Lectionary: Lent 2A
Texts:
Genesis 12:1-4; Psalm 121; Romans 4:1-5, 13-17; John 3:1-17
Confusion
Nicodemus is
confused with what Jesus is saying to him. And Jesus seems to be have gotten a
little bit frustrated with Nicodemus’ continued confusion.
Why is
Nicodemus confused? This story is a familiar one and is visited frequently in
sermons.
The
explanation usually begins with the word for “anew” that Jesus uses to speak
about birth. The word could also mean “again” and “from above.” Great. So, the
word could be used to refer to different ways of being born.
But that
merely raises another question: why is Nicodemus only able to see one meaning
of the word? Why is Nicodemus unable to comprehend that Jesus is speaking about
the need to be “born from above?” Reading the rest of the discourse, one of the
possible reasons that can be derived is that Nicodemus is unable to understand
because his perspective is darkened, and it is from earthly, not from the
Spirit. And I think that is true in a broad sense, but it seems like there
could be more to it.
Assumptions and Barriers to Understanding
Looking
through a reference text this week, I had my own “aha” moment that offered what
to me was an improved reason for Nicodemus’ confusion, and one that is
(unfortunately) more relatable.
The concept
of being “born from above” means that one is metaphorically birthed from God. Nicodemus
saw himself and his people as already having been birthed by God, through
Abraham. They already belonged to God. So, even if Nicodemus could hear the
“born from above” intent of Jesus, Nicodemus could not comprehend why he or his
fellow Jews would need to “born from above.”[1]
Therefore, he assumes Jesus might be using hyperbole or speaking nonsense and
questions how one could be physically reborn.
Nicodemus
likely held to a belief that privileged Jews spiritually over the rest of the
world. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were chosen by God out of all the other
nations. They were given a special revelation of God, the Torah, at Mt. Sinai
through Moses. They had a special relationship with God.[2]
He could not comprehend why they would need another conversion to enter the
kingdom of God. His cultural, ethnic, and religious environment prevented him
from considering any other possibility.
And here is
where Nicodemus’ problem becomes relatable to me and perhaps to many of us
today. Does our cultural, social, ethnic, political, religious, and theological
assumptions, beliefs, and traditions hinder us from alternative ways of seeing
and understanding others, and perhaps even hearing from God?
A Personal Illustration
By way of
illustration, I will offer an example from my own life. But I need to make
clear that it is one person’s journey, mine, and that others can and do have
very different experiences; but also that even though I come from one specific
religious upbringing, the issue of religious exclusiveness and privilege can be
found in other groups.
I was born
into and raised in the Seventh-day Adventist denomination. For thirty-plus
years it was pretty much the entirety of my life and world. Everything about
life pretty much revolved around the church and its functions and events.
One of the
good aspects that I can look back on are the friendships and connections that
were made. Because the denomination has some unique and distinctive beliefs and
practices, those who belong to the denomination tend to cluster together, and
that bond can begin in childhood and last a lifetime.
Another good
aspect of it, looking back, is that it regarded the Bible very highly. Since I
went to sixteen years of denominations schools, that meant I had sixteen years
of increasingly advanced biblical and theological studies. The annual reading
through the Bible was highly encouraged. Back when I was actually living
through those times though, I thought it was tedious and unnecessary; but it
has benefits now, as those ingrained memories provide helpful sparks of insights,
especially when I prepare sermons.
But there
were negative aspects as well. As I look back from the outside now, I can see
how much fundamentalism was present in the experience. Although the
denomination does not hold to an inerrant view of scripture, it takes most of
what is found in the Bible as quite literal and historical facts and truth.[3],[4]
The set of articulated beliefs form rigid boundaries around what is deemed to
be correct biblical truth. The denomination sees its beliefs as the “most
correct” and sees itself as called by God to convert not just non-Christians
but other Christians to itself. It considers itself as the “remnant” that is
mentioned in scripture;[5],[6]
i.e., it sees itself as particularly favored by God. In many ways how I
experienced God and religion in my first two or three decades looks very similar
to how Nicodemus understood God and his religion.
