Covenant of Love

John 3:14-21

 

A Reno Nevada middle school gym teacher heard shots

          Instead of running away from them she ran toward them

                   And saw a 14 year old boy firing a gun.

                             Two students were already injured.

          She walked toward the student talking to him,

Empathizing with him

 and convinced him to put the gun down.

          Then she hugged him until more staff arrived.

 

The police chief called her a hero.

          She said that she just did what any teacher in the school

                   Or in her own daughter’s school would have done

                             To protect the children under their care.

          Not only did she protect the children in the line of fire

                   But she also demonstrated incredible love and care

                         For the boy with the gun saving him

                             From the terror of murdering other children.

 

She felt that it was merely something that she did

under her contract as a school teacher.

          I think it is a real world demonstration of

                   What it means to operate

In a Covenant of Love.

 

She demonstrated love for the students under her care

          And even a love for the young man who had the gun.

                   This story gives us insight into the scripture

          “God so loves the world that he gave his only Son,

                   that whoever believes in him should not perish”.

 

Scottish Theologian Thomas Torrance wrote:

          “God loves us more than he loves himself.”

I had a lengthy conversation with Chris Kettler

          On the way to a theological conference about

                   Whether it was possible or reasonable or faithful

                             Way to understand God’s covenant of love.

          Chris challenged me to ask the question

                How could God whose love is perfectly lived out

                   In the love of Father for the Son through the Spirit,

                             How could God love us more than that.

                            

          I argued that this illustration of

                   The middle school teacher

                             Does just that.

                   This teacher loved herself and her daughter

                             But she was willing to lose her own life

                                      To love these middle schoolers

                                                And even the shooter.

 

It sets us face to face with a human example

          Of self sacrificing love that we usually only see

                   In the actual person and life and work of Jesus.

          T. F. Torrance describes this love of God

“It is because God actively loves us, and actually love us so much that he has given his only Son to be the Savior of the world, that he reveals himself to us as the Loving One, and as he whose Love belongs to his innermost Being as God.”

 

Everyone tried to paint the Middle school teacher as a hero.

          I heard her speak and experienced her as one

                   Who lived out her love for her students

                             Without fear.

 

Reformer Martin Luther called the passage we read today

          John 3:16- The Gospel in Miniature.

 

Martin Luther preached a sermon in 1522 on this text.

          In it he said

                   “Christ presents the Father to us as none else

                   but all loving…God has out of love, given his Son,

                   through whom we shall be save (therefore Luther

                   goes on to say) …Guard yourself against adding to it,

                   for you would render it valueless.  Trust alone in the

                   Word of God.”

In other words, Luther is saying resist adding extra steps

 to the message in John 3:16. 

 

Remember the setting for this teaching

is that a member of the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus

came to Jesus at night just to talk with Jesus.

          He wasn’t the rich ruler who asked about salvation.

                   He simply approached Jesus

with an open ended statement:

                   “We know that you are a teacher come from God;

                             for noone can do these signs that you do,

                                      unless God is with you.”

          Jesus responds: “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see

                   The kingdom of God without being born from above.”

 

We sometimes hear this statement of Jesus and translate

          The Greek word, gennethai anothen, as “born again”

                   And set up all sorts of hoops about how we

                             Can do this for ourselves or others.

          The word anothen intentionally has a dual meaning

                   “again” and “from above” and it is a reminder

                             that this transformation that happens is us

                                      is not ours to control but simply

                                                God’s to give and ours to receive.

          Martin Luther said it well in his sermon:

                   “You do not seek God rather God seeks you, and

          presents his Son before you as Savior and not as judge.”

Now this seems pretty radical to us

      since we confess Jesus in the Apostle’s Creed as one who

           “will come to judge the quick and the dead.”

 

But Martin Luther explains what he means:

     “If I picture Christ as only a judge, I shall fear him.

          The result is that I become constrained before him,

    grow afraid of him and then hate him

                   and my heart becomes corrupt and blasphemous.”

 

This description is how I feel when a police car

 pulls in behind me and I just start to worry,

          even if I’m not speed or doing any thing wrong

                   I’m still happy when the police car pulls

                             Off to another road.

I know that the police are there to help me

and protect me and yet because it experience

          the police car as judge of my driving

                   I probably drive worse

with a police car behind me.

          Of course this would all be different if the policeman

                    In the car behind or beside me were Danny or Kelly

                             Guys that I know and who know me.

                                      Then instead of fear I would feel

                                                Safety and community and joy.

          I would still feel compelled to try to drive well

                   But I would be compelled by friendship and love

instead of fear and forboding.

 

Martin Luther suggests that this is the way we should

                   Experience Jesus Christ:

      “But when I know Jesus as the Gospel pictures him,

 and long for him as the best friend that my heart can choose,

 then all is well; love soon follows.”

 

This is not new stuff, it is not diluting the Gospel.

          This is what the Reformers preached nearly 500 years ago

                   And it is the message of the Gospel today.

                             In this season of Lent in 2006.

                                      It is a timeless message

                                                It is God’s covenant of love.

 

It’s not a contract that we can negotiate our way out of

          Like a high priced athlete or performer.

                   Neither is it a contract that bind us into

                             Something that we have to do against our will

                                      Or be thrown into jail.

          Nor is it a contract where if we fulfill our part

                   Then the other party God will fulfill his part.

                             It’s not a contract like that

                                      It’s not a contract at all.

It’s a covenant or a promise binding two people or two parties

          To love one another unconditionally. 

                   The closest we come is the marriage Covenant

                             And yet we know from our own experiences

how fragile that covenant is

and how easily broken it is.

But this is a covenant between God and humanity

          That is mediated completely and fully by Jesus Christ.

                   God promises to be our God –that’s God’s side

                        And then God turns around in Jesus Christ and

                             Fulfills our side of the bargain

                                      “And they shall be my people”.

 

No matter how hard we try we are not able to fulfill

          The Covenant of Love by ourselves,

                   But God doesn’t give up on us.

     God becomes one of us Immanuel so that in Jesus

We can fulfill our Covenant vicariously in Christ

 

The image that comes to my mind is the image of a parachuter.

          I was watching a story of a man living out his dream

                   To parachute from an air plane.

                             He took a class to learn how to jump,

                                  How to free fall,

                                      When to pull the rip cord,

                             When to pull the cord for the backup chute,

                                      How to control the chute,

                                                And how to land

                                                          And how to roll.

But when he had taken all these lessons

          And learned them as best he could

                   He was then strapped onto the instructor

                             To make the actual jump.

          That’s the way it is with Christ.

                   We often talk about a leap of faith in our spiritual life

                             But we never leap alone.

                                      We are bound with Christ in our baptism.

                   We are connected with Christ

                             And he is connected to us in his birth.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son

          That whoever believes in him should not perish

                   But have eternal live.

          God sent the son into the world not to condemn the world

 but that the world might be saved through him.”

That’s the Covenant of Love.

          God loves us even more than he loves him self.

                   DO you have someone who is willing to

                             Jump out of a plane with you?

          Do you have someone who when she hears gunshots

                   In your vicinity will forget her own safety

                             And walk toward the weapon to save you.

And if you are holding the gun do you have someone who love you so much that she would take the gun from your hand and hug you?  You do…and that person is Jesus Christ, who died for you.