| The Rev. Catharine W. Montgomery | The Second Sunday in Epiphany |
| Grace Memorial Episcopal Church | |
| February 17, 2008 | Year A, RCL |
In today’s passage Jesus said, “No one can see the Kingdom of God without being born from above.” The KJV says “born again.” What would you do if I asked every born again Christian to stand up – hold their hands up and say, “Here I am - I’m saved!”
Makes your stomach knot up a little doesn’t it? Makes your palms a little sweaty…If you are about to jump to your feet – God bless you! For most Episcopalians who believe in doing things decently and in order, jumping up and witnessing isn’t included, but I am happy to give you a chance…….
We had a discussion in the confirmation class about how to respond to someone who asks if you have been saved…or if you are a born again Christian. I know firsthand how that can throw you for a loop! My earliest memory of being confronted with the question of being “born again” came when I was a very young housewife with two small children. It was the middle of a very hot and sticky summer, and I lived in a small not air-conditioned house. I recall one unbelievably hot day, I was scrubbing floors and washing cloth diapers (yes, I am that old!) - needless to say I was a mess…the babies were fussy and then the door bell rang. There stood two nicely dressed young men with literature in their hands asking me if I had been saved and was I a “born again Christian?” Well – at least I knew I was a Christian and as to being saved…at that moment I hoped to God something would save me from the heat - the dirty floors and diapers – you get the picture. I was pretty clueless about what the young evangelists were asking …I was busy…I was preoccupied with other things in my life…and I was not interested in anything being “born again.”
When Nicodemus heard he needed to be born again he was older…wiser…. He was a leader, a well-educated pillar-of-the-community type of Pharisee. Like many people today he probably thought he knew all he needed to know about life and how to obey God. He too was clueless when a young evangelist told him he needed to be born from above – born again – born anew. How can anyone be born after having grown old? Nicodemus probably felt at his age he was lucky to still be awake at this hour much less go back in time to be born again from his mother’s womb. But something was stirring in his soul - he dared to come to the young prophet named Jesus. He came under the cover of darkness to question this rabbi for himself.
Jesus spoke to him using mystical language about being lifted up and eternal life. Nicodemus was struggling to understand. “You must be born from above.” Jesus says. “How can these things be?” cries out a frustrated Nicodemus. Think for a minute how he must have felt. As we get older, more tired… wiser and more comfortable with life - think how hard it is to be open to a new idea, a new way of doing things, how hard it is to imagine a major transformation in our lives at this point. And yet don’t most of us have questions about eternal life and what that means for us? What is eternal life like? What will I be like? How will I know when I have it?
In the middle of Jesus’ mysterious answer he gives Nicodemus a clue. He says, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” If Jesus said this to us we would be clueless! But a Pharisee well read in the O T book of Numbers would immediately recognize the story found in chapter 21.
There is something about snakes…they keep showing up in our stories of salvation….and this is a strange one… The Israelites were in the wilderness desert grumbling against God and Moses because of their hardship. God sent venomous serpents among the people and many were bitten and died. The people admitted their sin of lack of faith and asked Moses to intercede for them with God. God comes to their rescue. God told Moses to make a serpent out of bronze and lift it high up on a pole where the people could see it. Anyone who was bitten by a snake could look at the bronze serpent on the pole and be saved from death. (Numbers 21:4-9)
For Christians, the journey through Lent is a journey of faith in the wilderness. We do a lot of grumbling and complaining about our lot in life. We are constantly preoccupied with many other things. In the wilderness of life we are always in danger of being bitten by sin. Our hearts turn away from God. Sin’s deadly poison darkens our lives and it will kill us… unless we know the antidote. God comes to our rescue by providing his Son. Lent is our chance to keep our eyes on Jesus lifted high upon a cross. That is what will save us.
Lent is our opportunity to renew our commitment to come to Jesus by night or day...to hear his teaching about hope and healing, the Kingdom of God, and eternal life. Encountering Jesus was a born again turning point in Nicodemus’ life. Later when Jesus’ life is in danger Nicodemus defends Jesus and says he is due a fair hearing by the temple authorities (John 7:50). And he appears one more time bringing spices to embalm Jesus’ dead body (19:39)
The next time someone asks if you have been saved…the next time someone asks if you are a born again Christian…don’t be intimidated… or let yourself doubt….You were saved 2000 years ago when Jesus was lifted up on that pole so we could look at him and live. You were born again into Christ’s life when you were sprinkled with holy water or plunged into a pool of holy water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We may not come running down the aisle for an altar call but each one of us declares Jesus to be our Lord and Savior every time we recite the creed or renew our baptismal covenant.
The Christian life is a journey of faith through the wilderness. The good news is we do not travel alone. The people of God are never alone. Christians are never alone – we have each other and we follow a savior who speaks to us in scripture and in prayer and empowers us with his Holy Spirit. Most importantly we know God has a plan for us. Jesus told Nicodemus exactly what the plan was… “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.” In a perfect church everyone of us should be leaping to our feet, banging on doors, witnessing to what God has done for us in Jesus Christ on every street corner…dancing in the aisle…speaking in tongues that everyone can understand – “yes I have been saved….born again!” I am still happy to give you a chance…