+ Thoughts on the 2nd Sunday of Lent (01/03/26) +
Genesis 12.1–4a; Psalm 121;
Romans 4.1–5, 13–17; John 3.1–17
So what are
our ‘works’ for? Why fast, why pray, why give alms?
Well it’s
not to ‘earn our ticket’, that’s for sure.
I’d like to
clarify by referring to another Gospel passage – I hope it doesn’t overload you
too much. It’s a very familiar one, the Parable of the Sower.
Do you
remember? A farmer sowed the seed which is the Word of God (the Good News of
the Gospel of His love). That seed landed on various types of soil. Some seed
landed on inhospitable soil (rocky, shallow and overrun with weeds) and other
seed landed on hospitable soil (well prepared, cleared of rocks and weeds, and
enriched with nutrients).
Surprise,
surprise! The seed that lands on unprepared soil perishes before it has the
chance to bear fruit. The seed that lands on well-prepared soil springs up and
produces a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred times.
We’ve heard
the story many times haven’t we? The crop, or the fruit in question here is the
fruit of the Holy Spirit, which St Paul lists as, love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)
We don’t
work as Christians in order to earn our way to salvation, let’s be very clear.
We work to prepare the soil of our hearts, so that the seed of God’s Word can
take root and produce a harvest of unspeakable joy and peace - and all the
other gifts I have just mentioned - that come to adorn the Christian who
practices his or her faith in earnest.
The
practices of our faith (the fasting, almsgiving, and prayer) are our
traditional way of removing rocks and weeds, and watering and nourishing the
soil so that the many blessings of the Gospel begin to overflow in our lives,
and into the lives of those around us.
Let’s labour
the point – it’s worth labouring. Our 2nd reading, which is actually
St. Paul’s commentary on our 1st reading from Genesis, says that ‘Abraham
believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ Sounds easy
doesn’t it?
However, believing
God, or trusting God with your future, when you don’t know exactly what that
future is going to look like, doesn’t come easy.
That’s exactly
what Abraham did. All he had was God’s promise that he would be blessed, that
his descendants after him would be blessed, and all those who blessed him would
be blessed.
Would that
be enough to get you (or me) to pack up and move? That was Abraham’s response,
and the text needs no embellishment: So Abram went, as
the Lord had told him…
(It seems
odd not to mention my recent move from Sherborne to Holwell at this point but
let’s not for a moment pretend that I am Abraham’s comrade in this respect. I’m
less than 15 minutes away; Holwell isn’t a desert; I am keeping my doctor,
dentist and mechanic; and I am keeping my friends, even though I am busy making
lots of new ones.)
You know,
believing God - believing in His goodness and trusting Him with our futures - requires
a cultivated heart. The rocks of our materialist convictions and our secular
values need to be dug up and removed. The weeds of cynicism, of suspicion, of
doubt and fear need to be uprooted. Our past hurts and shameful memories need
to be healed and cleansed, so that we can begin to trust again, and dare to
believe that we are safe in the hands of a Father-God who loves us beyond what
we are able to imagine.
Let’s move
to consider the Gospel, where we meet Nicodemus, a well-meaning Pharisee. He
comes to Jesus at night and opens with a statement that actually masks the
desires of his heart: ‘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.’
It always
struck me that Jesus completely ignores what Nicodemus says. Did you notice
that?
Jesus
answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God
without being born from above.’ Jesus knows exactly what Nicodemus really
wants, and it’s in perfect keeping with something he says in the Gospel of St.
Matthew (6:33). I’m paraphrasing but the gist is this: seek first the
kingdom of God and everything else will be given to you’.
This is
where it gets difficult for Nicodemus because as an upstanding Pharisee he’s
probably spent most of his life doing the right thing. He has kept the
Commandments and the strict demands of the Jewish Oral Law. He has fasted and
given alms to the poor. He has prayed and studied the Scriptures, and here,
now, in the presence of a man whom he knows is a representative of God he has come face to face with a brick wall
(he can’t quite see the full picture of who Jesus really is yet).
No wonder
the text says that he came to Jesus ‘at night’. That doesn’t just suggest that
he came in secret, it implies that he came in ignorance, and that’s important
because at this point in a faith journey everything we think we know about
‘getting to heaven’ becomes redundant.
It has been
useful up to this point because it has brought us face to face with Jesus, but
at this stage our own practice of the Christian faith has to give way to
something mysterious that happens by grace.
This ‘birth
from above’ that opens the door to the Kingdom of God is a gift. It cannot be
bought with good deeds or the right theology. It is something given, and it’s
given by the grace of God the Holy Spirit.
Jesus turned
the heat up under Nicodemus even more when he elaborated and said, 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’
ignorance becomes even clearer here and he responds, ‘How can these things
be?’ And Jesus, far from being consoling, exposes his ignorance even
further and replies: ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not
understand these things?
I can only
imagine the feeling of helplessness that must have engulfed Nicodemus at this
point. Imagine believing that you are an expert in something and then imagine
being exposed as a rank amateur. Imagine the confusion; the frustration;
perhaps even the shame.
What is
Nicodemus to do? What are we to do when we are faced with the
reality that salvation is a gift of God, and he gives it to whomsoever he
chooses? As Jesus said, The wind blows where it chooses… So it is with
everyone who is born of the Spirit.
Well there’s
a simple answer to that: we ask. We ask as a child would ask. Remember that
Jesus tells us that unless we change tack and become like children, we will
never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3).
And what
does it take for us to ask as a child would ask? A certain belief that our
request will be granted by a good God who wants to give us his gifts. And what
do we call that belief in that type of God? We call it faith.
Jesus ends
his dismantling of Nicodemus with words of reassurance. He says that, ‘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’.
It’s almost
a plea, isn’t it? "Ask! Just ask, Nicodemus. God loves you and wants you to ask
Him, as a child who believes in the goodness of his father would ask. Don’t ask
as you think a Pharisee should ask; don’t ask as you think a Jew should ask. Make
yourself vulnerable and ask as a child would ask".
And for us? "Don’t
ask as you think a Christian should ask. Make yourself vulnerable and ask as a
child would ask".
You’ll have
to come up with your own version of that kind of asking, because only you know
what kind of inner-child you are carrying around. Something as simple as this
will do: "O God. I’m not sure I believe that you really love me, or that you
really want to give me your gifts, but I want to believe it. Please give me
faith and open the door to me".
And then
it’s a question of watching and waiting. Like children watch and wait in the
run up to Christmas. Like suitors watch and wait for a reply to their text from
someone they fancy.
The watching
and the waiting can be scary can’t it? All sorts of questions arise in that
tension, and those questions reveal to us the areas of our hearts that need to
be healed: "Am I worth it? Do I deserve it? What if He ignores me or rejects me?
What if he’s not that good? What if it’s all just wishful thinking?"
Well, unless
we ask, then watch and wait, and give Him the chance to answer, we’ll never
find out.
Let’s take
the risk this Lent.
Let us pray: O God, have mercy on us! Do not pass us by. Open the door to your Kingdom for us and grant us the joy of your salvation. Amen.
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