4LentB, Sullivan Park Care Center,
March 15, 2015, by Annette Fricke
How would
you describe your life as a Christian? I
think this phrase sums it up pretty well. “The voyage of discovery is not in
seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” ― Marcel Proust. When a child is very young, everything is a
new discovery. This world is not the
same as the world inside the womb of the child’s mother. A child is fascinated with light switches and
the opening and closing of the refrigerator door. But amongst the discoveries are the
pitfalls. A common error is using
crayons on something other than specific paper.
For example, crayons are not to be used on the wall or in books,
especially a library book. We need
strong guidance as a child. As we get older, we no longer need instruction for
how to use a crayon, but for other things, such as how to prepare a meal,
behavior on a first date, how to create a budget, or how to interview for a
job. We need life skills to live the life of an adult which often boil down to
living life on the fly or by the seat of one’s pants. There are those moments when we simply have
to choose one way or another. Am I a
follower of Jesus, or not? Does what I
say and do really matter?
Some would
say that these are not the right questions at all. Do I have a choice in being born into this
world? No. Conception and growth in the womb or our
mothers is a process by which all of us were not born by our desire. The family we were born into also was not
ours to choose. Those of us who were baptized as an infant did not have a say
in that either. Our lives as humans are
marked by the need for guidance and instruction from the day we are born into
this world. This is our world where the complexities of our choices can take us
in a myriad of directions, where we frequently get caught up in the thought of,
“Did I make the right choice given my circumstances?” The common answer in therapy for past
mistakes is, “You did what you did because at the time, it was the right
decision to the best of your knowledge.”
Was it? I understand the purpose
of that phrase. It is meant to keep a
person from dwelling on something they still feel uneasy or guilty about. Dwelling on the past continually can get in
the way of living in the present. A
cruder way of saying it is, “Get over it.”
Sometimes that is the more effective way to say essentially the same
thing. But the work of therapy, to be the
most effective, always asks the question, “What am I doing in the present that
keeps me stuck, from moving forward with my life, and keeps me from being happy
or fulfilled?” “Why is satisfaction so
elusive?
Was it the
best I could have done at the time or am I just trying to tell myself that it
was? Maybe I could have done better in
that situation, maybe not. There is no
real way to know. We are not always
aware of the impact we have on other peoples’ lives. And this, more than anything in my mind is
the reason that we should confess all of our sins, not just the ones of which
we are aware. We impact people both
positively and negatively all the time without even knowing it. Some of us grew up in that world where it was
not polite to tell people certain things, so we didn’t, some of which might
make us feel good if we knew what it was and other things would be good to know
for our own instruction in selfhood. How
is it that I can grow as a person if I am not given feedback and yet some
feedback needs to be taken with a grain of salt? Some feedback says more about the person
giving it than the person it’s supposed to be about.
What can we glean
from the interaction between Nicodemus and Jesus? For one, Nicodemus is
interested in what Jesus has to say and listens carefully. He wants to know what Jesus is talking about. In exchange for Jesus’ recognition of
Nicodemus under the tree as an upstanding teacher, Jesus describes his role and
purpose in this world. He is making an
analogy to the bronze serpent Moses made in the Old Testament text for
today. That text is known as a “complaint”
story in which the people complain to Moses, but this, which is that last murmuring,
is a complaint against both God and Moses.
God has apparently lost patience with the tenth complaint already
telling even Moses that he will not see the Promised Land. The people are murmuring about something that
seems legitimate: they are angry that the snakes are biting them and they are
dying. They beg Moses to speak to God for them to take away the snakes. What
kind of a God is this that brings death?
And yet the connection to the previous narrative in chapter three of
John’s gospel does make sense. In
baptism, we die with Christ in order to be raised with him. The difference now is that it’s not the
people dying; a sacrifice in itself, but it is Jesus dying. You see, despite what you may personally
believe as to whether or not Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice that puts us right
with God, this is what the text appears to be communicating. Just as the people were instructed to look to
the bronze snake on the pole, so also we are to look to Jesus who in his death
is our source of life and salvation in God.
Our covenant
with God remains. Our journey is our
spiritual pathway in which we try to live our lives within that covenant without
straying so far that we lose our salvation in the present. We also are to inherit that Promised Land,
but in a different sense than the Promised Land of the Jews. Our Promised Land is what follows our life
here on earth. Our baptismal covenant is
our living in and struggling with remaining faithful to God and God’s
expectations of us. God accepts us just
the way we are. The Ten Commandments or
teachings remain as the measurement of how to live a life that is pleasing to
God. It does not apply only to the
Jewish people, but Christians as well.
Yet despite our continued failure to live by its teachings, God is
always there to take us back. God’s love
never fails. But maybe there’s another
way to look at it. The interpretation of
these commandments in Jesus’ day was troubling to him. Jesus regularly healed people on the Sabbath. That was clearly against the law. He was called on it several times by the
Pharisees. Jesus was thought to be the
fulfillment of the law, but if even he was found guilty of keeping it, how are
we able to do that? Perhaps there is
something to keeping not to the letter of the law, but the spirit of the
law. Maybe there is another way in which
we can show love for God and our neighbor since the Ten Commandments or
teachings really were tied not only to the prevailing culture of the time, but
also to specific interpretation. Maybe
we should listen to our hearts and assess what is it that my neighbor needs and
what am I able to supply? How can I help
supply what my neighbor is requesting? What are the qualities in me, the caring,
compassion, and concern that will help my neighbor feel cared for and loved and
in turn feel loved by God? I may not be
the friend or relative that my neighbor misses due to loss by death or lives
far away, but I may have some of those same qualities. I may be the one who fills the need of being
like a mother or daughter. You may be the
one who fills the need of someone who longs to have a relationship with the
mother or grandmother this person never had.
Sometimes death brings with it new beginnings. It opens opportunities for new relationships. Believing requires action.
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