An Interview with Max Lucado: Preaching John 3:16

Through his best-selling books, Max Lucado has become one of the nation’s most widely-known ministers and teachers. In his newest book, 3:16 (Thomas Nelson), Lucado explores that great passage we know as John 3:16. He recently visited with Preaching editor Michael Duduit about the sermon series that led to the book, then discussed his own approach to preaching.

Preaching: Your new book is about John 3:16. What is it about that verse that has made it so beloved for so long?

Lucado: I think it’s simple hope. We need hope. There’s nothing worse than to live a life of despair. For a person to have no hope just sucks the blue out of every sky. John 3:16 is a passage that articulates that hope real simply – the book of Romans articulates the hope, the story of Abraham articulates the hope. If you just want one sentence, a simple description: God loves, God gave, we believe, we live. There it is.

It’s one of those verses that anybody can memorize. You can write it on a napkin in a restaurant. It’s hip-pocket size. I think that’s why it’s endured as it has – it’s simple hope.

Preaching: Do you think that this passage has a particular resonance today, given the culture in which we live and some of the issues we face?

Lucado: I really do. I think the passage is precious to us because it draws us back to the heart of what we’re to be about. It’s not a passage that stirs up social controversy or doctrinal division. A Catholic, Evangelical, Pentecostal, we can agree – we can find common ground there. And I love it because it draws us back in to what we were meant to be about. It’s like a big magnet. I call it the “Hope Diamond” of the Bible. It really is the sparkling jewel of the Bible.

We preachers, people entrust us with their time week after week. I’m still stunned that people will let me talk to them for thirty minutes about anything I want to. It’s a wonderful treasure that we are to steward. So I feel good going back to passages like John 3:16, because it is what we want to tell people every week.

What struck me, if I can add a layer to this, is the paucity of books written on 3:16. I’m still waiting for an e-mail to correct me on this, but I could only find about two books in the last sixty years that have been written solely on John 3:16. I’d have thought there’d have been a shelf-full. Of course, there have been countless sermons preached on it, but as far as books dedicated to that verse – I’m not sure how it slipped through the radar screen, but it’s not one that’s been given a lot of attention when it comes to writing. So it makes me feel good to add a voice to the work.