John 3:1-21
Psalm 139:13-18
1/23/22
What
happens in today’s story? In today’s
gospel reading, Nicodemus is asking literal questions which Jesus answers at
many levels, the least of which is the literal.
Nicodemus’ response is to become very simply perplexed by Jesus’
answers. He cannot move out of the
literal, and Jesus becomes frustrated with him saying “Are you a teacher of
Israel and yet you do not understand these things? …If I have told you about earthly things and
you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?” We hear Jesus’ frustration with Nicodemus’
limited understanding and limited views.
But while we understand that when Jesus is talking about being born from
above, that he is not talking about an actual second physical birth,
none-the-less are we any more understanding of these difficult ideas, of these
deep truths? What does it really mean
that “The wind (or spirit) 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.” Does it mean that we won’t recognize the Spirit because it comes
unexpectedly? Does it mean that everyone
born of the Spirit is like the wind, flitting in and out?
So
today, I actually want us to do something a little different. We are going to do a study, rather than have
a traditional sermon, and we are going to look at a number of different
Biblical passages, all of which talk about “salvation” or “eternal life”. I want to start by saying that I know we have
different understandings within this room about what that even means, and I am
not going to talk about what it means right now. That’s for a different date. For today I want to talk about how we get
there. Because there are a lot of
different scriptures and they say different things. So, for today I invite you to listen, to
think, but also to participate with me in this, exploring these scriptures.
The
first passage I want us to look at is Matthew 25, which we spend a lot of time
on. Who remembers the crux of Matthew
25:31-46? “Now when the Human One[a]
comes in his majesty and all his angels are with him, he will sit on his
majestic throne. All the nations will be
gathered in front of him. He will separate them from each other, just as a
shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right
side. But the goats he will put on his left. Then the king will say to those on
his right, ‘Come, you who will receive good things from my Father. Inherit the
kingdom that was prepared for you before the world began. I was hungry and you
gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger
and you welcomed me. I was naked and you
gave me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison
and you visited me.’ Then those who are righteous will reply to him, ‘Lord,
when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger and welcome
you, or naked and give you clothes to wear?
When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ Then the king will
reply to them, ‘I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of
these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.’ Then he will say
to those on his left, ‘Get away from me, you who will receive terrible things.
Go into the unending fire that has been prepared for the devil and his
angels. I was hungry and you didn’t give
me food to eat. I was thirsty and you didn’t give me anything to drink. I was a stranger and you didn’t welcome me. I
was naked and you didn’t give me clothes to wear. I was sick and in prison, and
you didn’t visit me.’ Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry
or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and didn’t do anything
to help you?’ Then he will answer, ‘I
assure you that when you haven’t done it for one of the least of these, you
haven’t done it for me.’ And they will
go away into eternal punishment. But the righteous ones will go into eternal
life.”
In
this passage what determines salvation?
What is NOT mentioned here?
(faith!).
This
passage in Matthew is in great contrast to the passage we just read from
John. But while the passage I read to
you from John talks about faith being the doorway to God, I now would like to
read to you from the book of Mark 1:21-28: “Jesus and his followers went into
Capernaum. Immediately on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and started
teaching. The people were amazed by his teaching, for he was teaching them with
authority, not like the legal experts. Suddenly, there in the synagogue, a
person with an evil spirit screamed, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of
Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are the holy one
from God.’ ‘Silence!’ Jesus said, speaking harshly to the demon. ‘Come out of
him!’ The unclean spirit shook him and screamed, then it came out. Everyone was
shaken and questioned among themselves, ‘What’s this? A new teaching with
authority! He even commands unclean spirits and they obey him!’ Right away the
news about him spread throughout the entire region of Galilee.”
