See How Much I Love You - March 22, 2009
S-H-M-I-L-Y
John 3:16-21
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” If you grew up going to Sunday school, you probably can’t remember a time when you did not know this particular verse of Scripture. If you worship regularly in church you hear it often, for it is frequently lifted up as the perfect summation of Christian faith. For a few years, in every end zone, in every crowd, in every place that a television camera was pointing, it seemed as though you would find someone holding up a placard: “John 3:16.” This particular trend has waned, but still it is true that everyone knows John 3:16 or at least knows of John 3:16. The danger with a phrase becoming so well known is that the words may no longer really be heard. But a little story may offer another phrase to help us.
A couple, married for many years, left notes declaring their love for each other. At the end of each note were the letters S-H-M-I-L-Y. This was an abbreviation for “See How Much I Love You.” After all their children married and the couple were enjoying spoiling their grandchildren, the wife received the terrible news that she had inoperable cancer. Each day her husband would find a way to leave in a different place a note bearing the message S-H-M-I-L-Y. Although advanced in years he would not allow any one else to become her primary care giver. He began each morning telling his wife how beautiful she was and reciting their marriage vows. Each night he repeated the same ritual. He was with her till the end. His parting words at her funeral came from the florist: a very large floral spray with the letters S-H-M-I-L-Y.
It has always seemed to me that in the gift of Jesus Christ to the world, God was saying, “See how much I love you.” Have you ever taken a phrase or sentence and repeated it several times, each time placing the emphasis on a different word? With each variation, you gain a new and more nuanced understanding. Let’s consider the significance of each word when it’s God saying “See How Much I Love You.”
Start with “See.” See how much I love you. Take a look at the world around you – the gift of creation. God not only gave us everything we need, but also filled the world with beauty and gave us the senses to appreciate it. Look up at the cross before you – the gift of salvation. God’s gifts shed light on God’s heart, God’s good and generous heart. Every gift reveals God’s love; but no gift reveals God’s love more than the gift of the cross.
There was a popular monk in the Middle Ages who announced that he would preach one day on the love of God. On the day appointed, the cathedral was filled with eager listeners. He waited till the setting sun caught the stained glass windows, flooding the place with lovely color. Then, when the last bit of light had faded from the windows, he went to a candelabrum, took a lighted candle, and walked to a statue of Christ hanging on the cross. He held the candle beside the wounded hands, then the wounded feet, then the open side, and finally the brow that had worn the crown of thorns. The great assemblage, deeply moved, sat still. They had come to hear a sermon on the love of God. They did not find what they had expected, but far more. They saw for themselves the love that bears wrong, and bears it in such a manner that it bears it away. It was something they would never forget.
Now consider “How Much.” See how much I love you. God’s love is extravagant. It is possible to read the whole of Scripture, from the creation in Genesis to Revelation’s eschaton, as God’s love story for the world. It was love that stirred God’s heart at the pleading of the slaves in Egypt, and love that offered them the guidance of the law and the security of the promised land. Whenever inequality or injustice threatened the welfare of the poor and the powerless (and therefore the whole people), God’s love raised up prophets who declared God’s desire for compassion. It was divine love, stronger than well-deserved judgment, that carried Israel during the time of exile. And it was the love of God that was celebrated with psalms of adoration in the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. It was God’s great love that sent Jesus, God’s Son, to be incarnate in the world.
Now focus on the smallest word “I.” See how much I love you. Think about who is doing the loving, because it is truly mind-boggling: it is the Almighty God.
Then consider what God did: God gave God’s Son – God’s only Son. And that will bring us to love. See how much I love you. God didn’t act out of duty or obligation; God is not required to do anything. There is only one reason for Jesus: God loves the world.
The final word to stress is “You.” See how much I love you. Consider the universality and the specificity of God’s love. John 3:16 does not read for God so loved the rich, or the famous, or the thin, or the beautiful, or the fashionable, or the successful, or the intelligent, or the young, or the old. It says, “God so loved the world” – meaning everyone on earth.
God sent Jesus to be the most complete expression of divine love. If the Lectionary had placed John 3:16 in the Christmas season, we would think of God’s gift of Jesus in terms of his birth, his incarnation. But instead it comes before us in the season of Lent, when the focus is on Christ’s passion and death. It was love that allowed Jesus to set his face toward Jerusalem, knowing that Jerusalem meant death. On Calvary Jesus was asked, “How much do you love these people?” He stretched his arms wide, one hand to the right and the other to the left, and let them be nailed in that position so that we would know he loved us enough to die for us, that he might redeem us. The bitterness of betrayal, the anguish of trial, the pain of crucifixion, the feeling of abandonment – all of this was Jesus’ love note to us: S-H-M-I-L-Y. See how much I love you.