what Jesus' life, passion, and resurrection tell us. That, I hope, is what our experience of the risen Christ tells us. That, I pray, is what each of us will experience during these forty days and forty nights.

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