Listen to Me: Commit (Or...what if you make time and space and desire to see differently?)

Genesis 12: 1 – 4 a

John 3:1-17

In case you haven’t figured me out yet, I tend to prefer to take the long view of scripture.  That is…no story stands completely on its own, and as we walk through life, if we’re working to really connect what scripture has to say to us in this time and place, we have to understand its broader context.

Since Epiphany, our gospel texts have shed light on how Jesus was a source of focus, refocus and redirection.  His voice is reinterpreting ancient understandings of who God is, how people relate to God and how people behave as a result of that relationship.

Sometimes, Christians read stories about Jesus as a correction of Judaism. Or a superior replacement to Judaism.  And I want us to be very careful about that. Such thinking can fuel anti-semitism. We can create false divisions if we are not careful.

As we continue to walk into Lent, a season when the scripture passages we read MIGHT draw us into an “us and them” blame game about who crucified Jesus, I want us to be aware of that trap.  And to seek good understanding.  And to repent of those places where perhaps we have been misguided in our reading over time.

And that work, that commitment is actually a great foundation for the ongoing work of understanding what Jesus is doing through his ministry. He’s shifting the lens and expanding the message…moving us a few feet in this direction or the other or adding a level of magnification in order to help us to see the world just a little bit differently.

Let us not forget that Jesus was Jewish.  He IS Jewish.  He did not come to replace the law. He comes to live the law.

Two weeks ago, we heard God’s voice as Jesus was transfigured before Peter, John and James on a mountain top.  This is my Son, the beloved.  Listen to him.

And that is where I am focusing preaching energy in this season.  In these passages through Lent, how is it that we are listening, deeply, for what Jesus is saying and how it speaks to us today?

With that as backdrop and foundation, let’s tackle today’s texts.

Our first text, from Genesis is foundational to the story of Abram and Sarai, who have not yet received their new names, Abraham and Sarah. God promises to bless this couple…and through them, to bless ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH.  All of them.

God’s promise to this family is a promise to all of creation.  You have been blessed to be a blessing.  Sometimes we forget the broad claim on this bloodline. And in doing so, we forget the broad reach.

In the text from John that we’ve just read, Nicodemus, a leader in the Jewish community, comes to Jesus by cover of night, on the surface to affirm Jesus for the signs and wonders he is performing. 

But I also assume he’s coming to kick the tires if you will…to gain a little insight. To see if this Jesus is really “all that…”  It seems like leading with an affirmation might actually be his way of pushing for some more proof. More things he can see, touch, experience.

And Jesus, who seems to be leaning into Nicodemus’s searching affirmation, shares with him the requirement for attaining the kingdom of God. You have to be born of again.

Nicodemus is aghast…you mean a fully grown adult has to return to their mother’s womb…that seems kind of impossible.

Jesus basically says…you are taking this too literally.

Do you hear that…YOU are not to take it all so literally.

Yep.  Not everything is what it seems. Sometimes we actually have to see differently. 

Nicodemus shows up wanting something he can touch.  He wants earthly proof.  He wants more miracles. 

But it is also possible that he wants to side-step what is hard about a more metaphorically reading.

I mean, how often do we want to feel like we are moving backward in life? Because that is what Jesus’s challenge includes – you might have to shed who you are and become someone new.

In this ancient culture, age and experience was a badge of honor and a mark of wisdom. It garnered respect.  In places where you were lucky to reach age 45, to be a fully mature adult really meant you’d achieved a place in the social order.

So even pushing Nicodemus past the literal understanding has the power to make him mightily uncomfortable. 

“If you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthy things, how can I expect you to understand when I tell you about things of the spirit…” ...when I tell you about things from above, from a higher conscience?

Jesus is letting Nicodemus know that there is so much more than his current perspective has understood. 

There is life and aliveness beyond what can be seen and touched.  Jesus is once again in his teaching reorienting those around him to SEE DIFFERENTLY. To EXPERIENCE something differently. To actually look more deeply.

