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CHILDREN'S EDUCATION |
SERMONS The
Second Sunday in Lent By David Christian There is a story about a king long ago. This king was quite wealthy, but he was also deeply interested in religious matters and in questions about God. He sent messengers throughout the world to seek out information for him. He read the sacred books of many different faiths. And he had holy men from all countries brought to him so that he could question them. One night the king was lying on his bed, just about to fall asleep. Suddenly he heard a loud banging and scuffling on the roof above his room. He called out loudly, "Who's there?" A voice replied, "A friend. I'm looking for my camel." The king was incensed. "You fool!" he cried. "Are you looking for a camel on the roof?" "Fool yourself," the voice cried back. "Are you looking for God while you are dressed in silk pajamas and lying on a bed of gold?" Like the king, Nicodemus, the figure in today's gospel, was a searcher. He had spent his life looking for God. He had spent his life diligently keeping the Law as it had been handed down. And his diligence had been rewarded: he had risen to a place of prominence as a leader of his community. But it was not enough. He was still searching. His questions were still not answered. His hunger for God had not yet been satisfied. So he came to Jesus. He came at night. He came in the darkness; the darkness of his own soul, of his own need, of his own questions. Jesus told him, just as the king had been told, that he was going about his search the wrong way. In order to see the kingdom of God, Jesus said, one must be born from above. "How could this be?" asked Nicodemus. "Could a person reenter his mother's womb?" But the birth Jesus was talking about was not physical birth. The birth Jesus was talking about is a birth of the spirit. It is a birth through the Spirit. The way to this birth, Jesus says, is through faith in the Son of God. Nicodemus had been looking for God through works, through the keeping of the Law. Jesus told him that the true way to God is through faith: Faith which opens our eyes. Faith which brings light to the darkness of our souls. This is the same point that Paul made in his letter to the Church in Rome. Paul says, "The promise that [Abraham] would inherit the world did not come to [him] or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.... It depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all ... who share the faith of Abraham." This is the faith that we share. This is the birth which we experienced through the waters of Baptism. By God's grace and through the power of God's Holy Spirit we have been made members of God's kingdom. But we forget. We get busy. We begin to lose our bearings, to lose our balance. The pressures of the day build up and obscure our vision. The need for renewal is a constant need in the life of Christians, in our lives, in yours and in mine. As we move faster and faster we feel ourselves being stretched thinner and thinner. We find nowhere to turn. Abraham Lincoln once remarked, "I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go." Lent is a time for remembering what it is we are searching for. Lent is a time for remembering where to look; a time for renewing our acquaintance with the source of life and peace and joy; a time for repentance; a time for turning again to God. Take time over the coming weeks to remember that for all our busyness we cannot give meaning to our lives; to remember that we cannot save ourselves; to remember that, as Paul says, "it is God who gives life to the dead and who calls into existence things that do not exist." "Thanks be to God who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." David
Christian Genesis
12.1-8 |
Chapel
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