24 March 2018

Sermon Lent IV John 3:14-21 11 March 2018 Year B


         It’s a rare person who has not experienced anxiety at least once in his or her life. It can be minor anxiety about a test in school, or a visit to the dentist. It can be major anxiety with a health problem or a large financial transaction. It can be anxiety about what kind of priest and spiritual leader this parish will call.
The reading from John’s gospel today is about part of Nicodemus’s visit to Jesus. When I read this whole story in scripture, John 3:1-21, Nicodemus’ anxiety is what I hear and see demonstrated.
Nicodemus is a community leader, a Pharisee. He comes to see Jesus at night. We can rationalize this by saying Nicodemus was a student of the Torah, the Hebrew Scriptures, and rabbis recommended the scripture be studied in the quiet times at night. But given Nicodemus’ questions, it seems much more like anxiety.
         In the part we don’t hear today, Nicodemus starts off revealing his anxiety by flattery. “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.” And what is Jesus’ answer? He says something that raises Nicodemus’ anxiety even more. “No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Jesus’ statement is open to misinterpretation because the word used here means both “born anew” and “born from above.”
It’s clear from Nicodemus’ next question that what he hears is “born anew.” And being “born anew” raises his anxiety even more. How can an adult be born anew? “How can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus describes this “born from above” and “born anew” by saying, “The wind (the spirit) 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.”
These are two messy metaphors here. Birth and wind are both uncontrollable and in the hands of others. We do not ask to be born and we can do nothing about the process. We are pushed out into the world by the birth process itself. And the wind? The wind blows where it will. We cannot control the wind by telling it where to blow or whether or not to blow. Both birth and wind are beyond our control. And this can be frightening. It can raise our anxiety to realize we are not in control.
On the other hand, admitting we are not in control can mean freedom. We can let God be in control. I wonder if this is what happened to Nicodemus eventually.
Nicodemus appears twice more in the Gospel of John. He appears to defend Jesus during an argument in the temple, although he seems to do it without much enthusiasm. And, Nicodemus appears for the last time in John’s Gospel after the crucifixion. He and Joseph of Arimathea take Jesus’ body to be buried. Nicodemus brings a hundred pounds of spices to anoint Jesus’ body for burial.
I like to think Nicodemus finally got it when Jesus said to him, “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.” It took Nicodemus a while, perhaps. His anxiety got the best of him when he first met Jesus. His anxiety triumphed again at the temple when he tried to defend Jesus and was asked, “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you?”
But then, something larger than anxiety must have filled Nicodemus at the end. Why else would he bring a hundred pounds of spices to anoint one man’s body for burial? I’d like to think it was an extravagant offering from someone who finally understood the extravagance of what Jesus offered him on that night they talked: Freedom from anxiety.
Jesus offered Nicodemus freedom from anxiety. Jesus offered Nicodemus perfect peace, the peace that passes all understanding. He offered him blessing, abundance, and love.
The part we usually hear and see of this Gospel is John 3:16 – held up at football matches, no less – possibly one of the most anxiety-producing events for a diehard football fans. Maybe it’s a misplaced attempt to relieve anxiety about the outcome of the match? “God so loved that world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
But what follows that popular verse is John 3:17. A promise that lifts us out of our anxiety and into a world of peace and blessing, abundance and love: “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.” (Repeat.)
There is freedom from anxiety. There is peace. There is blessing. There is abundance. There is love. All these are found in Christ Jesus. Trust his freedom. Trust his peace. Trust his blessing. Trust his abundance. Trust his love. These were given for the world. These were given for me. These were given for you. AMEN. 


The Rev Nicolette Papanek
©2018

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