Abraham the Player, Nicodemus the Spectator
Second Sunday of Lent - February 17, 2008
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Please note: The following sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him. |
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We know what happens when there is a nice wet snowstorm –those wet,
heavy flakes are just begging
kids and parents to make snowballs.
Then what can one do with a snowball once it it made
but heave it at someone, and the fun is on!
There is lots of running and ducking and laughter....
But what happens when someone makes up a large pile of snowballs in
one place, and stays there?
The snow-tossing moves all over the neighborhood, and that person is
left behind with the nice neat pile of snowballs.
All too soon the sun comes out and melts things together into an
unusable heap.
That person has tried to make the on-the-spur-of-the-moment snow fun
into an organized, controlled activity, and it just doesn't work.
It is fun precisely because it isn't controlled or organized; it
just happens.
Perhaps this distinction between the snow-player and the
snowball-pile maker illustrates a bit of the difference between the
two main characters in today's lessons: Abraham and Nicodemus.
Abraham was a player.
Nicodemus was a piler.
Abraham heard the call of God and acted.
Scripture tells it in three pithy words: ...and Abraham went.
It is all so indefinite:
--nothing like “Travel 48.2 miles in a northwesterly
direction and everything will be fine.”
God says: Go to a land that I will show you, and you will be
blessed and become a blessing to others.
It will all come about in the doing.
None of the details are specified in advance.
They are only received bit by bit as the story of Abraham and his
descendants unfolds over the generations.
Nicodemus is curious about Jesus.
He really would like to know more about him, but he has this
important position in society so he can't just stroll up to Jesus in
a crowd and inquire.
He has to slip in one night when the reporters aren't watching.
He would like to be a believer, but he has all of these questions.
He must have the answers spelled out in neat, organized ways.
Each thing put in its proper place.
Each snowball in its proper pile.
The conversation with Jesus was here and gone and Nicodemus is left
standing with his arguments half-done.
On the archaeological dig last fall on Menorca, our area supervisors
were two grad students.
One was a flamboyant Portuguese with lots of loud talking and
gesturing...along the line of Emeril.
The other was a stereotypical German.
She sliced the bread perfectly straight, the meat was arranged
perfectly, the vegetable did not overlap.
The mustard went right to the edge of the bread.
The sandwich was dissected into four perfect quarters before being
eaten. Everything was exactly right.
I think Nicodemus was just like that.
It happened in the winter of 2nd grade in our one-room
school
that it was the perfect day for snowballs.
During 1st recess the 6th graders made a wall
of snow at one side of the building, and so of course we younger
kids had to make a wall also.
The older kids laughed – their wall was much better and higher, and
of course they could throw much farther, and so the snowball battle
that they planned for last recess was going to be great—for them!
And it started off just as they expected – their great globs of snow
often found their mark against our pitiful defenses.
(Second grade consisted of 3 girls and me, not known for athletic
prowess.)
We retreated and made it look like we were going back inside the
building, but instead slipped around the other side of the building
and pelted the older kids now trapped by their own wall.
The ground had shifted, and they were not ready to deal with it.
That is the trouble with Nicodemus.
He has built up a defensive wall behind which he stands throwing his
arguments against Jesus.
But Jesus does not stand still for his usual kind of arguments--
he shifts the grounds and keeps right on moving.
Jesus is not going to give to Nicodemus all the details of what his
life as a believer would be.
“You'll see,” he says in effect.
“But just a minute,” says Nicodemus.
“I want to know how deep the water is before I jump in.
That is just being prudent!
Tell em exactly what I need to do to be a part of your kingdom.
Then I can do a cost/benefit analysis, do some comparative religious
shopping, and then I'll let you know if I can be a disciple.”
“No, no, you have it all wrong Nicodemus.
It really isn't up to you.
I want to tell you what God has already decided about you.
Just listen!, and you will discover that the outcome is sure,
even if there are lots of twists and turns along the way...
...and you're not in control,” says Jesus.
Life in the kingdom of God is like three of life's most
uncontrollable events: birth, wind, and gift.
“How were you born?,” Jesus asks Nicodemus.
“Well, I was floating along, and then all of a sudden I was pushed
right into the middle of it all.”
“That's right! You didn't have anything to say about how you got
started, and then all of a sudden you are pushed right into the
kingdom of God.
That is, you are 'born from above,” renovated from top to bottom.
And with good Germanic-like precision, Nicodemus asks
“Well, how?”
“Like wind,” Jesus
replies.
“The wind blows wherever
it wills.
You don't know from whence it come and whither it goes.
You can't control it or predict it well.
Getting into the kingdom is a lot like that, only more so.”
“Well, how?” Nicodemus persists in asking.
“God so loved the world that he gave...
Can you understand a gift, Nicodemus?
Can you deserve it?
Can you pay for it?
Life in the kingdom of God is like receiving a gift, ...only more
so.”
So there you have it – life in the kingdom of God is gift, wind,
birth, and spirit.”
And Nicodemus replies:
“I can't grasp all of that.”
Jesus exclaims: “Now you're catching on! You won't grasp it,
organize it, or control it. You can only receive it bit by bit and
follow...like Abraham.”
What happens next?
The Gospel leaves us with the impression that Nicodemus is left
standing there as Jesus moves on in another direction.
Where is he going to find answers to all of his questions?
---It won't happen if he remains there piling up arguments.
Answers will emerge only as he is following Jesus, while the Lord
Jesus is busy with his assaults on Satan, sin, death, and separation
from God.
The Gospel leaves us wondering about Nicodemus.
We hear later [John 19:39] that he slips into the story again to
help Joseph or Arimathea bury Jesus.
Did he come to faith?
And then we wonder about ourselves.
God's word to Abraham is:
“Go, and I'll show you....”
God's word to Nicodemus is:
“Follow and find out....”
These are God's words to us,
to all of us.
God is not about to allow us to build up walls behind which we can
hide.
He'll chase us out a different way,
And in the places and times where we see only questions and problems
and confusions, he'll open up just a bit more for us to see and to
know.
Each time you or I say “I don't understand,
Jesus will say to us, “That's right!,
but here I am in the sharing of the Word,
Here I am in bread and wine....
Here I am in this person who is so easy to pass by but who needs
your help.
Here I am in this community called to be the church.
Follow and find out...”
...and Abraham went.
LBW# 544 The God of Abraham Praise
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