And it the process, he’s making the call to discipleship even harder, more complicated, deeper.

What is born of the flesh is of the flesh. 

But how is it with our souls? Have we been born of Spirit?

So often we want to see something plain as day.  We want our bank accounts full. We want our fever to break.  We want some tangible proof that all is right with the world.  We want to rest on our worldly accomplishments. 

We want… I want to think that one more degree somehow makes me more. More smart, more capable, more leaderful, more lovable. One more book on my shelf will surely impart the exact knowledge I need for wholeness.

But what if it is SO MUCH more complicated than that. Or what if it is more elusive than that.

Or more internal than that. Or more spiritual than that. More eternal than that.

What if we have to be willing to give ourselves over to things that aren’t quite so clear and easily understood?  What if we have to let go of things that we think we know in order to SEE differently what God is doing in the world?

What if we have to give ourselves over to things we have to feel in our deepest places?

Are you willing to commit to something whose form is fuzzy? Something that doesn’t quite jive with all of your rational senses?

Are you ready to receive proof of God’s love for you in the depths of your being? When you do, how will you respond?

This past two weeks, a group of about 12 of us have been diving into a study of who we are as United Methodists.  And on that path, some discovered anew that part of what we believe and value as Methodists is that there is a lived experience of the Holy Spirit that shapes our understanding of God.

Now…maybe you think that sounds pretty charismatic.

Or maybe you’ve actually experienced your heart strangely warmed. Or a felt presence of God with you. Or a baptism of the Spirit. 

Maybe you have a very profound and specific experience of what Jesus and Nicodemus discuss – this idea of being born again.

Or maybe you don’t.

Or maybe you haven’t recognized it.  Maybe it is buried under rational thought. Or busy lives.  Or misunderstanding. Or doubt.

"Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 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.”

That is hard, complicated stuff.

We need to spend a moment tackling what comes next -- the text most cited at professional sporting events, on license plates, and tattoos.  Because that helps us tie back to our Genesis text, and perhaps gives us something to chew on as we ponder why we might need to move backward in our development in order to gain a richer understanding of what God is doing in the world. 

John 3:16 is deeply rooted in American Christianity.  I still have a VBS ear worm that lodges in my head in maddening ways…

“John 3:16 says that God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him will never die but have eternal life.

He is the way,

he is the truth,

he is the light,

so put your faith in Jesus Christ

and your soul will never die….”

You get the idea, right.  And we have very many times STOPPED reading at verse 16…but verse 17 is so very important.

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

God sent Jesus into the world not to condemn, but that the world might be saved.  Not my particular brand of Christianity.  Not my kind of people.  The world.

And that really points back to the promise made to Abram and Sarai. “In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

I don’t know about your early Christian upbringing, but I’ve had to let go of some things to fully embrace and receive that promise.  And to look for redemption and salvation as God’s promise to humanity.

How many times have we heard John 3:16 used as a line drawn in the sand? A line that expects people to believe in a very specific way in order to be fully embraced and included in God’s kingdom?

I mean, for centuries churches have fueled missions that sought to “convert,” to “bring Jesus to the heathen.”  Rather than exploring alongside people to see where Jesus is already there.

Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

This isn’t a Sunday for tying up scripture with a tidy bow. And while I struggle with that today, I also think it is exactly what Jesus was pointing to with Nicodemus. It isn’t easy. It isn’t black and white. It’s not literal. 

Jesus, Why are you asking me to think again?

Do I really have to climb back into my mother’s womb to be born again?

No…but, you might have to unlearn and unbecome.

And unbecoming might be really hard.

We might have to forget some of what we thought we knew.

We might have to feel things.

We might have to listen, learn and seek anew.

We might have to really expect God to show up in tangible ways.

We might be surprised by what happens when God does.

May it be so.

Amen.