God So Loved the World – John 3:16-17
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
God loves the world so much that He sent His Son to bring salvation to the whole world. Not to condemn it. Not as a means of punishment, but so the world might be saved. Jesus said these words in response to a particular conversation between Himself and Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee. Nicodemus comes to Jesus under cover of darkness, trying to understand who Jesus is and what Jesus stands for. In their conversation Jesus tells him, “No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” And poor Nicodemus doesn’t get it.
But here’s the thing. God so loved the world—God so loved Nicodemus the Pharisee—that God sent him His Son. God loved him even though Nicodemus didn’t understand. We see a similar story in John chapter 4 when Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well. Again, Jesus has a conversation with someone who wants to understand but maybe doesn’t quite get it.
But no matter what conversation or who it’s with, the message of John 3:16-17 will still be true. God loved the world. He loved the world enough to show us the truth. That we can’t be healed until we recognize sin as the disease that afflicts us. Salvation doesn’t come through mere intellectual belief. It comes from looking at the cross, recognizing ourselves in it, and allowing that truth to heal us so that we can trust and follow the Crucified Jesus.
God so loved the whole world. He loved the Nicodemus who questioned Jesus in the dark of night and the Samaritan woman who questioned Him in the middle of the day. He loved the man who was paralyzed his entire life and the man born blind. He loved Peter who denied Jesus and Judas who betrayed Him.
He loved you. He loved your family, your friends, and your neighbors. He loved the people who used to come to church, but don’t anymore. He loved the people who were hurt by the church or lost their faith. He loved the people who have never even darkened the door of a church.
He loved the people who are hungry, and the people who feed the hungry, and the people who don’t care about the hungry as much as they should. He loves all our brothers and sisters and not just on the condition that they accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. He wants that for them, but He loves them no matter what. God loves all of it and all of us. And that’s why God sent His only Son.
