“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. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” (John 3:17-21).

The other reads, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath.” (John 3:36).

I expected that everyone would want to talk about the good news proclaimed by these passages: that Jesus came not to condemn the world, but to save it; that through Jesus, eternal life – the kingdom of God – is a gift there for us all. But that is not where everyone wanted to go – they immediately voiced their trouble with the implication that what Jesus was saying here was “It’s my way or the highway”; that instead of being a carrot to invite people into a life-transforming relationship, this was a stick being used to coerce people into faith. And, worse than that, that this meant that people of other faiths, or people of no faith at all, were condemned to hell in this life and the next.

I guess I should not have been surprised that the group took off in this direction. We live, after all, in an increasingly pluralistic, diverse, interconnected nation and world. Back in the day, back when my parents started out raising a family in the aftermath of the Second World War in the suburbs of Philadelphia, this nation pretty much considered itself to be a Christian nation, with being a good American largely being equated with being a good Christian and vice-versa. The pluralism question simply did not come up. Increasingly, however, this nation is becoming filled not only with Christians of varying stripes, but also rising populations of Muslims, Buddhists, Wiccans, masses of folk who have simply left the church for a variety of reasons, and many who profess no religious belief at all. And with the world being more inter-connected then ever, increasingly we are aware that folk of other religious traditions do not share our faith, and that faith often seems to be a reason underlying the violence that rends so much of our world. Muslims, Jews, and yes, let us be honest, Christians as well, all have used religion to justify killing each other.

So this pluralism question is not simply an academic one for any of us. It has real-world implications, some going to the heart of how we relate to adherents of others faiths who in the name of their faith say they plan to kill us, some closer to home, like wondering whether a family member who has turned their back on the Christian faith for whatever reason will be denied entrance to heaven. No wonder that Bible Study group zeroed in on the question!

And the pluralism question is also a question that has many who claim to follow Jesus feeling a tad uncomfortable from time to time, a bit uneasy in our skins, because we not immune to the spirit of the age which is one that tends to distrust claims of exclusive authority. For instance, there was a day, in the lifetime of many of here in this Meetinghouse, where our culture trusted that science would inevitably lead us to a better and brighter day – this assumption took it on the chin when science delivered to us the horrors of mechanized warfare and the nuclear bomb. There was a time when we believed that technological improvements would necessarily lead to improved life-styles and easier lives – this assumption has proved hollow in light of the damage our new technologies has wrought on the environment, as faster-paced communication have meant that we are never really off-line and free to kick back, as cell-phones and computers and wide-screen televisions and cable connections have become things we cannot seem to do without, and yet which at the same time drain more and more of our financial resources. And there was a time when the New York Times or Walter Cronkite or network news in general were viewed as media of record, as authoritative sources for information on what is happening in the world – today, with Fox News and MSNBC and Glen Beck and their ilk each offering their own slanted presentations, and with anyone with a computer and an internet connection able to blog as they like, we are more suspicious than ever of anyone claiming to offer us the authoritative truth.

So when we hear Jesus seem to tell us, as the Bible Study group heard the other day, that those who do not believe in Jesus are condemned and subject to God’s wrath, the hair goes up on the back of our heads, and uneasiness gnaws at us, and we wonder not only about those “other” folk out there, but also about our faith, and whether we really can stick with this Jesus who seems so – and here is a word that really gets us off – “judgmental.” Because we know that the “win-lose” mindset, the “You are either with us or against us” mindset, leads, as it has throughout history, to prejudice, dehumanization, and eventually violence towards each other.

And yet – and yet – if we go back to our roots, back to the Gospel, back to the words of Paul the Apostle – we will see that it is from within our own faith tradition that we can find the treasures that will unlock this puzzle for us.

Let me start with those words from the Gospel according to John that were so problematic for our Bible Study group, and let me start by saying that as John is composing his gospel, and as Jesus is saying the words John writes down, neither is thinking of Muslims (Islam won’t get going for another 500 years!), or Hindus, or any other faith community. John is writing for a church community that already has been introduced to Jesus; Jesus is speaking to his disciples, to the very same followers who have known him throughout his ministry. The question at hand is not an abstract question about “those folk” out there, it is about these folk and their faith, and as these words speak to us today, it is about us folk and our faith. The disciples will question Jesus throughout John’s gospel as to how they might see “the Father”, how the presence of God might be with them – and Jesus keeps coming back to them and saying, “Look at me! The answer for you is not ‘out there somewhere’, it is not in any religious technique or ceremony or special words, it is right here – look at me. Don’t look away from me – don’t walk in the darkness, because that is not God’s way – walk with me.”

Jesus’ message, John’s message thereafter, is that Jesus’ way is God’s way, and if you can see that way, you are all set – nothing more is required.

And if we look at Jesus, at his character, his life, his message, what would we see? Rejection, exclusion, condemnation, a favoring of a select in-crowd? No, of course, not. Jesus’ way was a way of compassion, of inclusion, of acceptance, of love even for those who would be his enemies. Think of his reaching out to the lepers, to women, to the Samaritan woman at the well, to Nicodemus in the night, to a woman caught in adultery, to a man born blind, to the rich young ruler, to the tax-collecting Roman collaborator, to even a member of the foreign, occupying army.

So what of those who do not know Jesus, we might ask? I believe that the Gospel does address them, but not in those passages from John, except insofar as there is that reminder that Jesus came to save the world, not condemn it.

Paul the Apostle says this, making clear in his Letter to the Romans that people are never judged based on knowledge that they don’t have, and that God will bless “those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality.” (Romans 2:1-29). Peter, in the Acts of the Apostles, testifies that “God shows no partiality”. In Matthew 25, Jesus says that it is not those who call out “Jesus, Jesus” who will be saved, but those who do God’s will, who feed the hungry, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger.

And right here, in our reading today from Luke, we have the startling image of God as a hen, a chicken. What is God like? God is like, Jesus says, a mother hen, who desires nothing so much as to gather her brood safely under her sheltering wings. And look at the context here, look at who Jesus is talking about. He is not talking about his “in-crowd”, his devoted followers, his friends and family and, to use a modern term, his “restricted calling circle.” He is talking about Jerusalem, about the inhabitants of the city who oppress the peasantry from which Jesus came, about those who throughout history have rejected and killed God’s messengers, about those who even then, he was told, were plotting to have him murdered; Jesus is talking about those same people who would finally arrest and execute him.

And still, Jesus says, he wants only to gather them under the shelter of his protective wings. Some might consider these folk to be Jesus’ enemies, but look at his reaction – instead of turning away and leaving them to their fate, he turns and draws near, and will literally give his life that they might be saved. Herod, that old fox, will have Jesus chicken for dinner -- a sacrifice Jesus will make on behalf not of the select few, but of the entire world.

Jesus, the one who came to the world not to condemn it, but to save it, calls us to partner with him in that saving work. This we can do, this we must do, not by be being against other religions and their adherents, but by doing as Jesus commands us – by loving our neighbor, by sharing, as the opportunity presents itself, the gift we have known in Jesus Christ, and yet at the same time always being ready to receive the gifts that others might bring us, the glimpses which they might share to us of how our mysterious God might be working through their lives, their experiences, and their faith.

And God willing, if we do this, maybe one day we will look around, and with wonder and astonishment see that we have all been gathered together, under protective and sheltering wings.

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