1 Sermon the second Sunday of lent 12 th March 2017 May I speak in the name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit There was a Pharisee Named Nicodemus A leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night This is the beginning Of the encounter in John s gospel Between a Pharisee, A person of power and influence In the religious and secular community And Jesus Who has just overturned tables in the temple And caused chaos and outrage Nicodemus comes to Jesus In the warmth of a Mediterranean evening With the wind of dusk Breathing through the trees Why has Nicodemus come to Jesus At this time? At night? Is Nicodemus afraid Of being seen by his colleagues Other leaders of Israel? Or is it simply that he knows that the crowds Will have gone home And he hopes for the opportunity To talk to Jesus at length And without interruption? And sometimes the best conversations take place Walking side by side
2 Or sitting side by side Or in the dark Where there is no eye contact To reveal or to intimidate What is clear, Is that Nicodemus Wants to meet Jesus Wants to understand who Jesus is. And that Jesus has agreed to meet him Nicodemus starts with a statement, not a question. And his statement is a key To one of the main themes Of John s gospel In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke Jesus works miracles To show his power at work In John s gospel Miracles are there To reveal Jesus glory And Jesus response to Nicodemus statement Is enigmatic Jesus says no one can see the kingdom of God Without being born from above Jesus talks about rebirth Jesus talks about faith Faith is a theme In all of today s readings We heard The pivotal text in Genesis Which proclaims God s promise to Israel Abraham and his wife Sarah Are old
3 And have no children In the context Of their time They have no hope for the future No hope of descendants They are barren And God acts Breathing into their lives Hope where they had no hope Gifting family and future When all seemed dead God speaks his powerful word Directly into their barrenness And by God s word Everything is transformed Transformed for Abraham and Sarah Transformed for the people of Israel Paul s letter to the Romans Picks up this story from Genesis And interprets God s actions As being in response to Abraham s faith Which is reckoned to him As righteousness I think that Faith is an elusive concept Faith can mean complete trust or confidence in someone or something. Or faith can mean belief based on spiritual conviction rather than proof. Nicodemus seems to be reaching out To grasp who Jesus is Searching for solid evidence In the signs Jesus has shown Examining them in the light Of his own tradition
4 Nicodemus does not reject Who Jesus might be But in his encounter with Jesus He is limited by the knowledge he holds as truth Nicodemus cannot comprehend What Jesus is saying Jesus has used a word which has two meanings It means being born again But also being born anew, born from above, Jesus words speak of rebirth, through a physical experience of water and a spiritual experience of the spirit and Jesus tries to convey the essence of the spirit by pointing Nicodemus to look at the wind in the trees in the evening breeze of dusk Jesus says the wind blows where it chooses And you hear it, But you do not know where It comes from Or where it goes But Nicodemus remains confused And asks how can these things be Jesus is not deterred by Nicodemus confusion And goes on to say much more About who he is, Jesus identifies himself as the son of man Who has seen heavenly things And Jesus reveals God s purpose for the world Salvation through his son - Through Jesus At the end of this encounter Nicodemus still seems confused
5 And uncertain But this is not the last We hear of Nicodemus in John s gospel He appears later In chapter seven Speaking up for Jesus Opposing the Pharisees Judgement of Jesus without evidence Drawing hostility on himself And it is Nicodemus Who after Jesus death Brings spices As a mark of honour I like Nicodemus Because faith does not come easily to him And in John s gospel He is seen to be searching for the truth about Jesus And struggling with what he hears Nicodemus story is of a journey into faith A journey we may all be on Faith can ebb and flow As we seek to encounter Jesus As we are knocked around By experience and doubt As our own certainties Build barriers around us The season of Lent Is a good time to seek Jesus To be open to encounter him Through word Through sacrament Through the people around us And the world we live in To be open to the grace God always offers To be open to receiving the gift of the Holy spirit The gift of transforming love
6 Lent is a season To reflect on Jesus journey Towards Jerusalem Towards the cross The installation in the North Transept The stations of the holocaust By the artist and priest jean Lamb Is a powerful visual aid To help integrate our reflections On Jesus journey to the cross With our encounters with the world I vividly remember When I first heard about the holocaust I was a teenager Watching the Documentary series The world at war On a Sunday night While doing homework I always did my homework Watching television on a Sunday evening It seemed to work And I remember the room And the television And the sense of total shock And disbelief at the images I saw The shock passed of course The images of indescribable Human suffering are now Probably familiar to us all From Rwanda to Syria We have seen the extent of human cruelty The stations of the Holocaust installation Sets a traditional Lenten meditation amidst the violence of recent events in the deep darkness of sin and death Today s gospel
7 Reminds us That God our creator Speaks words of life To Abraham And through Jesus Words of transformation New life And God s promise of Salvation John s gospel does not tell us If Nicodemus ever followed Abraham In being open to the impossible Was Nicodemus born anew? But we do know That at the beginning Nicodemus came to Jesus by night And that after the crucifixion Nicodemus brought spices And with Joseph of Arimathea Buried Jesus body openly And in the light of day