Who
is it in this passage that actually recognized and believed that Jesus was the
Holy One, the Son of God? Who was
it? It was the demon. In Matthew 8 there is a story very similar to
this about the demons in two men who also recognize Jesus for who he is. They also then submitted to Jesus will. To quote Matthew 8:32: “Then Jesus said to
the demons, ‘Go away.’ And they came out and went into the pigs.” So not only did they have faith, but they
obeyed him. Are they then saved?
Now
I’d like to read from you from 1 Corinthians 12:8-10: “A word of wisdom is given by the Spirit to
one person, a word of knowledge to another according to the same Spirit, faith
to still another by the same Spirit, gifts of healing to another in the one
Spirit, performance of miracles to another, prophecy to another, the ability to
tell spirits apart to another, different kinds of tongues to another, and the
interpretation of the tongues to another.”
One
of the many things that this says to me is that faith is a gift. So, if what you need for salvation is faith,
but faith is a gift from God, what does this say for those who have not been
gifted by faith? Did God pre-ordain them
to not receive salvation? Does this mean
God has purposely withheld faith and therefore salvation from some? Hm.
That wouldn’t be a very loving God would it?
One
of my favorite passages is from Romans 14:8-11. “If we live, we live for the
Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we
belong to God. This is why Christ died
and lived: so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. But why do you judge your brother or sister?
Or why do you look down on your brother or sister? We all will stand in front
of the judgment seat of God. Because it
is written, As I live, says the Lord, EVERY knee will bow to me, and EVERY
tongue will give praise to God.” This is
also reflected in Luke 3:4-6: A voice
crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths
straight. Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be
leveled. The crooked will be made straight and the rough places made smooth.
And ALL people will see God’s salvation.”
So,
the question that is raised by this for me is, if every knee will bow and every
tongue give praise to God, and if all people will see God’s salvation, that
sounds awfully inclusive. And if
salvation is achieved through faith or confession or belief, or even works, how
does these passages fit into that?
Finally,
we have the passage from John 14. Jesus
says, “I am the Truth, the Way, the Life.”
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me.” Many Christians have
interpreted this to again say that all we have to do is believe. But I don’t hear it this way. This is about a whole lot more than believing
– this is about following in and being in the “Way” and it’s about living “the
Life”. We come to God by following in or
going in or being in Jesus’ way- So once again we are back to looking at what
Jesus did and what we, therefore, are also called to do. Jesus loved everyone –including his enemies –
forgiving even those who killed him from the cross. He healed the sick. He challenged the self-righteous to act with
love rather than legalism. He fed everyone
who came to him. And we are called to do
the same.
As
you know, there has been a long-standing controversy among Christians about
what it really is that saves. As these
passages point out, this controversy was present from the beginning of
Christianity and was therefore written into our very Biblical passages. But I think that James sums it up for us
pretty well in his second chapter vs. 14-17: “My brothers and sisters, what
good is it if people say they have faith but do nothing to show it? Claiming to
have faith can’t save anyone, can it?
Imagine a brother or sister who is naked and never has enough food to
eat. What if one of you said, “Go in
peace! Stay warm! Have a nice meal!”? What good is it if you don’t actually
give them what their body needs? In the
same way, faith is dead when it doesn’t result in faithful activity.” We try to separate these things out, but
James tells us that they really can’t be separated out.
And
that leads us back to today’s passage. In
the lectionary passage today, the story of Nicodemus, while Jesus uses the
phrase, “you must be born from above” and it is only Nicodemus who uses the
phrase “born again”, an idea Jesus challenges as showing a lack of understanding. It is ironic, then, that so many Christians
have bought into Nicodemus’ phrasing of needing to be “born again”, not paying
attention to the fact that not only is this not Jesus’ idea, but that Jesus
actually gets upset with the way Nicodemus fails to understand Jesus. We can again become Nicodemus by being
literal about a need for a second birth.
We can become formulaic in our understanding of what it is to be “saved,”
the very thing Jesus is confronting.
Nicodemus is trying hard to make these ideas of being born of water and
spirit literal and tangible – graspable.
