Thursday, December 18, 2014

Thursday, December 18, 2014

John 3:16-21

“For God so loved the world….”

 I just started re-reading Tolkien’s The Hobbit in preparation for the third installment of the Peter Jackson film adaptation, and the story is inspiring. Gandalf the wizard chooses the unlikely hero, Bilbo Baggins, to round out a company of dwarves on a journey to recapture land and treasure stolen by the dragon Smaug.

The prospect of adventure frightens Bilbo. Besides, he much prefers the comforts of home. Yet, something about the invitation attracts him. As he listens to the dwarves sing about the lost kingdom and their desire to reclaim it, Bilbo

“wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick. He looked out of the window. The stars were out in a dark sky above the trees. He thought of the jewels of the dwarvesshining in the dark caverns. Suddenly in the wood beyond The Water a flame leapt up – probably somebody lighting a wood-fire – and he thought of plundering dragons settling on his quiet Hill and kindling it all to flames. He shuddered; and very quickly he was plain Mr. Baggins of Bag-End, Under-Hill, again.

Bilbo ultimately accepts the challenge and proves himself a capable member of the team, but the journey will require every ounce of courage and resolve he can muster. Seemingly insurmountable obstacles and personal doubts continually plague him.

            Such also is the life of faith, if you will. For no other reason than love, God invites us into life’s thrilling and challenging adventure with the full promise that we will have what is most important for the journey: God’s ever-abiding Presence (verse 16). To accept the invitation requires trust and deep courage (“everyone who believes in him”), and these virtues are made possible because God first believed in us (“God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”)  

The writer of John’s Gospel has fully embraced the invitation. The most contemplative and mystical of the four Gospels, John presents a Jesus who is the center of a cosmic drama in which the forces of light struggle against the forces of darkness (verses 19-21). It is as easy today, as it was in the days of John’s Gospel to carve up the world into “us” and “them” and assign labels to both: good/evil, light/darkness, saved/condemned. However, the deeper truth of the Gospel is that we are all a mixture of light and dark. We all have the capacity for courage even as we harbor paralyzing fears. Like Bilbo, we all “wish to go and see the great mountains” until we are convinced that we are “plain” and unlikely.

This Advent season, how can we reflect on the places in our hearts, in our churches, and in our neighborhoods where we can accept God’s offer of much-needed courage?

- David Shumaker