Loved to Love

Lent2A, March15 and 16, 20014, Sullivan Park Care Center and St John the Evangelist Cathedral, by Sr Annette Fricke, OP

A prayer by Soren Kierkegaard: Thou who hast first loved us, O God, alas!  We speak of it in terms of history as if Thou hast only loved us first but a single time, rather than that without ceasing Thou hast loved us first many times and every day and our whole life through.  When we wake up in the morning and turn our soul toward Thee---Thou art the first---Thou hast loved us first; if I rise at dawn and at the same second turn my soul toward Thee in prayer, Thou art there ahead of me, Thou hast loved me first.  When I withdraw from the distractions of the day and turn my soul in thought toward Thee, Thou art the first and thus forever.  And yet we always speak ungratefully as if Thou hast loved us first only once.  Amen.

            I contend that what we miss most in life is usually right in front of us.  At the risk of being hard on Nicodemus, this is his problem.  He is a teacher of Israel, a Pharisee and maybe even a member of the ruling body, the Sanhedrin.  He’s up there, sort of like the dean of Harvard.  He should know all about what he is teaching and telling others about God and how God works in the world.  And yet, he doesn’t quite get it.  I will give him credit that he is at least somewhat open to what Jesus has to say.  He does seek Jesus out.

            The Gospel of John, which is full of the images of dark and light, has Nicodemus coming to him in the darkness.  If we recall that in John, Jesus is the light of the world, we might make the assumption here that Nicodemus only has a partial understanding of just who Jesus is, thus the darkness.  This is confirmed by his conversation with Jesus. In fact, Jesus seems rather annoyed that Nicodemus is a teacher of Israel but seems so far from understanding who Jesus is and what a relationship with God should be.

            God so loved the world—the entire world, everyone and everything in it, not just yours and my favorites.  God gave us the trees, the flowers, our neighbors, our families, our friends, our co-workers, our supervisors, our dogs and our cats, the snakes, birds, and lizards; everything—the whole she-bang.  God loved it all and continues to love it all each and every day.  This is not a past tense event in time and space, but an on-going, undying love, a love that will not quit.

            Nicodemus saw a glimpse of that love and wanted to learn more about it.  But Jesus says to Nicodemus and to all of us that love is all around us.  We must be born again, anew, from above. The spirit of God is here all the time and yet it is not something we can grasp.  It is like the wind, it comes and it goes.  It is here and it is gone.  And yet, Jesus says we cannot enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the spirit.  Genealogy has nothing to do with it, nor knowledge of God.  Even belief in God is secondary.  We must be born of water and the Spirit. 

            Now some interpreters would say that this is a clear allusion to baptism.  Many in the early church thought of this passage in this way.  Just as the baptism of Jesus is always associated with the Spirit’s descent, the working of the Spirit and baptism continued to go hand in hand. We see that several times in Paul’s writings and in the book of Acts. If you are to watch the 700 Club on TV, you will see testimonies about people who claim to have been slain in the Spirit.  This is what they describe as being born again.  A woman was on who said that she was baptized at age 13 in an Episcopal Church, then right after she took her first communion, she fell to the floor. Some would have us think that we need a dramatic experience such as this or speaking in tongues---that would indicate that we have the Holy Spirit.  However, that is not the sense I get from this text.  This text seems to point to something that is ongoing.  Even though the first disciples after the physical Jesus left this earth experienced the Holy Spirit as something quite extraordinary, even supernatural, it was an empowering presence which enabled them to do the work of God in the world.  It was their transformation and strength of will to spread the good news of the gospel to all people.  And it helped them step by step, gradually to understand more and more the universality of God’s love for all people. They also began to see that God’s love is unconditional.  You do not earn your way to heaven.  You do not earn God’s love.

            What does it mean to be born from above or to be born anew?  We all know, just as Nicodemus, the obvious; no, we cannot go back into our mother’s womb and be born a second time.  Just imagining that scenario is rather hilarious.  But notice that Jesus also never gives a definitive answer either.  He talks about the Spirit like that of the wind.  You can’t pin the wind down.  There are times in the history of the church when we can clearly see the working of the spirit and there are other times when it’s quite difficult to pinpoint where and how the Spirit is working in our lives as the church, the body of Christ.  And to complicate things further, what we see as the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives, someone else will see it at as something entirely different. We see humanity around us as well as the church doing a mixture of good, bad, and something in between.  There are good and not so good intentions behind those deeds.  It is sometimes mind-boggling to try to figure out a direction both as an individual as well as a church or a small part of that church.  Should we do things the way we always have or should we consider something a bit different?  Just how open are we to the working of the Holy Spirit?

            Nicodemus appears to be an objective man who wants to remain objective.  His perspective is that of one who is on the outside looking in.  Jesus intrigues him.  He sees Jesus and recognizes him as being with God.  After all, he passed the litmus test of Judaism, Jesus performed signs. Where Nicodemus’ footing becomes unsure is that his understanding is incomplete.  He does not understand that Jesus is God incarnate.  He does not understand that Jesus and God are one.  He sees Jesus as a great teacher, but his understanding takes him no further.  Nicodemus does not understand what Jesus is talking about, at least that is true for this story about him. 

            God wants us to be sharers in the divine life!  God is not to remain aloof and transcendent, off somewhere in a book we leave on a shelf or somewhere in our intellectual minds. Like the Old Testament lesson from last week, we were made for God to till God’s garden.  We are to be God’s children who care for all that God has created. In order to do that, we must get it through our heads, hearts, and minds that God loves us and cares for us every single day.  We must put God’s love into action in our lives, daily.  We must act on behalf of God in order that God’s love may be made known to all.  We belong to God. “Thou who hast first loved us, O God, alas!  We speak of it in terms of history as if Thou hast only loved us first but a single time, rather than that without ceasing Thou hast loved us first many times and every day and our whole life through.”  Let us walk in that love.