Why Jesus really came: A Meditation on John 3

If you listen to Christian programming, or frequent your local Christian bookstore, you might find many conflicting answers to the question, “Why did Jesus come?”  While confusion over this issue isn’t new in our day, we certainly do have it in spades.  From the Prosperity Preachers who hawk their wares, claiming that Jesus came to give wealth and health; to the various Millennialists who think Jesus came to establish His Kingdom through the political systems of this world; to the Process Theologians, who think Jesus came to help us evolve into new levels of spirituality; to the Liberation Theologians, who think Jesus came to institute worldly equality in all things; to the Cheap Grace crowd, who think Jesus came to abolish the Law; to the Legalists, who think Jesus came to institute a new Law; to a thousand variations in between, the answers can be mind numbing.  I can sympathize with the oft recurring Reformation era lament, “God save us from the Theologians!”

Jesus, of course, if we will listen to Him, settles all this out very plainly.  In the third chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus said:

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the

wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

That whosoever believeth in him should not perish,

but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only

begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not

perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not

his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the

world through him might be saved.

And there it is:  Jesus came into the world to save sinners, and to give eternal life to all who would believe in Him.  Not wealth and health, prosperity, equality, politics, institutions, licentiousness or legalism—but the Good News that everyone who comes to Him in faith and repentance, receives grace, forgiveness, life and salvation forever.  Jesus’ mission is simple, yet nearly unimaginable in scope:  He comes to rescue every person, from the dawn of time to the end of the age, from sin, death, and the devil, and to give eternal life to all who will believe in Him.

If this was Jesus’ simple and profound mission, and He accomplished it through His life, death, and resurrection, why is it so hard for people to remain in the light of this simple Gospel?  Why do we have so many variations of theories and propositions?  Why, if Jesus shines so clear a light, is there so much darkness on so central a truth?   Jesus answers this is, too, in the verses immediately following:

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he

that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath

not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into

the world, and men loved darkness rather than light,

because their deeds were evil. For every one that

doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest

his deeds should be reproved. 

But he that doeth truth cometh to the light,

that his deeds may be made manifest,

that they are wrought in God.

The reason so many people resist the clear and simple light of Christ, revealed through His Word, is that people love their darkness rather than the light.  They love their greed and gluttony, their freedom and power, their manipulations and plotting.  They love themselves.  And because they love themselves, their works of darkness cannot bear the selfless and sacrificial light of Christ, so they flee from Christ and His Word, seeking other words to soothe them in the dark.  They search for teachers who will scratch their itching and festering ears, placating them in their unbelief.  They will cling to anything the darkness has to offer, rather than come to the clear and penetrating Light of Christ.

But Christ shines His light into the world, never the less, to seek and to save the lost.  He does not come into the world to destroy it, or to condemn it, but rather, He comes to save.  He is driven by love so deep and so rich, that He will suffer all things for the sake of us, who are lost in our trespasses.  He will shine His Gospel light into every dark corner of the world, and into every darkened heart, calling all to repentance and faith, so that all might believe and live in His grace. And though He calls to all, He forces no one to remain in the light of His love—He coerces none to remain in His mercy and grace.  For those who refuse Him, who love their miserable sins more than His magnificent grace, their condemnation is already upon them as they flee from their salvation and their Savior.  But for those who will turn from their wickedness, and remain by grace through faith in the light of Jesus Christ, there is nothing that can separate them from so great a love, and so great a God.

Be of good cheer, little flock.  His love for you has sent His Son to be your Savior, your Sacrifice, and your Righteousness.  His Light has sought you out, called you, and sanctified you in His grace.  Hear Him. Cling to His Word.  Remain in His light, and live forever.  Amen.