Breaking Down Assumptions and Barriers
It was only after
having moved to this town, Petersburg, and began to associate with other
pastors and their churches that I saw that Christianity has much broader
parameters with allowances for much wider and richer practices and experiences.
Previously I had understood this to be possible from an intellectual
perspective, but I only came to experience it here. You might say that my
former assumptions had been broken, the walls around what I believed held
correct truth was breached, and I became unstuck from the smallness of
exclusivity.
Jesus
challenges Nicodemus’ assumptions about what is means to be a part of the
kingdom of God and how one enters it. Jesus tells him that simply being born a
Jew or observing Jewish religious traditions and practices is insufficient.
Jesus tells him that entering God’s kingdom requires a radical change in
perspective. The gospel account does not go into detail here as to what that
change is – Jesus just tells Nicodemus, “And just as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever
believes in him may have eternal life.”[7]
The word “believes” often connote intellectual assent to a set of facts or
teachings, but in this gospel it is about trust. What or who does one trust to
bring life? Is it ancestry or religious teachings? Or is it found in a person?
Jesus tells
Nicodemus, “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but
you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone
who is born of the Spirit.”[8]
From the rest of this gospel account, what we hear and learn is that trust in
God involves becoming unstuck from preconceptions about God and becoming open
to unexpected ways in which God works in the world.
Childhood
me, teenager me, and even young adult me would never have imagined the kinds of
unexpected twists and turns my spiritual journey would take.
Basis of Belonging to God
The Apostle
Paul had his own experiences of having his assumptions and beliefs completely
changed by Jesus. A large portion of his letter to the Romans is his working
out how the history of Israel and Judaism now fit into God’s plan. Paul is
clear that they have not been done away or replaced. But what Jesus has done is
expand what it means to be included in God’s family.
Today’s
reading from Romans is a small part of that. In it Paul explains that God’s
plan is for all of the world to be included in God’s family. Whereas Israel
often pointed to the Exodus and the Law as the beginning of a special
relationship with God, Paul goes back to Abraham. Having been physically
descended from Abraham was thought to confer a special relationship to Israel
and the Jews, but in Romans chapter 4 Paul argues that Abraham is the father of
all the nations.[9]
Abraham is the father of all the nations not because of physical birth or
because the Law would eventually come through Moses, a descendant, but because Abraham
demonstrated trust in God.
And what was
this trust?
Abram Trusted God
This brings
us to the reading from Genesis. When God called Abram (before he was given
Abraham as a new name) to leave his ancestral lands and family, and go to where
God would lead him, Abram got up and left.
Where one’s
identity was tied to both land and family, to get up and leave both behind was
almost unthinkable. God was telling Abram to leave behind literally everything
that he had known and had given him identity, meaning, and place in life for
his seventy-five years. He had no son to carry on his name. God told Abram that
he would have to start his life completely over, to begin life as if he was born
again. Instead of being born into a physical family and tribe, God would become
his father and family for this new life that Abram would enter into.
That brings
us full circle back to where we began with Nicodemus. Nicodemus knew the
scriptures. He knew the history of Israel. But his assumptions about God and
his ethnic and religious belonging blocked him from seeing how broader God’s
inclusiveness and blessings were.
Jesus’ Invitation to Trust God
Jesus was inviting and pleading for Nicodemus to be like Abram, to leave behind those things that he thought brought identity, meaning, and place in life, be born anew, be born from above, and follow the Spirit’s leading into the kingdom of God.
When Paul
encountered Jesus on the Damascus Road, he accepted Jesus’ invitation to leave
behind the hindrances of the past and follow the Spirit into a new life and God’s
kingdom.
The same
invitation remains for each of us. Part of Lent is introspection and
reflection. This week my encouragement to you is to consider ways in which your
journey with God might have become stuck, and to consider ways in which you
might get unstuck.
Are
expectations of others keeping you from following God more authentically? Do
you have negative experiences from the past that make it difficult to trust,
especially God? Do you have conflicts or problems with the church? These are
just a few suggested placed to start.
