Bull Horn Guy

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but will have eternal life.”
John 3:16

Dear Friends,

There’s a local university near the church that I pastor. A few years back, I was on campus during a welcome week to let students know about our church. A student asked me what “provoke change” meant when my ears redirected towards an abrasive  sound across the quad where a middle-aged man in a polo and khakis stood. He was shouting into a bull-horn and had a couple signs leaning up against the wall where he stood. While one sign had that most famous verse on it—telling of God’s love for humanity—his words spoke about God’s hatred for these students if they didn’t immediately turn to Jesus.

This famous verse has forever been plucked out to stand alone as the crux of the gospel and while the sentiments hold more meaning than anything else, it’s been juxtaposed with “hell” as the immediate consequence of unbelief. But this verse falls into the middle of a conversation between Jesus and a deeply religious man who was in a spiritual wilderness. 

Friends, I am a pastor, a religious person, and I have found myself many times in a spiritual wilderness. I might be surrounded by Christians, God’s Word, times of worship, religious activities on the daily, praying with and for people and still be in a spiritual wilderness of loss and lack, parched for meaning and purpose. This man, Nicodemus, was in a spiritual wilderness—questioning his beliefs, convictions, understandings of who God was, and if there might be more. His wilderness was hidden in the shadows, blanketed by right words to say and rituals to uphold so no one would suspect his insatiable thirst. He probably felt utterly alone.

The story goes that Nicodemus meets Jesus in those shadows with a duffle bag of questions, desperate for answers he wasn’t quite ready to receive. Did Jesus belittle him for his lack of acceptance? Did he mock him for his doubt and uncertainty? Did Jesus tell Nicodemus that hell was the only option if he didn’t “come to Jesus” at that moment? 

No. Jesus held out love to Nicodemus and then trusted God would continue the process with him. 

Nicodemus didn’t become a disciple. He didn’t have a “come to Jesus” moment at that time. He left spiritually depleted, worn out, and parched even after encountering Christ. But that experience was like a drop of water to his soul, enough to startle a seed of hope in his heart. 

A few years later in the story, we read about Nicodemus again. Emerging from his spiritual wilderness, he intentionally stepped into a physical one. It was Nicodemus, not Jesus’s disciples, who left his safe cover-of-night and dawned into new life while he cared for the body of Christ, preparing it for burial. 

There was no turn-or-burn moment for Nicodemus. It wasn’t too late for him because there’s a Divine Love that goes beyond “right now” and into “not yet.” This Divine Love isn’t held by the timetables of bull-horn guy or our religious rituals. This Divine Love is abundantly available to all, declaring a quenching new life through resurrection for our insatiable thirst. There is no wilderness or grave that can hold it back.

May it be so.

With (love),
Bethany