I may be speaking from a certain age, but signs proclaiming John 3:16 peppered my childhood. I grew up watching football in person and on TV with my dad. These are some of my favorite memories of childhood weekends: my dad laying on his side on the carpet in front of the TV and me sitting in the crook of his lap asking endless questions about who is doing what and why. He was endlessly patient and happy with my interest. Early on, one of those questions was, “what do all these signs saying John 3:16 mean? We were a faithful, church-going family and I was familiar with the Bible quote, I just couldn’t square it with football games!
Among the numerous lessons my father bestowed upon me over the course of the 47 ½ years I had with him was that John 3:16 was understood by Christians to be a verse that encapsulates the Gospel, the good news of what God did for all humankind through Jesus Christ, in one sentence. Therefore, among others, football fans around the country often feel the clearest way that they can share their love and faith is to hold up signs on national television that proclaim John 3:16.
I think this is great. It is also not my way. My dad also always taught me to be open to different ways: the different ways that God is present in the world and in peoples’ lives as well as the different ways that people receive and respond to God’s presence. His open mentoring allowed me to find my own way. I cannot express how important that has been to me and how much I value nurturing that same approach to others in myself.
When I teach the Gospel of John here at Creighton, I often ask students if folks still hold up these signs. They tend to say yes, but not with the universal acclamation that students in my own college years would have done. Regardless of my way, I find this a bit sad, since many contemporary public proclamations of the gospel focus far less on God’s love and far more on shame and judgment.
As for me, when I teach this part of John’s message, I am always careful to proclaim 3:16–17 (the two verses together):
God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
John teaches us not just what God did for us through the gift of his Son, but that God did this for us. God’s goal is not for judging and condemning, but for saving. This should, thereby, also be our goal in any concomitant mission we deem in our own lives. Such a focus for our vocations as Christians is so important in these scary, divisive times. Our guiding force must always be God’s guiding emotion: love. Love not condemnation. Cultivation, not denigration. Building up, not tearing down. This is how we will share in God’s love and thrive in this world. Thanks, Dad!
Sherri Brown
After undergraduate study at Washington and Lee University and early graduate work at Yale University Divinity School and Columbia University School of Social Work and following a stint in the US Peace Corps as well as several years working in international development, she returned to graduate school at the Catholic University of America to pursue a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies. Her research interests focus primarily on the Gospel of John and secondarily on other New Testament and early Christian history areas. She has authored, coauthored, or coedited six books, including Gift upon Gift: Covenant through Word in the Gospel of John, God’s Promise: Covenant Relationship in John, Johannine Ethics: The Moral World of the Gospel and the Epistles of John (with Christopher Skinner), Interpreting the Gospel and Letters of John: An Introduction, and Interpreting the New Testament: An Introduction (both with Francis J. Moloney). She has also published numerous articles and popular studies on the Johannine Literature as well as other texts of the New Testament. She is currently working on a monograph on the role of women in the Gospel of John called Apostles to the Apostles. Her most recent publication is Come and See: Invitations and Imperatives to Discipleship in the Gospel of John. She also writes on the theology and letters of Paul and the Catholic Epistles. She loves traveling and facilitating study internationally, particularly in the lands of the Bible.
