{"id":12118,"date":"2026-02-25T09:25:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T13:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/?p=12118"},"modified":"2026-02-26T10:34:55","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T14:34:55","slug":"facing-systems-harm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/socialjesus\/2026\/02\/facing-systems-harm\/","title":{"rendered":"Facing Our Systems of Harm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Facing
Photo Credit: David Clode<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

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Reading John 3 through a lens shaped by our justice work today invites contemporary Nicodemuses to consider how transformation begins in risky dialogues across difference. Nicodemus, with all his fear, still takes a step toward Jesus, even if it is a tentative one. And Jesus, taking all of this in, reframes Nicodemus\u2019 identity not in terms of his privilege and power but through starting over and being born again. This story challenges Nicodemuses today to stand in solidarity with contemporary movements for structural change, movements rooted in, as Jesus stated, a love that encompasses the whole world and doesn\u2019t just preserve the in-group for a privileged few. Jesus frames any advocacy by Nicodemus as a kind of rebirth: it requires humility, willingness to be unsettled, and courage to reimagine institutions. Even though Nicodemus is coming to him \u201cat night\u201d as an attempt to save his privilege and status, Jesus knows that it is not possible for Nicodemus to tell the truth without reprisals. Allyship for Nicodemus will cost him something, and this helps me interpret Jesus\u2019 language about being born again in a more life-giving way. Jesus is not saying to Nicodemus that we are all somehow broken as humans and must be born again, as the traditional interpretation states. Rather he is saying that Nicodemus has ascended a professional ladder , and now that he is reaching the top, Jesus tells him the ladder\u2019s leaning up against the wrong wall. Nicodemus must start over. Our reading this week gives us an opportunity to interpret John\u2019s theological vision, not as anti-world escapism, but as a sustained, justice-rooted practice in our churches and public life today, together.<\/p>\n

Welcome Readers! <\/i><\/b>Please subscribe to Social Jesus Here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

This is Part 2 of the series <\/b>Nicodemus Visits Jesus<\/b><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

(Read this series from its beginning <\/b>here<\/b><\/a>.)<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

Next, Jesus draws on a troubling and paradoxical image: \u201cJust as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.\u201d The reference here is to Numbers 21, where a bronze serpent, an image of the very thing causing the people death, is raised so that the wounded Israelites may be miraculously healed and live. John\u2019s gospel\u2019s use of this imagery is curious, because it reframes salvation not as escape from suffering, but as confrontation with it.<\/p>\n

In the wilderness story, the people are not healed by their denial or moral purity, but by looking directly at the symbol of what is causing their affliction. Healing comes when the community is forced to face what is killing them. Jesus applies this logic to himself: liberation emerges through public exposure to the violence of unjust power as demonstrated in his own death.<\/p>\n

In our context today, John\u2019s gospel suggests that transformation requires lifting up the truth about injustice rather than hiding it. Jesus on the cross becomes a mirror held up to empire, revealing Rome\u2019s brutality, the religious collaboration of those in power in Jerusalem, and the cost imposed on the poor and marginalized. The cross, rather than being \u201credemptive\u201d because Jesus\u2019 suffering satisfies some Divine requirement, instead unmasks the systems that produce suffering.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a communal rather than private individual nature to this use of imagery, also. We\u2019ll start there in Part 3<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This imagery used in our reading this week reminds us that healing begins when the communities start facing what is doing them harm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4129,"featured_media":12121,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[729],"tags":[2720,284,2768,3886,3892,58],"class_list":["post-12118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liberation-theology","tag-lectionary-reading","tag-liberation-theology","tag-nicodemus","tag-night","tag-serpent","tag-social-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nFacing Our Systems of Harm<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This imagery used in our reading this week reminds us that healing begins when the communities start facing what is doing them harm.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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