Lessons:  Genesis 12:1-8; Psalm 33:12-22; Romans 4:1-17; John 3:1-17

Collect:  O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Gospel: 

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 NRSV

 

Homily:

Last week we entered Lent with two stories of temptation.  Adam and Eve said yes to temptation, Jesus said no.  We were left with the hope that the voice of Jesus is still audible within us, that he is present and able to speak above the voices that seek to destroy our lives.  And that when we listen, he can be heard.

Today we are confronted with a story of discovery and salvation.  His name is Nicodemus.  He was a Pharisee and as such was a Hebrew of deep devotion and piety.  He knew the law.  He knew the rules.  He longed to please God.  He must have encountered Jesus in the temple on previous occasions to have sought him out in the dark of the night.  He knew Jesus had been set apart in some particular way by God as no one he had ever encountered could do the miracles he had witnessed with this one lone Jew.

He wanted to understand.

Jesus must have recognized the sincerity on his face.  Nicodemus was not a fighter, he was a seeker.  Jesus tells him that to understand the things of God he must be born again.  He tells him he is lacking - not in knowledge, not in longing, but he is lacking the Spirit.  He must be born-again, not of the flesh, but of water and the Spirit.

One of the most profound visual translations of this story comes from the original black-and-white movie depicting the life of Helen Keller entitled The Miracle Worker.  In the film the audience witnesses the years of endless frustration and agony as Anne Sullivan and Helen’s family attempt to breakthrough her blindness and deafness in an attempt to share with her the gift of communication and language.  She has been able to memorize patterns and responses, but they are shapes without meaning.  Ms. Sullivan, the Christ figure in Helen’s life, never gives up.  She never gives up.  She never gives up.

One day they are out at the pump refilling a pitcher of water when Anne attempts one more time to spell the word  w-a-t-e-r into the palm of her hand while Helen’s hand is experiencing the rush of water from the pump into the same hand.  And suddenly Helen gets it.  She makes the connection between the word, the spelling and its meaning.  Of that experience she writes:

"We walked down the path to the well-house, attracted by the fragrance of the honeysuckle with which it was covered. Someone was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream gushed over one hand she spelled into the other the word 'water' first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten — a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew that 'w-a-t-e-r' meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! There were barriers still, it is true, but barriers that could in time be swept away."

That’s what Jesus wants for Nicodemus.  That’s what he wants for us.  He doesn’t want us to be satisfied with the memorized patterns – but wants us to be filled with the Spirit of God that creates ecstatic connections between life and Life.  God longs for our journey to have meaning, to have connection, to have purpose.  Helen’s ‘baptism’ at the pump that day was the end of her solitary life.  She was born again.  Born not to a solitary, insular life, but born into community.  So too we, through baptism, are born into the shared life of the Body of Christ.

Have you been born again?  Baptism into the life of the Spirit is not a moment in time; it is a way of life.  Lent offers us the opportunity to “wake-up” to the refreshing waters of the baptismal pump.  But you have to want more than the memorized patterns, more than the rules, to leave comforts of habit to find abundant 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 3:16-17