John 3: 1-17  

A Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader among Jews, came to Jesus under the cover of darkness and said to him, "Learned one, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for nobody can do these signs you do apart from the presence of God [in him]. Jesus answered him thus: "In truth I tell you that no one can see the rule of God except he is born from above." Nicodemus, [puzzled] said to him, "How can a person be born after he has grown old? Can one go back into his mother's womb and be born again?" Jesus answered, "In truth, I tell you that no one can abide under the rule of God except he is born of water and the unseen force. What is born of flesh is flesh, and what is born of the unseen force is animated by that force. So do not be amazed that I am telling you that one must be born from above. The wind blows where it chooses to blow, and you hear its sound, but you do not see it, do not know whence it comes, neither where it goes. That's the way it is with those who are born of the unseen force." Nicodemus said, "Wh-a-a-t?" Jesus was right back at him saying: "You yourself are a teacher of Israel, and do you mean to tell me that you do not understand these things? In truth, I tell you that we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen. But you do not credit our testimony. If I have told you about common things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you things you can scarcely imagine? No one has ascended into such places except the one who came down from them, that is the One Like Us. And just as Moses lifted up the reptile in the wilderness, so must the One Like Us be lifted up, that whoever believes in him [and his way] may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only One, so that everyone who believes in him [and his way] may not perish but have eternal life. As a matter of fact, God did not send the One into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." (Translated and paraphrased by Harry T. Cook.)

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Without much doubt it can be said that what is best known from this passage is its 16th verse: For God so loved the world ... At the one Super Bowl, I was ever unfortunate enough to watch -- and that for only a minute or two -- there was that legend JOHN 3:16 writ large in the end-zone, held aloft on a banner by true believers for the benefit of the television cameras. Upon that verse a whole soteriology has been erected: Believe that Jesus was the only-begotten son of God and that his bloody death on the cross washed away your sins, and -- voila! -- they are washed away, and you have had validated your one-way ticket to eternal life in heaven. That doctrine is the serious exegete's cross to bear and the albatross round the neck. It is part of the nuisance of idiot repetitions of tiresome pieties, which, together, cause many a rational and otherwise caring person to shake the head and walk away from Christianity.

We have observed that John 3:16 (and the pericope of which it is a part) is in the public domain and, as such, appears on bumper stickers, tee shirts, jeans patches, bulletin boards, baseball caps and, as we have said, homemade posters at football games.  It is also one of the most misunderstood of all biblical texts. The fundamentalist reading of it is that Jesus died to atone for human sin guaranteeing life beyond natural human death. Except the Greek ζωήν αίωνιον (eternal life) does not necessarily mean life with an indefinite end, but rather a life one enjoys after and because of that second birth which gives the new-born a clearer perspective on life. The key word is αγάπη (agape) which turns out to mean "love" of the kind far more talked about than given. Άγάπη is a uniquely New Testament word for "love," which goes to the concepts of "goodwill" and "esteem," but of the kind that is bestowed with no strings attached. One who can and does live in that way could reasonably said to have been "born from above" -- above, that is, the unfortunately normal eye-for-an-eye exchanges of human beings in conflict. One who is "born from above" would be both willing and able, say, love his enemy.

The reader is entitled to an explanation of the translation-paraphrase of πηεύματος -- "of the spirit" -- as "unseen force." The fourth gospel's use of πηεύμα is often applied to the presence of the resurrected Christ who in John 20 and 21 is anything but unseen. The wind is an "unseen force," though its effects can be seen, heard and felt; and what its currents may transport can be felt and smelt. In the 21st century, the ideas of "spirit" and "spirituality" have entered upon a la-la land phase in which anything goes. That cannot be what the fourth evangelist meant. The "spirit" is closely related to λόγος -- that wondrous Greek word that means, among other things, "word" but also so much more, e.g. concept, idea, declaration, speech, faculty of speech, repute, doctrine, narrative, matter, affair, thing, reason, cause, reckoning, analogy -- all unseen, some heard, some rationalized but in many cases motivating, animating, inspiring, driving, defining a course of thought and/or action.

The evangelist takes an opportunity to reinforce his christology with the ascending and descending of the One Like Us (Son of Man) and to make his own peculiar passion prediction: And just as Moses lifted up the reptile in the wilderness, so must the One Like Us be lifted up, that whoever believes in him [and his way] may have eternal life.

If the homilist or class leader intends to make this text relevant to 21st century inquirers, he or she will want to place it in the historical and literary context from which it arose. John (the gospel) is the fourth chronologically of the canonical documents and seems to have emerged from a community or communities that were making a final break from synagogue Judaism.* John (the evangelist) seemed less interested in Jesus' ethical wisdom teaching than were Thomas, Mark, Matthew and Luke. John is an out-and-out theological document setting forth creedal fundamentals not necessarily connected with any real-life Jesus. John seems to follow Paul in the creation of a new myth religion to compete in the first century marketplace with other more popular Graeco-Roman myth religions.

Rather than dwell on the "blood atonement" theme of John 3:16, the homilist or leader may want to treat of this text from a historical angle and, in the process, help listeners or participants see how different the fourth gospel is from the first three and especially from Thomas. If Elaine Pagels** is on the right track, John, in turning Jesus into a pre-existent Logos, may have set out to counter Thomas' image of an earthly and earthy Jesus -- one of the type J. Dominic Crossan denominated as "itinerant sages." Which of these images might be more accessible and helpful to 21st century inquirers seeking guidance and wisdom for here and now?

* For a different view of this see: The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic. John S. Spong. Nerw York, NY. HarperCollins, 2013

** See her Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, New York, Random House, 2003, 30-73.