John 3:1-17
Now 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."
When I was in Seminary, one of the most interesting and
animated discussions we had in our Systematic Theology class involved the
nature of God being Triune. It became
obvious very quickly that we all came at it in different ways. Some people simply shrugged their shoulders,
said they would never be able to understand it.
Others, went through mental gymnastics seeking to put forth one metaphor
after another seeking to explain it.
Still others, it seemed, discounted the idea of the Trinity
completely. Our understanding of God
being Triune in nature is without question one of the most difficult to
understand and mysterious aspects of our faith.
How is it that something can be three fully formed, unique persons,
separate and distinct from each other, yet at the same time be one that is not
divided in any way? No matter the mental
gymnastics we perform, the metaphors and analogies we make, it’s likely that we
will never truly understand it. And
that’s okay. Our individual understanding
of specific doctrines and theologies of the church is secondary to our
recognition of Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
I’m one of those, who though I love to try and come up with ways of
understanding this confusing nature of God, accept and embrace the mystery;
exclaiming with wonder and surprise at each new insight I receive into who God
is. Faith, knowledge and mystery are in
their own Trinitarian relationship when it comes to who we are as the people of
God.
In this morning’s Gospel text we heard what may be the
most widely known verse in the Bible, “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.” It’s a verse that all
have us probably memorized in Sunday School.
It’s a verse we see displayed on banners at athletic events. It’s a verse that we see on billboards and
bumper stickers. We all know it; we see
it all the time. So, it’s no surprise
that when we hear or read this passage we focus on that verse about how much
God loves us. .It’s comforting to hear
it, and so we focus on it. That’s
natural. But, there is so much more
happening in today’s lesson than verse sixteen.
Here in the Midwest, many of us have experienced the
power of the wind. We have all seen the
damage that can come from tornadoes and strong storms. We also have felt the comfort and calm of a
gentle breeze on a steamy hot summer day.
We know how just a gentle breeze can take the temperature down, and
bring a sense of calm. In recent years anyone
who has driven the roads of north-central Iowa has seen the large windmills
that are now being used to produce electricity.
For a long time, similar windmills were used to bring water up from far
underground. The long voyages of our
early explorers across the seas would have been impossible but for wind. Anyone who lives in an older home knows the
occasional frustration of having a “leaky house”, where windows and tiny gaps
allow the wind to make entry. The first verses of the Bible speak to the
spirit of God moving across the face of the deep. We remember stories in the Bible of the voice
of God being heard in the wind. When the
Spirit came on Pentecost, it did so with the sound of a rushing wind. The wind has ever been seen and understood as
one of the ways in which God’s presence is felt by us.
Just as in a “leaky house” it often seems as if the wind
seeks out those gaps, going every-which-way looking for an entry point, so too
does the Spirit of God seek to make entry into the lives of humanity, into your
life and mine. “The wind blows where it
chooses,” is a powerful image of how God is ever seeking us out, ever seeking
ways to be in relationship with us. God
chooses to turn toward us, chooses to be in relationship with us, chooses to
reveal Himself to us in that search. It
is the nature of God to be in relationship.
On this Sunday, on Trinity Sunday we embrace the reality that God is in
relationship within himself. “God the
Father is with the Son who is with the Spirit who is with the Father,
self-communicating, self-giving, self-receiving.”[i] When we think of God, we must do so in terms
of relationship, and do so recognizing that that relationship always finds its
starting point with God. God is the one
who moves first, who takes the initiative and reaches out to us, to pursue us,
to come to us.
God comes to us, seeking us, pursuing us, desiring for us
to be in relationship with him. God’s
seeking doesn’t depend on our situation, our individual or communal worthiness,
our understanding of theology or doctrine.
God seeks because that’s who God is, and what God is about. God wants, desires, for all creation to be in
communion with God and with one another, and God seeks, pursues and comes to us
to make that happen. Jesus was not sent
by God with a message of condemnation and judgment, but in order that the world
might be saved; the world that God created, the world that God loved. It was God’s love that brought salvation and
life through the lifting up of Jesus on the cross. In faith we are recipients of God’s love and
grace.
It is in faith that we receive God’s salvation. Faith is not about having to believe in a
certain way, about having to have the correct theological understanding, the
correct doctrine; it’s about turning to God trusting that God will
deliver. During the years following the
Exodus, the Israelites were beset by poisonous snakes because they had turned
against God, and questioned God’s ways.
God provided a way of life. Moses
lifted up a golden snake on a pole, and all that looked to it when they had
been bitten by a poisonous serpent lived.
In faith they looked to the pole, in faith they claimed the promise that
they would live, and they lived. They
didn’t have to know how it worked, why it worked. They didn’t have to look to the pole with a
specific doctrine, a specific theology.
They didn’t have to go first to the priests, go to temple, be accepted
into community. They looked to the pole,
claimed the promise of God, and were saved.
We also look up in faith.
We look to the cross and are saved.
We look to the cross, claim the promise of God that we will have life,
and are saved. God’s desire and
intention is never to condemn, but to save, to bring a fullness, a wholeness, a
completion to life itself. God’s love is
ever reaching out, ever spreading, ever pursuing. God’s love is ever inviting and is ever
hoping for a response, a movement on our part to complete the circle to
complete the action. Just as the
Israelites needed to look to the pole to be saved, we need to look to the cross
to be saved. Just as Isaiah had to
respond to the call of God, we too need to respond, “Here I am Lord.” Amen.
[i][i]
P. 47; Feasting on the Word; Preaching
the Revised Common Lectionary; Year B, Volume 3; Westminster John Knox
Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 2009
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