Presented March 8, 2020 by Rev. Jesse Larson
Based on John 3:1-17
From 2001 through 2005, I had the privilege of as serving as the Director of Youth and Outreach at the First Presbyterian Church of Buffalo, New York. I not only worked with refugees and immigrants in our community, but I had fun as a youth pastor, pastoring to a diverse group of teenagers. We had youth who were African American, Puerto Rican, white, and even tribal. One summer we participated in a mission trip to a Mohawk reservation in northern New York State. Two of our youth, Chasi and her brother Travis, had an uncle who lived on the reservation, so I joined them and their uncle for a lunch. As we were chatting, Chasi and Travis began speaking a bit about their hopes for the future. I chimed in, encouraging their plans, and then adding, with a little humor, that they would be wise to first finish college before starting a family. I shared this because three of Chasi’s friends were already pregnant at 17. Well, after my comment, their uncle looked me directly in the eye and declared, “There is nothing wrong with building a nation.” I laughed nervously but was speechless; I had always assumed that waiting to have a family after marriage and schooling was a universal goal.
As I considered the experiences of a Mohawk man from a reservation, I began to understand why he might be so passionate about his tribe growing under any circumstances. Sadly, we know our brutal history that virtually wiped out most Native American populations from existence. It’s difficult for me to fathom what it must be like to have survived genocide, and to long for a new reality for one’s downtrodden people. For him, babies born under any circumstances meant future generations for his tribe, and thus its survival.
Such experiences really stick with us because they cause us to consider what we believe and why. They not only illuminate what we value, but they also make us aware of when we have had blinders up. And the truth is all of us navigate this world with sizable blinders over our eyes.
In our bible text for today, we encounter a man, Nicodemus, who was in need of having his world view disrupted and his blinders lifted. Nicodemus, a Pharisee, was a guardian of harsh religious dogma. As one reads the four gospel accounts, Jesus is in frequent conflict with the religious leaders of Judaism—the priests, scribes, and the Pharisees. They upheld the rules of their faith and sought to maintain their traditions and the status quo. They thought that they were protecting their faith, but in all actually, their intolerant practices were hurting many people. They were so consumed with gate-keeping and laws that they forgot that the entire purpose of religion is to connect with the divine. Thus Jesus continually confronted these leaders, as he did in today’s text, so that they might open their hearts and minds to a deeper relationship with God.
After all, isn’t this the very reason why we are all gathered here today?
We not only long for spiritual food and hope for the coming week, but we also want to have a deeper relationship with God.
Yes, we long for that peace that passes all understanding when our faith is bolstered, but in today’s text, Jesus also explains that a deeper relationship with God involves embracing the mysterious and unpredictable nature of God’s Spirit. As Jesus explains, it is an uncontrollable force, just like the wind!
This is why we pray to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable; we know that change and leaps of faith are essential to spiritual growth. To make room for the movement of the Spirit, Jesus urges us to set aside our dogma and preconceived notions, and to see our faith and the world in new ways. Rather than considering our embracing of the Gospel as a sort of graduation day—that we are saved and everything’s now fine and dandy—it is more of a first step in a long journey of constant growth, reflection, and insights. We Reformed Christians should understand this idea because we never believe we have fully made it—we are “reformed and always reforming.” We are always trying to go deeper and deeper in our relationship with God.
The good news is that the Spirit is always reaching out to us, presenting us with all sorts of creative ways to be in deeper relationship with God and one another. Today’s text is actually a cliffhanger—we don’t know what Nicodemus decides to do. But, in time, we learn in Chapter 19 of John’s Gospel that Nicodemus joined Joseph of Arimathea to anoint Jesus’ body and bury him after the crucifixion. Clearly Nicodemus’ heart was opened, and his love of Christ was evident in his tender act of care in Christ’s burial especially during a time when anyone associated with Jesus was being hunted down and arrested.
And it all started with Nicodemus’ willingness to cast aside his fear, his traditions, and open his heart to what Jesus was saying.
If you inventory your life, I assume it’s had lots of twists and turns. And I would also bet that you consider these unforeseen chapters as being quite meaningful to your story. I never would have thought I would have ever lived in Iowa, but you know what, I spent five years in there … and then four in Wisconsin … and I wouldn’t change a thing! They were great years full of meaningful ministry. And now here I am in Sacramento … who knows what God has in store for us? We are together and I think that’s a very good thing.
Please don’t get me wrong—what we believe is important and rules matter. But the problem is when all of the rules and expectations replace our deeper relationship with God and one another. When we put our energy into gate-keeping, it becomes a distraction from the true work God is calling us to.
When we think of all the chapters of the life of Bethany Presbyterian Church—this church has been physically uprooted more than once and our ancestors managed to “be the church” in the midst of the Great Depression, world wars, racial strife, natural disasters and economic turmoil—we know that Bethany didn’t survive because of dogma and rules, but rather because of a bold willingness to engage God’s Spirit and take leaps of faith.
And we know we face big issues today—global pandemics, climate change, job insecurity, and homelessness—and that we will only manage these problems with a deep faith in a God of mystery and miracles that hasn’t abandoned us yet!
So, then, what better time than now—in this Lenten season—to listen for God’s Spirit, to pray and reflect, and to open our hearts to a deeper relationship with God? Ask questions, have meaningful conversations, consider what you believe, and probe your reasons for why you believe what you believe and why you do what you do.
As we open ourselves to the Spirit of God, which moves in the most marvelous of ways, we are empowered to not only tackle challenges we face, but to work to build heaven here on Earth.
Talk about a blessing and an opportunity! May it be so. Amen.
