God’s Possibilities

 

A Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent

March 5, 2023

The Rev. Robin Teasley

 

There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ 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.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

 

“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. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “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.”  John 3:1-17



Study for Nicodemus, Henry Ossawa Tanner

 

The Gospel according to John is a powerful portrayal of Jesus, and a central message of this gospel is believing. This message is summed up in John 20:31, “But these (words) are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.” The word “believe” is used about 100 times in John’s gospel, and 4 times in today’s passage alone. More importantly, this believing is directly connected with eternal life, so it seems good to think about what that might mean.

 

We all have a belief system, which began forming in early childhood, largely shaped by our surroundings; those people and ways of being to which we were exposed. We live comfortably in our own belief system until it is challenged. We believe we are normal, but what is normal in one culture or even household, is unheard of in another. 

 

One example is that in many places a fork and knife are used to eat chicken, but if you live in the south and the chicken is fried, well, you pick up that chicken with your fingers and take a bite! Another example is the state of the church before and after the pandemic. What was normal in church life until February of 2020 is no longer the norm in 2023.

 

In our belief system, our ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, even truth and falsehood are influenced by family, friends, schools, media, and the status quo around us. We believe what we have been taught to believe, or what we believe to be the truth, and for the most part, that’s a good thing, until it isn’t. Until our belief system is challenged, or completely changed by something outside of our control.



Visit of Nicodemus to Christ, John La Farge

 

Nicodemus is a Pharisee and a ruler, who believes on an intellectual level, and believes only what he sees – the signs that Jesus is doing. Nicodemus is a lot like us. He spends most of his time reading the scriptures and talking about God. You would think he would know God. He thinks he knows God! When he comes to Jesus he is secure in his knowledge of God and of his faith. He is confident that he is correct in his thinking, in his belief system. After all, his faith community has been doing things this way, believing these things, for centuries. Nicodemus is thinking, “Why would we need to change anything? We’ve always done it this way!”

 

But Jesus challenges Nicodemus’ certainty. Nicodemus believes he sees God in the signs Jesus does, but Jesus quickly expands this for Nicodemus, challenging his belief system, telling him that to see God, to see the Kingdom, he must be born from above. And Nicodemus, still quite sure of himself, hears Jesus saying he must be born again. For you see, in Greek, this word has two meanings – to be born from above, or to be born again. 

 

Nicodemus was hearing what he wanted to hear, rather than what was being said. I don’t know about you, but I have been guilty of simply tuning out the voices that do not agree with me. Nicodemus is quite sure that he is right, and he counters Jesus, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” It’s an impossibility and so Nicodemus is sure he is going to win this debate!



Christ and Nicodemus, Fritz Von Uhde

 

But this is not about winning, this is about believing. This is about believing not only in what you see, but in what you cannot see. It is about believing not only what you understand, but what you do not understand, or do not yet know. It is about believing that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name, new life from above!  


Nicodemus saw and understood many things about God, but his knowledge was incomplete. Perhaps he feared that being born from above would mean losing control, and he liked control; he liked knowing who was righteous and who was a sinner, what to eat and what not to eat, who was clean and who was unclean.

 

Jesus challenged Nicodemus to think about his belief system, in fact, to question it and expand it rather than assume it was complete. Jesus exhorted him to have trust in things he could not see and could not understand. Jesus challenges us to do the same. Every week we stand and say the Nicene Creed - We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. God has created all things and we have not yet seen everything! We are so much better at believing the seen than we are the unseen.

 

Most days I am more ready, like Nicodemus, to talk to God about what I know and about what I think I need. Somehow that is easier than waiting, listening, and trusting the unknown. It’s not always easy to put aside our assumptions and certainties- those things I can see and understand – in order to listen to the unseen, unknown possibilities God has for us.



 Jesus and the Business Man, or Jesus and Modern Day Nicodemus, Richard Hooks

 

What possibilities might we be limiting in our own lives because we are afraid to believe beyond the limits of our sight and understanding? What new thing are we afraid to risk? Lent offers us some space to be still with God, to see what God is doing, to hear what God might be saying, and to allow God to reveal to us places in our lives where we are refusing to believe and trust. 

 

Can we believe God will help us find new life after great loss, grace to overcome an addiction, acceptance of the children of God who are different? Can we believe that it is okay to let go of anger, or fear, or old ways of doing things? Can we trust Jesus to inform us and teach us, 

over and above our sometimes imperfect belief systems? If so, then we open ourselves to receive those unseen things God has created for us, things that might have seemed impossible until now. 

 

One of my earliest memories in my own belief system, was about the wind. At age four or so, I observed that when the trunks and branches of the trees swayed, when the leaves trembled and danced, there was a breeze that resulted. My conclusion was that wind came from the trees, and I held this belief until someone helped me learn the truth about the wind, to realize that I had been mistaken.



Jesus and Nicodemus, Alexander Ivanov

 

Jesus tells Nicodemus that “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.” Are we aware of the wind of the Spirit blowing in our lives? Do we see the wind of the Spirit moving things here at Immanuel?

 

Wind can produce energy. Wind dries out sodden fields, spreads pollen, and cleans out debris from trees. An open window allows wind to blow through and refresh stagnant, stale air.

 

Ever since the beginning, God has been creating and revealing new things, things seen and unseen. In the beginning a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. The wind blows where it chooses. Take time during Lent to be still, to give God your impossibilities…for these are God’s possibilities.  




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