We understand that. We, too, want
these ideas to be understandable, clear-cut, simple and spelled out for
us. Tell us what we need to do to be
saved. Make it clear for us and easy. But Jesus says “no”. “Being born of water and spirit” cannot be
rigid, or fixed. If it becomes cliché or
codified, it loses depth of meaning.
Being born both of water (especially in the form of baptism) and Spirit
requires putting aside certitude and assumptions – that is part of what Jesus means
when he declares that the Spirit will blow where it chooses and we will not
know from whence it comes or where it is going.
Trying to pin down faith in a formulaic or set way cheapens it and
destroys it. Instead, being born from
the spirit invites us to recognize that God’s full character as revealed in
Jesus will reshape our lives only if we stay open to where the Spirit leads, to
where it blows in spite of and in contrast to our assumptions and expectations.
A
tourist came too close to the edge of the Grand Canyon, lost his footing and
plunged over the side, clawing and scratching to save himself. After he went out of sight and just before he
fell into space, he ran into a scrubby bush which he desperately grabbed with
both hands. Filled with terror, he
called out to heaven, “is there anyone up there?” A calm, powerful voice came out of the sky,
“yes.” The tourist pleaded, “Help
me! Help me!” The voice responded, “Are you a
believer?” “Yes, yes!” “Do you have faith?” “Yes, yes!
I have strong faith.” The voice
said, “In that case, simply let loose of the bush and trust that everything
will turn out fine.” There was a tense
pause, then the tourist yelled, “Is there anyone else up there?”
Having
enough faith, loving others enough – striving to do these things is all part of
the journey. It is all something we grow
into. The question “Have you been saved?” for me is always be answered with, “I
am on the way” because it isn’t a switch – either on or off. It is a process of becoming more
faith-filled, becoming more loving, following more closely in the path of Jesus
every day. Many seem to be able to point
to a moment in time when they came to faith or offered their life to
Jesus. But I see even by their actions
that they are, too, are really still on their way to true faith –most have not
yet reached the point where, like Jesus, they are willing to give up their
lives so that others, even their enemies, may live.
So,
as always, the question remains, where is the good news in this? All of the passages we read today give us
some insight into salvation. But the
Good News is that ultimately, salvation is not about us - it is about God. It is God who saves. It is God who loves us. It is God who gives us the grace that leads
us “home.” And for me, what all of
these different passages say, what God’s grace points out, is that I really
can’t be in the position of judging anyone else’s path. It is not for me to limit how or to whom
God’s grace extends. My concern needs to
be about following the best I can in the path.
I
want to share with you a quote from Charles Peguy (French poet & essayist
1873 – 1914) “Grace is insidious. When
grace doesn’t come straight, it comes bent. When it doesn’t come from above, it
comes from below. When it doesn’t come from the center, it comes from the
circumference. We may finish a way we never began, but we shall finish. This
age, this land, this people, this world, will get there along a road they never
set out on.”
And
finally, I want to end finally with a poem written by Ken Rookes intitled,
Sometimes
I am born from above
Sometimes I am born from above;
my spirit soars and I sense
that greater Spirit touching and caressing
my soul. Perhaps it is merely
my imagination, but I feel myself
rising above my petty concerns,
my selfish fears. In these moments
my soul sings (with Dame Julian),
all shall be well;
and my conviction grows deeply
that I must employ all my best efforts
to make it so.
At other times
I find myself firmly tethered
to this dust-filled earth, and those same
inward preoccupations push urgently
and insistently to the front,
and I worry, like the man in the story;
will I have enough, and have I got it right,
and will those gates be opened to me?
Sometimes I am born from above
and I feel the Spirit’s wind blowing,
blowing, and hear her singing
with words outrageous
and melody unconstrained;
thus I find myself moving awkwardly
but unembarrassed amidst rhythms
half-learned, infused with life
and never fully understood.
Let us be open to
God’s Spirit today and everyday. Amen.
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