But it's also kind of awkward and more than a little flat. Someone may chuckle politely, but everyone already knows the punch line. Telling it again is just one more shovel full out of a hole that's deep enough. Which is a little bit like the way I feel about preaching on this text. For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Fundamentals are always fundamental.
Like any good journalist, we must never get finished asking who, what, when, where, and why. And precisely those basics, if we can wipe enough of the sedimentation to see them, is what this passage seeks to reinforce. That which seems elementary, but after which everything else is simply detail. This Jesus is uniquely that representative of our creator who enables us to see and touch God's face and hands and heart. This Jesus, John asserts, is that specially designated and blessed one for whom all of God's people have been waiting and searching.