The
important thing is to acknowledge that not all is well and identify things that
are possibly contributing to stress and discomfort. The Psalms contain numerous
examples of where the psalmists unleash their complaints and problems with God
onto God. It may be a cliché, but it is good to be reminded that God’s
lovingkindness can handle our biggest complaints and accusations hurled at God.
Letting go
of some of the hurts and complaints we have can allow us to hear God more
clearly and sense the presence and leading of the Spirit. And in response we
can follow, again, the example of the psalmists in offering praise. Many of the
psalms that begin with complaints and accusations end with praise. The
psalmists offer praise even before God has responded. They hold on to God’s
faithfulness and trust that God will respond.
Let me close
by reciting Psalm 121 once more as one of our bases for trust in God.
A Song of
Ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
from where will my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 He who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day
nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from
all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time on and forevermore. (Psalm 121 NRSVue)
[1]
IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, volume 2. Entry for John
3:3-4, 5. “Jesus speaks literally of being born “from above,” which means “from
God” (“above,” like “heaven,” was a Jewish circumlocution, or roundabout
expression, for God) … Most evidence for Greek traditions about individual
rebirth come from a later period, possibly formulated in light of Christianity,
but some Jewish analogies probably lack direct Christian influence. Because
Jewish teachers spoke of Gentile converts to Judaism as starting life anew like
“newborn children” (just as adopted sons under Roman law relinquished all legal
status in their former family when they became part of a new one), Nicodemus
should have understood that Jesus meant conversion; but it never occurs to him
that someone Jewish would need to convert to the true faith of Israel… Converts
to Judaism were said to become “as newborn children”; their conversion included
immersion in water to remove Gentile impurity. “Born of water” thus could
clarify for Nicodemus that “born from above” means conversion, not a second
physical birth.”
[2]
John 8:31-59 describes how the writer of this gospel account perceives as the
Jewish perspective on belonging to God through ancestry and ethnicity. Jesus
challenges this perspective and can be seen as an elaboration on what he says
to Nicodemus.
[3]
Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Belief #1. “The Holy Scriptures, Old
and New Testaments, are the written Word of God, given by divine inspiration.
The inspired authors spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. In
this Word, God has committed to humanity the knowledge necessary for salvation.
The Holy Scriptures are the supreme, authoritative, and the infallible
revelation of His will. They are the standard of character, the test of
experience, the definitive revealer of doctrines, and the trustworthy record of
God’s acts in history.” (https://www.adventist.org/holy-scriptures/)
[4]
Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Belief #6. “God has revealed in
Scripture the authentic and historical account of His creative activity. He
created the universe, and in a recent six-day creation the Lord made “the heavens
and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them” and rested on the seventh day.
Thus He established the Sabbath as a perpetual memorial of the work He
performed and completed during six literal days that together with the Sabbath
constituted the same unit of time that we call a week today. The first man and
woman were made in the image of God as the crowning work of Creation, given
dominion over the world, and charged with responsibility to care for it. When
the world was finished it was “very good,” declaring the glory of God.” (https://www.adventist.org/creation/)
[5]
Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Belief #13. “The universal church is
composed of all who truly believe in Christ, but in the last days, a time of
widespread apostasy, a remnant has been called out to keep the commandments of
God and the faith of Jesus. This remnant announces the arrival of the judgment
hour, proclaims salvation through Christ, and heralds the approach of His
second advent. This proclamation is symbolized by the three angels of
Revelation 14; it coincides with the work of judgment in heaven and results in
a work of repentance and reform on earth. Every believer is called to have a
personal part in this worldwide witness.” (https://www.adventist.org/remnant-and-its-mission/)
[6]
Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Belief #18. “The Scriptures testify
that one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is prophecy. This gift is an
identifying mark of the remnant church and we believe it was manifested in the
ministry of Ellen G. White. Her writings speak with prophetic authority and
provide comfort, guidance, instruction, and correction to the church. They also
make clear that the Bible is the standard by which all teaching and experience
must be tested.” (https://www.adventist.org/gift-of-prophecy/)
[7]
John 3:14-15.
[8]
John 3:8.
[9]
Romans 4:17.
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