This summer, our worship services are focused on our members and friends' favorite scripture passages. Today, we focus on the favorite scripture of the oldest member of our congregation: John Becker Senior. It is not every congregation that can boast we have a 101 year old member – and a World War II veteran at that. Since this is the weekend we celebrate our Declaration of Independence, it is a wonderful privilege to focus on the favorite scripture of a man who made sure other citizens of the world would be free from tyranny and oppression and evi – that they too would have access to independence.
Mr. Becker selected John 3:16 for his favorite scripture –
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jesus made this statement, this declaration, in the middle of his nighttime conversation with Nicodemus the Pharisee.
This morning, we will read the entire passage about their visit with each other, as we turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 3, and read verses one through twenty-one….listen now to the word of God.
The Scripture Lesson John 3:1-21
Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.
He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?
Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our
testimony.
I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?
No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.
But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Let us pray…
The Message Holy Curiosity in the Shadows
Nicodemus was an important man in Jerusalem… He was a devout Pharisee…. He was a member of the Jewish Ruling Council – The Sanhedrin – which made him both a religious leader and a politician. Years after the conversation we read today, Nicodemus defended Jesus when he was at risk for arrest by telling the other members of the Sanhedrin that they couldn’t convict Jesus of a crime unless they gave him a fair trial. And, when Jesus’ life was over after he was crucified by the Romans, Nicodemus brought a one-hundred pound mixture of aloe and myrrh to the tomb and prepared Jesus’ body – this was a very expensive mixture and Jesus’s body was prepared for burial like a king, not like a Galilean peasant. Nicodemus must have been a man of means in order to provide such a luxurious balm to anoint the deceased body of Jesus. So, Nicodemus was faithful, he was a religious leader, he was a politician, and he was wealthy…
After Jesus’ baptism, he started doing things that attracted attention – he turned water into wine…he cleansed the Temple in Jerusalem of money changers…he preached profound sermons..he performed miraculous healings….he got noticed. Nicodemus heard about Jesus. And, he may have seen Jesus in action – but the scriptures describe Jesus as always attracting a crowd…whereever he went, he not only had his disciples with him, but he also had others seeking him out and observing his every move. Jesus was never alone.
Nicodemus wanted to talk to Jesus one-on-one. He didn’t want a crowd of people to listen to their conversation. He wanted Jesus’ undivided attention. So, Nicodemus visited Jesus in the middle of the night.
Nicodemus wanted to find out what Jesus was all about…who was he and what was his mission?
We were not in the room with Jesus and Nicodemus, so we are missing many details – how long did they talk? Were they standing up or sitting down? Were they eating and drinking? Was Jesus wearing his outer robe or just his night shirt? How formal were they? There are so many things we don’t know about their conversation.
But, we do know the highlights – Jesus told Nicodemus that no one can achieve spiritual truths without being born again. This was a new term for Nicodemus…and a new idea for him. He initially thought Jesus meant that people needed to literally shrink down into the form of a baby and be reborn out of their mothers – an impossibility. But, Jesus didn’t mean a literal birth – he meant a spiritual rebirth….being born of the waters of baptism and the Holy Spirit.
Whenever we baptise someone at Trinity, whether they are two years old or 92 years old, we invite the Holy Spirit and the baptismal waters to be present with them so that they are born again. When we confirm our young people, like we confirmed Crystal a few weeks ago, we invoked her baptism and invited the Holy Spirit to once again help her be born again. And, when people join our church, we do the same – we remember their baptisms and invoke the Holy Spirit, asking them to be born again as they become a part of our church. Today, when we celebrate communion, we will invite the Holy Spirit to bless the bread and the cup, and bless all of us in our eating and drinking at the communion table – in a way, every time we receive the bread and wine of communion, we are born again because we are filled with the Holy Spirit as we take in the body and blood of Jesus.
When we are born again, we ask the Holy Spirit to give birth to our spiritual life. We stop being religious spectators and start being religious practitioners. We become followers of the Way of Jesus ourselves. We start living out the teachings of Jesus as part of how we live our lives.
Nicodemus probably wondered if Jesus was the Messiah. The signs Jesus accomplished certainly pointed to him being the Messiah, but he wasn’t sure. Although Jesus was sometimes poetic in his language, and asked as many questions as he answered, he was the Messiah….sent by God to save humanity.
The second topic that Nicodmus and Jesus covered was Jesus’ authority. Nicodemus wanted to know how Jesus could make these statements…how did he know what he knew? Jesus then told Nicodemus that he is the Messiah – he was God born as a man. And, Jesus was going to die on a cross, and whoever believed in him would receive eternal life.
The late-night conversation concluded with the most famous verse in the Bible, Mr. Becker’s favorite: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. God loves the people of our world so much that God shared himself with us in the form of Jesus….God wanted to teach us directly. And, God didn’t shy away from pain – God knew Jesus would die a gruesome death. God sent himself as Jesus so that the world would be saved through him. Jesus’s words taught us about God and how God wants us to treat each other: with kindness, generosity and love. God wanted everyone to know about God’s love for us and achieve salvation – not just Jewish people, not just well-behaved people, not just pious people, not just do-gooders, but everyone.
Jesus came to the earth to save us…all of us. He didn’t come to judge us – decide who was in and who was out. He didn’t come to cordon off the good people and separate them from the flawed people. He didn’t come and say only the Jewish people are saved or only the white people are saved or the rich people are saved or the people who eat beef are saved. Jesus came to the earth to save us all and to encourage everyone to believe in and follow the guidance of God.
Jesus came to earth to heal and save people, not for condemnation. But, we sometimes forget this. People are guilty of picking sides, and thinking some people are winners and some people are losers. We like to imagine that we are the good guys and others are the bad guys. We sometimes follow false prophets and false ideologies. We sometimes think we belong to a superior group of people and everyone else is wrong.
Jesus came to earth to break us of these tendencies. Jesus came to the earth to save all people – all of us. The good guys and the bad guys. The Jewish people and the Gentile people. The people of the Middle East and the Mediterranean and Europe and Africa and Asia and Australia and the Americas. Jesus came to save straight people and gay people….women and men and trans people alike. People with resources and people who are struggling. People who are old and people who are young and everyone in-between. Jesus came to earth that the whole world will be saved through him.
This weekend, this summer, we are celebrating the two-hundred and fifth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. We live in a nation founded on principles of justice and equality and fraternity for all people. And, we are also believers in a faith that is thousands of years old - although we are proud of the achievements we are part of as Americans, we should even be more proud of achievements we have made as part of the Christian family. God sent Jesus to save the world and to call upon us to take care of each other – the people who believe and the people who don’t believe yet. The people of our communities and strangers who are joining us here. The people who are struggling and seeking healing and wholeness and the people who are doing ok. God sent Jesus to save the world – it is our work to help Jesus however we can – help Jesus to heal and restore the world and make it the creation God intended it to be from the very beginning of time.
May we do so with our whole hearts and very beings – today and all days. Amen.
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