{"id":513060,"date":"2020-03-08T14:44:39","date_gmt":"2020-03-08T18:44:39","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2026-08-24T18:26:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T22:26:02","slug":"nicodemus-lent-2-a-march-8-2020","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/sermons\/nicodemus-lent-2-a-march-8-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Nicodemus, Lent 2 (A) – March 8, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[RCL]: Genesis 12:1-4a; Psalm 121; Romans 4:1-5, 13-17; John 3:1-17<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There is a trend among preachers, particularly lectionary preachers, to try and find that elusive \u201cfresh perspective\u201d or \u201cnew insight\u201d into the Biblical text. The more familiar the text, the more fever-pitched the effort to say something \u201cnew\u201d about it. Enter John chapter three, verse sixteen: \u201cFor 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin Luther called John 3:16 \u201cthe Gospel in a nutshell.\u201dGood luck trying to add fresh perspective or new insight to that! But maybe that\u2019s not the point.For as pervasive as John 3:16 is in our culture\u2014emblazoned on billboards, bumper stickers, hats, pillows, professional sport team schedules, to name a few\u2014perhaps the preacher\u2019s task in proclaiming this text is not to find a fresh new metaphor or illustrative story; no, maybe the task is simply to return the focus of the faithful to the text itself.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, John 3:16 is well-known and oft-quoted, but how many of us could go on to quote John 3:17? Who among us knows Nicodemus\u2019 backstory by heart? And if we\u2019re being honest, how many of us could have identified Nicodemus as the one to whom Jesus is speaking in John chapter 3?While John 3:16 has rightly earned its place among the most memorable and hopeful verses in the New Testament, its larger context here is a powerful witness to the love of the God we meet in Jesus.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicodemus, says John\u2019s Gospel, was a leader among the Jews. In public, Nicodemus\u2019s loyalties were clearly devoted to the Jewish establishment. But in private, Nicodemus had his doubts. And so, he visits Jesus under the cover of nightfall.\u201cRabbi,\u201d Nicodemus says, \u201cwe 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.\u201d<\/span>To put it another way, Nicodemus saw that Jesus was a good teacher and a knowledgeable interpreter of Torah, but Jesus was also filled with God\u2019s life-giving Spirit, and Nicodemus wanted that kind of relationship with God, too.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, as Jesus so often does, he says something that utterly astounds everyone: \u201cVery truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.\u201dIn other words, glimpsing the Kingdom of God isn\u2019t a matter of praying a certain way or believing a certain way or following a certain set of liturgical customs; it\u2019s about a complete rebirth of our entire existence! On hearing this, Nicodemus asks an honest question that seems almost laughably quaint and na\u00efve to our 21st-centur<\/p>\n\n\n\n

years: \u201cHow can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother\u2019s womb and be born?\u201dBut for as off-the-mark as Nicodemus\u2019 question might seem to us, might it not also demonstrate something important about the way God tends to work?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider, for example, Abraham and Sarah. God promises them a son. The ancient scribe matter-of-factly cues us into the dramatic irony surrounding this promise, writing flatly, \u201cIt had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women\u201d (Gen. 18:11b).Upon hearing the absurd promise of a child, Sarah laughs! Even the name of the promised child\u2014Isaac\u2014means \u201che laughs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what of Moses? God speaks to him through a burning bush, proclaiming that he would be God\u2019s agent in delivering the Hebrew people. Moses\u2019 response: \u201cWho, me? You must have the wrong guy! I don\u2019t even know your name!\u201dPerhaps most astonishing of all is the moment God decided to convert the Apostle Paul. The Book of Acts recalls that Paul was \u201cstill breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord\u201d (Acts 9:1a) when God sent a dazzling bolt of light and called him to become an apostle. The same dynamic is at play here with Jesus and Nicodemus.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

God is once again working around the edges, making possible what was long thought impossible.Nicodemus comes to Jesus under the cover of nightfall\u2014John\u2019s code for uncertainty and apprehension. He\u2019s well aware that Jesus is a capable, insightful teacher, and he\u2019s demonstrated his knowledge of Torah. But there\u2019s something else about him, something Nicodemus can\u2019t quite put his finger on, so he takes a chance and asks Jesus about it face-to-face: \u201cRabbi, 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.\u201dJesus tells Nicodemus that in order to see the kingdom of God, we have to give our whole selves over to an entirely different way of being. We have to be \u201cborn from above.\u201d Jesus is inviting Nicodemus into a deeper relationship with the Living God, and what\u2019s Nicodemus\u2019 response? Is it \u201cYes! Sign me up! What do I do first?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No.He says, \u201cSo let me get the mechanics of this straight. I\u2019m born from my mother, and you\u2019re saying I have to be born again. That\u2019s impossible!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can almost hear Sarah\u2019s laughter and Moses\u2019 hesitation and Paul\u2019s seething rippling through the background.But the truth is, this happens all the time among people of faith, doesn\u2019t it?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus says, \u201cDo unto others,\u201d and we say, \u201cOkay, so long as I know who they are and get along okay with them.\u201dJesus says, \u201cGive your life to the work of the Kingdom,\u201d and we say, \u201cHow about an annual pledge?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus says, \u201cLove one another and forgive one another as you are loved and forgiven,\u201d and we say, \u201cDefine love. Set some ground rules for us around this whole forgiveness thing.\u201dAnd yet, Sarah gave birth to her son anyway, Moses found the grace to accept God\u2019s call, Paul put away his old life and devoted himself to the Risen Christ. The same is true for Nicodemus.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After he leaves Jesus, he returns to his position among the Jewish establishment. His conversion doesn\u2019t happen with a bolt or a flash; there\u2019s no really memorable story that gets passed down through the ages.But deep down, and ever so slightly, something begins to turn.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nicodemus\u2019 rebirth happens over the course of a long journey, which began under the cover of darkness when he took a chance on Jesus. He was an uncertain, fly-by-night skeptic.And the truth is, with the exception of one brief mention in John chapter 7, we never hear from Nicodemus again\u2014that is, until the end of John\u2019s Gospel. And it is here that Nicodemus\u2019 birth from above is laid bare.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Jesus hangs crucified, after all of the other disciples had fled for fear of persecution, there stands Nicodemus at the foot of the cross, armed with myrrh and aloes and the other provisions for Jewish burial, ready to bear the broken and lifeless body of the crucified Lord to its grave.Jesus said, \u201cFor 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.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can never fully know what Nicodemus was thinking as he departed Jesus\u2019 company after hearing these words. But we can be sure that something within him was changed. And little by little, his heart was broken open and he was born anew, finding his way through darkness and doubt, to the cross.Would that we meet him there.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This sermon was written by the Rev. Marshall A. Jolly<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sermon-English-Lent-2A-2020<\/strong><\/a>Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[RCL]: Genesis 12:1-4a; Psalm 121; Romans 4:1-5, 13-17; John 3:1-17 There is a trend among preachers, particularly lectionary preachers, to try and find that elusive \u201cfresh perspective\u201d or \u201cnew insight\u201d into the Biblical text. The more familiar the text, the more fever-pitched the effort to say something \u201cnew\u201d about it. Enter John chapter three, verse sixteen:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[51,43,52,3],"tags":[151],"class_list":["post-513060","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lent","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-lent-2a"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":51,"label":"Lent"},{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":151,"label":"Lent 2A"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/513060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/513060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3485591,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/513060\/revisions\/3485591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}