I, like many of you, have been following the events in Thailand around the twelve boys and their coach trapped in a cave. I am more than a little bit claustrophobic so the whole thing freaks me out completely. Seeing the 40cm tunnel they have to swim through scares the life out of me. Anyway, today I watched the video footage of the moment that they were found after more than a week trapped in total darkness, which is emotional, to say the least! Here is the link, if you have not seen it.
Imagine, being trapped there. You do not know whether you will ever see the light again. You do not know if anyone even knows that you are there; if they do, do they care enough to do anything about it; and if they care, are the even able to rescue you? Just horrendous. Terrifying. Hopeless.
Then one day, a head appears. Only one of the boys – a fourteen year old – can speak English, so for most of them, this guys is speaking gobbledegook and that alone, must be terrifying. He says, “many people are coming. We are just the first. We will get you out!” Even writing this feels emotional. That moment when utter hopelessness turns to total hope. All we need to do now is trust these people to bring us to freedom.
When I saw the video, it reminded me of John 3:16, that much-quoted passage, seen at football grounds and sporting events across the globe:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
A few things to clarify:
Many theologians would argue that it should be rendered, “this is how much God loved the world…” which is really beautiful, if you think about it. He showed us how much he loved us by diving through a network of caves and risking everything for us.
The word believe is the Greek word, pistis, and, contrary to evangelical dogma, does not mean “to agree with things,” but literally means, “to trust.” Whoever will trust this diver who was sent because of love, can be led safely through this network of caves to safety. All the way through will be a terrifying ordeal and beyond anything any of those boys will have ever endured, and to choose to stop trusting will result in great danger, even death.
Eternal life, as you will have heard me say, is the Greek, aionios zoe, which does not mean “everlasting life” or “life after death” (although both concepts are part of it), but literally translates as “life of the Age.” We live in this present evil age. There is an age coming when Jesus returns where there will no longer be evil or sin or death or pain or sickness. We are promised the life of that age now.
The word, “perish” is appollumi and is most often translated as “lost” in the gospels. It almost always refers to something that is already lost – the lost coin, the lost sheep for example. I would argue that this is Jesus’ point. You are dying. You are trapped in a cave without any hope of escape and I am offering you rescue.
Often this passage is presented as a choice – “trust me and I will give you life, do not trust me and you are going to be punished.” I think that this is totally wrong. As I have said, appollumi refers to something in a pre-existing state, but also, more significantly, what is the first word of John 3:16?
You can get this. It is written a few lines up.
That’s right, “for”! And what does the word “for” mean at the start of a sentence?
Exactly! “for” means that this sentence is inextricably linked to the one(s) before and should never, ever, ever, ever, ever be taken out of that context!
So, what do the sentences before refer to? John reminds his readers of the story of Israel in the desert (Numbers 21). They are dying from snake venom and Moses lifts his staff with a bronze snake on it and all who look on it are healed or saved (same word, by the way – souzo) and will live. He goes on to say that Jesus will be lifted up in the same way, “for God loved the world so much…”
You see, you cannot interpret John 3:16 (which most theologians agree is a summary statement of the gospel invitation) as a choice between the carrot (being saved) and the stick (being punished) if you read it in context. It is an invitation to be rescued from death and to receive life.
It is a diver sticking his head out of the water and saying, “if you trust me, I will save you and you will not die.”
John goes on in 17-19 to talk about Judgement (krisis). He says “this is krisis, the light came into the world, but people loved the darkness instead of the light.”* In other words, the diver appears, says I am here to rescue you and you respond by saying that you would rather stay here, in the cave and take your chances. That is insane! Judgement is someone choosing to stay in the darkness. It is not the punishment for doing so, it is doing so.
Sometimes it is too scary to trust someone to lead you into the unknown. Sometimes the cost seems too high. Sometimes we are just too comfortable in our cave and the light might hurt our eyes.
Or sometimes have we, the church, presented this rescue in such a way that it does not feel like a rescue but it feels like a worse option that staying put? I wonder.
For this is how much God loved us, he sent his only son to dive through hazardous cave networks, through unknown waters, in pitch darkness to come to us and free us. If we will trust him he will rescue us and lead us into life and we will no longer be trapped, dying in the darkness.
Amen.
*Note – most translation play around with krisis here, in a very unhelpful way that obscures the meaning of the Greek. They translate it as three different word (all with different meanings) – “condemnation”, “judgement”, or “verdict” – but, crucially, this is not done consistently. Often in v.18, it is translated as “condemnation” but then, in the next sentence as “judgement.” In my opinion the only reason for doing that is to superimpose a pre-existing assumption onto the text to make it mean something, rather than reading it for what it actually says. A reading in the Greek can only render v.19 as an explanation of v.18 and of what judgement means.
0 Comments