Why?

by Phil Wood

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Raise your hand if you had to memorize John 3:16 when you were in Sunday School. Yup, me, too. I memorized the King James version shown above. Now you know how long ago I was in Sunday School.

John 3:16 is probably the most famous verse in all of Scripture. These days, we see folks waving “John 3:16” on placards at sporting events. Tim Tebow even wrote it on his eye black so the national television audiences could see it in the close-up shots.

But I wonder. Is this one of those passages that has just become background noise, words we’ve seen and heard so often we don’t really see, don’t really hear? John 3:16 is perhaps the most pivotal verse in all of Scripture, and one of the most difficult to truly understand.

Why? Why did God have to give his son? His son?!

Well, it’s a long story. It goes all the way back to the Garden, really. But let’s pick up from the time when the Jews, after their miraculous escape from the land of Egypt, were wandering in the desert. There they began a seemingly never-ending cycle of turning away from God, suffering dearly as a consequence of their sin, recognizing again their great need for God, crawling back to him on their knees and – amazingly – receiving that mercy, that grace, again and again.

Thumb through the pages of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers and you’ll see how time and time again, the people would turn away from God and grumble against God, and come complaining to Moses, “Why did you bring us out of slavery in Egypt? To suffer and die of thirst and starvation in the desert? The food is so terrible, and there’s no water anywhere. Please pray to God to have mercy on us and save us from our suffering.”

And Moses would pray. And God would relent, and forgive, and bring quails from the edge of the sea, so many that they stacked up three feet deep in the desert around the camp. Or he would have Moses bring water gushing from a rock with this staff!

Why? Why does God persist in saving humankind, when humankind, itself, persists in rebellion and sin? Why would he even consider giving his one and only son in the seemingly lost cause of this fallen world?

The answer comes in the familiar language of John 3:16. God acts again and again for the benefit of human beings because God loves the world in spite of itself. Even as the world resists and opposes his son, God persists in loving the world.

God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:17)

The world. He wants to save the whole doggone world!

And he wants us to help. That’s a tall order in a world that seems to have gone stark, raving mad. Our world today is repeating the cycle, turning away from God at an astonishing rate. The consequences of our sins are mounting daily and becoming quite painful. Will we recognize our great need for God and come crawling back on our knees? I really don’t know. But here are some things it would be good for us to try during Lent.

First, pray. Pray with passion. Pray that we as individuals, we as a people, we as a nation, would come to our senses, come to our senses, and return to the Lord with repentant hearts.

Second, spend some time contemplating the results of sin in our world today, in our country, our town, our families, and our lives.

Third, forgive. Forgive as the Lord has forgiven us. Forgive those who have spoken in anger and hatred against us and our values. Forgive even those political leaders who have sown division in our land, who have aroused hatred in our hearts. Pray for them. Pray that they would come to their senses, and turn to the Lord with repentant hearts. Pray for God to forgive and undo the hatred in our own hearts.

Fourth, be a light. By our words and actions, help people see how badly we need God's love and God's mercy. Help people see how good it is to receive God's precious gift of eternal life.

Lent is a season in which the church comes to terms with suffering, especially that suffering which is the result of human sin. Because it's in the context of this suffering that we are most able to see our need for God, and God's mercy which, amazingly, continues to be given, time after time, and is new every morning.  

It will come again, God's mercy. It will come again, if we lift our eyes to the one who was lifted up to save us from ourselves.

Why? God so loves the world.