(Another interesting/challenging sermon from a liberal friend)

Feb. 17, 2008

Depth and Breadth, Not Length

By Harry T. Cook

John 3: 1-17

For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son that all who believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life. There in one memorable verse you have the central proclamation of evangelical Christianity to the effect that belief in the blood atonement avails all, or at least all that matters, which is eternal or everlasting life.

It is no wonder, then, that the biblical reference for that verse, “John 3:16” appears on banners unfurled during Super Bowls, on bumper stickers, church bulletin boards and even sometimes on one of those streamers pulled by small aircraft being flown over ball parks during games. We’ve all seen it in one form or another.

And why wouldn’t the idea that believing in something which gets you life beyond death not be appealing? Most of us cringe at the reality that sooner rather than later in the larger scheme of things we will be dead and forever separated from the ones we love most. So, yes, absolutely, everlasting life is a great thing to contemplate, especially when the cost of obtaining it is only belief that the execution of a First Century Nazarene sage secured that promise for us.

There are two things wrong with that idea. The first is that any god who or which would arrange things in such a manner, i.e., that someone would have to be executed – especially by the horrific method of crucifixion – to obtain something for another is, on the face of it, repugnant and obnoxious to rational persons. The second is that the term, commonly translated as everlasting [or eternal] life, has nothing to do with “time” as we understand it. The Greek word we translate everlasting as in everlasting life means “without perceivable beginning or perceivable end,” in other words, apart from time.

The term refers more subtly to values and truths that matter in life, values and truths the gospel writer would associate with the deity, with human beings thinking more about larger issues and questions and less about temporal nuts and bolts, or as Matthew imagined Jesus saying, Do not be anxious about the details of your life, what you will eat, what you will drink, what you will wear. But strive first for the coming of the rule of God, and the details will take care of themselves. Worry not about the morrow; sufficient unto the day at hand are the concerns thereof.

Everlasting life, though is obtainable through belief – not in the saving blood of a dead Nazarene, but in the internalization of what that sage taught about the human condition. What did he teach?

We know it well. We have known it since our days in catechism or in Sunday School. Some of us had to memorize teachings attributed to that sage. Our grandmothers needle-pointed them onto plaques that depended from nails in thousands of parlors in the English-speaking world. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the peacemakers. Do unto others. Turn the other cheek. Forgive 70 times 7.

Believing that such teachings are valid and therefore worth living by, and then doing exactly what will avail the everlasting life is what we’re talking about here – life of such sweetness and fulfillment that no one would wish its ending.

A man was sitting at table with his wife and all his children and grandchildren. It was a festive supper with much laughter and obvious affection. A ray of sunlight from an adjacent window caught the man’s eye and he was, in the instant, blinded by it. But in that moment he perceived what everlasting life is. It is all the love and closeness one can know in the here-and-now while it lasts. In and of that he is a true believer.

© Copyright 2008, Harry T. Cook. All rights reserved. This article may not be used or reproduced without proper credit.