(Graphic is photo of Nicodemus, part of a sculpture at The Great Saint Martin Church, a Romanesque church in Cologne, Germany. See the full sculpture at the end of this post.)
Lectionary Scripture Reading – John 3:16 (NRSV)
“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.”
"Born of the Spirit"
The context for this scripture takes us to a secret after dark conversation between the notable Pharisee Nicodemus and a controversial young rabbi named Jesus. Captured by Jesus’ words and teachings, Nicodemus admits privately what he cannot attest to publicly. “Rabbi,” he says, “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."
Conflicted over what his conscience tells him and that most religious authorities of the time detest Jesus, Nicodemus knows that his life and reputation could disintegrate before his eyes if he openly affirms Jesus as sent from God. Even now he risks all in coming to see Jesus privately. Yet, he needs greater understanding of what Jesus advocates for on God’s behalf. Frankly, it’s quite simple and goes something like this: “Understand that God loves unconditionally. Do not condemn others. See in my life the kind of love God wants everyone to have.” Then, like now, the radicality of such words threatens the foundations of society and culture.
In the time of Jesus and Nicodemus, the livelihood and stature of organized religion and its priestly authority relied heavily on atonement. The system wrung offerings from people given their spiritual bondage to what the religious establishment identified as sin which must be atoned for. By contrast, the way of being and living that Jesus advocated left all of that behind. It was necessary in order to follow a God who loves without condition, who refuses to condemn, and who desires that our lives express the same.
Such teachings represented a cataclysmic shift in the order of things. For the priestly authorities, it amounted to a complete nullification of Torah, the Jewish law. Long and short of it, the religious authority refused to let it happen. Conspiracy followed against Jesus. Thereafter, his life abruptly ended when nailed upon on object of scorn, derision, and torturous humiliation. Ultimately for his part, Nicodemus embraces Jesus. With Joseph of Arimathea, the two men ensure a respectful burial for a man who only wanted for people to understand how much God loved them.
For those today who understand this Jesus, the challenge of the young rabbi’s message continues. It continues because we human beings fail to grasp the full dimensions of the love that God is and that God wants us to be. For me, one contemporary manifestation of this challenge has been the U.S. healthcare system. Surely when the time of God’s Peaceable Kingdom finally arrives upon the Earth, God’s love intends that each child, each man and woman have full and unfettered access to all the medicines, treatments, and healthcare professionals they need. How could it be otherwise in the Peaceable Kingdom? Yet, while every other country in the developed world has seen to it that their citizens receive a basic level of healthcare, we contently let fifty million fellow citizens go without it. And while every other country in the developed world can provide basic healthcare for every citizen at significantly less than what our system costs per person, we insist that substantial and ever increasing monetary profits must be gleaned from people’s medical needs. My guess is that Jesus frowns deeply on the U.S. healthcare system since he advocated receiving no coin or purse from healing the sick. As the physician, Apostle Luke, quoted Jesus, “Cure the sick and say to them the kingdom of God has come near to you.”
Today, in this country, we’re not coming near you to cure anything unless you produce a health insurance card or have the cash to pay upfront. There may be some hope that over time this will change, yet even now there are those who angrily seek to undo new healthcare laws intent on providing more of our brothers and sisters the healthcare they need. The incredulous thing is that many of these angry persons consider themselves in greater favor with Jesus than anyone else. Some are even professed appendages of various organized religions today. And a number of them gladly proclaim that anyone not seeing things their way is on a speed train to everlasting torment. Guess they better punch my ticket.
In my mind, I truly wonder if such persons have ever been born of the Spirit. I wonder if they will ever become followers of the Jesus who advocates for a world that's just and peaceful and full of God’s unconditional love for all.
Many years ago, I experienced one small moment of this love as a young adult. If you have heard of this from me before, I apologize and ask your indulgence for those who haven't. My need to share this experience is because that brief and fleeting moment was so powerful and overwhelming that it changed me forever. The memory of it will never die and happened one summer day while working as a bank teller. Completely focused on counting a large amount of cash from a night deposit bag, I felt a surge of energy and emotion rush through me. Tingling from head to toe, I sensed someone loving me so powerfully and overwhelmingly that I had to lean against the counter where I was working. Frankly, I feared I would collapse to the floor from the intensity of what raced through me. A voice in my mind then spoke these simple words, “You’re okay Brad. You’re really okay.” It was then I realized God had spoken and touched me in a way that I could never deny or ever turn away from.
Traditionally, one might think of one’s baptism or confirmation bringing on such ecstatic experience. Mine however had been years earlier. Put simply, I accept the experience now as my moment of being born of the Spirit, a moment that would leave me desiring for all to know such love. In time, I came to realize that this love and the hope for God’s Peaceable Kingdom were realities inseparable and mutually inclusive. One cannot exist without the other.
We must therefore ask ourselves what we should turn from and what we should turn toward. Perhaps my sharing indicates one possibility, i.e. turning from the soullessness of greed and selfishness and condescension toward life and generosity filled and overwhelmed by God’s love – a love that when it happens to you, and for you, may well occur in a most unremarkable place and unsuspecting moment. Rest assured however that it will be a moment and place of God’s own choosing – one that will mark you for life.
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| Photo of sculpture at the Great Saint Martin Church in Cologne, Germany. Depicts the tomb burial of Jesus by (from the left) by Nicodemus, an unidentified helper, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, John the Apostle, and Joseph of Arimathea, circa 1509 |
