John 3:16. Who doesn’t love this one, right? If any random person on the street knows one bible verse, chances are pretty good the one they know is John 3:16. For God so loved the world ...

In fact, John 3:16 is so common that it almost feels as though we’ve exhausted its meaning. Like there’s not really much left to be gained by hearing another sermon on this one. I don’t mean it’s a bad verse, but, I mean, come on, it’s pretty tired, don’t you think?

People paint it on signs to show the T.V. cameras during football games, for crying out loud!

And so, the preacher reads, “For God so loved the world that God gave God’s only son, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

And it’s so easy to say, “Yeah, God loves me. I believe in Jesus, and I get to go to heaven. Easy peasy.”

But people who say that John 3:16 is their favorite passage of Scripture aren’t always paying attention to the fine print. Otherwise, they might not be so happy about the story Jesus is spinning in our Gospel this morning.

It appears as if Jesus is telling us that God so loved the world that Jesus came to save it—at least for those who believe the right stuff.

Now, we tend to focus heavily on the last part—inferring from it that God doesn’t love the world enough to save everyone ... only those capable of managing to pull off the right kind of belief. And that’s not such an easy thing, is it?

Have you ever tried to believe something? Pretty tough thing to manage on your own, isn’t it?

Remember in Alice in Wonderland when the Red Queen said to Alice: “Now I’ll give YOU something to believe. I’m just one hundred and one, five months and a day.”

“I can’t believe THAT!” said Alice.

“Can’t you?” the Queen said in a pitying tone. “Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes.”

Go ahead. Give it a shot. Let’s do a thought experiment. Just imagine something random like, “Dogs are actually smarter than humans. Unbeknownst to us, we are currently living in the matrix. Only, in this version, the matrix is maintained—meaning, the world is run by—a secret cabal of overly ambitious Bassett Hounds, Newfoundlands, Weimaraners, and a particularly aggressive rump delegation of Chihuahuas.”

Okay. Ready? Believe!

Read this way, it’s almost as if what John has to say to us is that “God so loved the world that Jesus came to save all the cool kids, the spiritual head cheerleaders and captains of the football team, that exclusive group of folks who can manage to get all the appropriate boxes checked in anticipation of obtaining God’s good graces.”

And that reading would be even more persuasive . . . if it weren’t for the next verse: “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

But notice that God loves the whole world and intends to give everybody a winning lottery ticket. Jesus, according to John, isn’t here to sort out who gets to sit at the table with the jocks and cheerleaders at lunch. When Jesus pulls up a chair to the table, everybody is invited to take a seat.

Now, at this point, you might be wondering to yourself, “Yeah, but what about the stuff right after that? What about all-those-who-don’t-believe-are-condemned stuff, those who love-darkness-rather-than-light stuff?”

“There’s got to be a catch, right? There’s got to be some way God’s figured out to trip us up.”

That’s how a lot of people think, isn’t it? God can’t just love us. There has to be more to it than that.