John 3:14-21

 

symbol and sign - The word in both MT and LXX for "standard-bearing pole" is literally the word for "sign." In Wisdom xvi 6-7 we have a midrash of the serpent story: "They had a symbol of salvation to remind them of the precept of your Law. For he who turned toward it was saved, not by what he saw, but by you, the Savior of all." This fits the Johannine thought that Jesus lifted up becomes the source of salvation to all (cf. Jn. 12:32) and whoever sees Jesus sees the Father (cf. Jn. 14:9). The Targum, too, interprets the meaning of looking on the serpent: it means turning one’s heart toward the memra (name) of God. [1]

do we know this too well? - The challenge to interpreters of John 3:1-21 is to approach this text openly, not convinced that they already know what the text is about and what its words mean. If interpreters approach the Jesus of this text as Nicodemus approached him, confidently asserting what "we know . . ." (3:2), they may find, as Nicodemus did, that their certitudes and assumptions stand in the way of the full experience of Jesus this text offers . . . To believe in Jesus is to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that God loved the world so much that God gave the Son as a gift. The God revealed in Jesus is a God whose love knows no bounds and who asks only that one receive the gift. If one receives the gift, one receives eternal life, because one’s life is reshaped and redefined by the love of God in Jesus. [2]

 

[3]

• Born again has almost become a household term; describe the different ways that people seem to ascribe meaning to that term.
• Someone has said birth requires a period of gestation well in advance of new life. What might that suggest about this discussion of "new birth?" What might some of the precursors be to a person’s becoming a Christian?
• Where are you in the birthing process-still in the embryonic period? Developing, but unnoticeable? Heavy with child? Kicking and screaming like an infant? Growing daily?

 

Please refer to this week’s homily on DPS.

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[1] Raymond E. Brown, The Anchor Bible Series: John, vol. 29 (NY: Doubleday, 1966), page 133.
[2] The New Interpreter’s Bible IX (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), page 555.
[3] Serendipity Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing Co., 1998), 247.