3-1-2026 “Our Eyes on the Mountains” John 3:1-17 and Psalm 121

The Rev. Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor

I think it is safe to say that John 3:16 is the most often-quoted passage in all of the Bible, at least for Christians. You see held high on placards at football games, stuck to the back of cars on bumper stickers, and burned into people’s flesh as tattoos. When I hear people cite this verse, it typically comes as a warning more than a promise. It isn’t God sent Jesus into the world to save you. Rather, the tone is more of an omen: God sent Jesus into the world to save you, so, if you don’t believe in him, you will be consigned to the fires of Hell.

The problem is that these people rarely read the next verse, the one that concludes our Gospel lesson for today — John 3:17, in which Jesus says: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” This verse qualifies the more popular John 3:16. In summary, John is saying that God sent Jesus into the world to save it, not to condemn it. The mission is clear.

I do love this passage from the John. It comes early in the story. John’s version opens with a strange, metaphysical explanation of Jesus and God being one. In fact, it becomes a refrain throughout the entire text. We then hear about John the Baptist and see Jesus calling his first disciples. In chapter two, we witness the very first miracle that Jesus performed: turning water into wine. He then clears the temple courts driving out the moneychangers and those selling doves. This immediately drew a line. As John writes in 2:25, “many people saw the signs he was performing and believed in his name.” But we know there are others who took umbrage with what he did and began looking for ways to stop him.

And then we get to chapter three, in which Jesus and a Pharisee named Nicodemus have a conversation under the cover of darkness. A lot of pertinent information is revealed in these twenty-one verses. Jesus speaks metaphorically. He talks about the need to be born again. The writer of John offers the famous “For God so loved the world” line which we discussed a moment ago, along with the often-skipped verse that follows — that God sent Jesus not to condemn the world so that we may have life (eternal life) through him. I do not read that as a warning as much as a promise, a word of hope.

Think about it: how does Jesus offer this gift? He does so by paying the price for us. His death upon the cross, and his rising from the dead, opens to us all the gift of everlasting life. We could have been left to our own devices. We could have followed the ways of the world. We could have remained in the mess that we created, and there’s no shortage of the messes that we’ve created. It could have remained that way. As Jesus says five chapters later in John’s account, “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (8:36).

And we have been set free. We have hope. As much as Lent is a dour time — a time when we reflect upon our shortcomings, when we confess our sins and seek to become closer to God — as much as this is the purpose of this sacred season, it also reminds us that the gift we receive when these forty days comes to an end is one of glory.

This is the same image that comes to the fore in Psalm 121. This is probably the Psalm I have read the most other than 23^rd Psalm. The first two verses capture the essence of it all:

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

Many times, this Psalm has either been requested by those facing surgery or a difficult diagnosis or a harrowing loss. Other times I have suggested this piece as the perfect Word from God to bring comfort to those who mourn or find themselves in the valley of despair. If you are looking up to the mountain, then you are not on the mountain. You are in the valley…crying out to God…wondering if this too shall pass…imploring the Lord for deliverance.

And it comes…eventually it comes. How do I know this? One way is from experience. Another way is from the Word itself. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Jesus also said in John’s Gospel, “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (10:10). This is God’s plan for us. Yes, the world gets in the way. Life, with all its pain, grief, and loss — life happens. Being a Christian is no guarantee that you will not face hardships. Faith is not some preventative inoculation. Christians aren’t immune to the flotsam and jetsam that washes upon everyone’s shore.

But we do have hope — hope that Jesus is with us. He offers himself as the very model. The cross did not have the final word. Jesus rose from the dead. Having suffered the ultimate pain, he is able to join us in our pain — and he calls us to rise to new life as well, trusting in him to usher us through the mire. Why? Because “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

That does not mean that we will be kept safe from hardship. However, it does mean that Jesus will walk with us through times of trial. I leave you with this story by Rev. Alanna C. Sullivan.

…God’s chosen one did not come to prevent suffering, ours or his own, rather he came to share in our suffering, to stand with us in our suffering. He came to offer strength, peace and comfort. Noted preacher and social justice activist William Sloane Coffin gave a sermon the Sunday after his 24 year old son Alex died in an auto accident. In that sermon Coffin stated his belief that God gives us minimum protection, [but] maximum support. He went on to testify to the ways in which he had experienced that kind of care from the many who had reached out to him in his loss. He said to his congregation, ‘You gave to me what God gives all of us, minimum protection, maximum support. I swear to you, I wouldn’t be standing here where I not upheld.”[1]

And I can say the same. And I think every member of this church can say the same. God uses us, each of us, to support one another — to offer and embrace when the world throws a fist, to offer peace when news speaks only of war and rumors of war, to offer love when we are surrounded by hate. Indeed, God offers us minimum protection, and maximum support. God came to us through the Christ not to condemn, but to offer the gift of life and the gift of everlasting life. Thanks be to God. Amen.

[1] Rev. Alana C. Sullivan, “Minimum Protection, Maximum Support,” taken online from Harvard University: The Memorial Church, April 8, 2020.