Lent 2 A 2005
Genesis 12:1-4a
Psalm121
Romans 4:1-5,13-17
John 3:1-17
What do you see?
Look around this place and what do you see? A leaky roof, dark walls, people you know sitting in the
pews?
Do you see old friends, comfort, familiarity?
What do you see when you look at the world outside these
walls? Dirty snow, grey
skies,
muddy ground?
What do you see when you think about God? Mighty old man on a throne, long white
beard, doctrines and
creeds?
What do you see when you think about Jesus? Miracles and
signs? Loaves and fish?
sheep and goats? And the cross, stark and
barren against a cold grey sky?
Nicodemus looks at Jesus and sees a great teacher. A teacher from God, surely, one who has done signs…up to this point
in the Gospel of John Jesus has turned water into wine, and chased the money changers out of the
temple. And maybe more, it just says
that many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was
doing.
Nicodemus saw.
And now he comes to Jesus at night, speaking for a group of Pharisees
who are wondering about this Jesus.
We know you are a teacher from God. We saw the signs.
Not enough.
Says Jesus. It is not just about signs. There is more. Can you see it? Or do you just see the
signs?
If you are born from above you will see more!
Nicodemus is a Pharisee. He is an educated man. He is probably up on the current science
and philosophy of his time.
And he is far too practical and reasoned to know that you can’t be born
again. Silly.
Obvious.
We know. There
are laws of nature in play here.
Heck,
we know even more than Nicodemus about medicine and nature. The earth is round and revolves
around the sun.
We have computers and sonograms and Cat Scans and the Hubble.
The sun comes up in the east and sets in the west. Miracles can be explained
away.
We
see even deeper than Nicodemus thanks to electron
microscopes.
And we can even be reasonable about faith. The community of friends is
supportive, The sacraments give us strength. We baptize our children, get married in
the church, have pastor bury our
loved ones.
We say the creed and can list most of the
commandments.
We have this great teacher, whose words are recorded in this
great book.
Nicodemus, could be us.
Let’s be rational here.
You can’t be born again when you have already grown old.
But Jesus is serious, even while he speaks of things that leaves Nicodemus scratching his
head.
What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of the spirit
is spirit. No one can
enter the kingdom of heaven without being born of water and the
spirit.
Well,
everyone here been baptized?
Okay then. We
are already shook up! For 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.
Time to squirm. For Jesus has now left the realm of
predictability and common sense. He had us going through the
water and spirit.
But now the box is broken open and the Spirit has gotten
loose.
And off it goes like the wind. We can’t control it or
capture it or send it in the direction we think it should go.
We can’t predict it or pay for it or shut is
away.
But it blows among us and in us and through us. And if we are not careful, it will shake
us up and turn us around and make us see the world through new
eyes.
The Spirit/The Wind will get us when we are sitting
comfortably and predictably in our pews. Or when we are watching TV or
working on the computer or buying groceries.
It is a wild thing.
This gift of God. It cannot be precisely described or
contained or examined. But it
exists. And it wraps around us and
it changes us even against our better judgment.
And when the Spirit gets us, it changes us. Transforms
us. Causes
us to see the world as the
Nicodemus isn’t sure yet. He fades out of the story, scratching his
head. But later in John he appears
again. Once, to urge his
colleagues to listen to Jesus before they judge him. And again, at the end of John where he, along with Joseph of Arimathea bury Jesus.
Faith is kindled, the Spirit blows and slowly it
catches fire. Nicodemus later
risks his standing in the community for the sake of Jesus. Not understanding the whole
picture,
any more than we do.
But something is there, beyond what the eye can see or the mind can
comprehend.
For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the
world. Nicodemus is not
condemned because he doesn’t get it.
God sent the Son into the world in order that the world might
be saved through him. The world…
Something is there, like the wind in the trees, like the breath of God.
And Nicodemus sees more than he did before.
And so do we. And so do we.
For when the Spirit is among us, we no longer see the leaky roof
and dark walls. But holy ground.
And the people sitting in the pews are not just old friends
or new faces,
but brothers and sisters,
children of God.
And out there, there will be grass growing
soon, can you see it? And the sun behind the
clouds?
And God is bigger than any person, more than a creed or a
doctrine, not just sitting
somewhere out there, but riding on
the wind…
And Jesus? Jesus the teacher miracle worker healer
lover and lord…
And the cross…in the Gospel of John the cross itself is not a
piece of dead wood, but it is green
too, with new life growing out of
it.
The wild untamable unpredictable Spirit is among us and
around us and in us. May it continue to fill us and
strengthen us and send us out that we may do crazy unpredictable kingdom loving
acts of love and justice.
And others will take note and scratch their heads and
say: “What do those crazy
folks at Lord of Life see?
Maybe we should come and see it too?”
Amen.