20 March 2011 Year A 2nd Sunday in Lent
Genesis 12: 1-4a Psalm 121 Romans 4: 1-5, 13-17 John 3: 1-17
We live in a world where you “get what you pay for”. In our understanding of the spiritual world we expect it to be the same, and in fact it is the same, but there are some exceptions both in this life and in the spiritual life. Sometimes we receive gifts.
Romans 4:1-3 “What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Righteousness is a word that we don’t very often use in our everyday life. Sometimes we may describe someone as being “self-righteous” and we know that it means that the person has an inflated opinion of their own goodness, and “rightness”, and this opinion is not shared by others. In contrast, “Righteousness,” is a state of being right, not by one’s own standard but by God’s.
There are two ways to be declared “righteous”, and both ways are impossible to obtain by our own efforts and goodness. The first way to be righteous is to be so good that you really are “right”.
We have a problem in our society because we actually do have a relatively “self righteous” society. By this, I mean, that our society declares itself to be right and good by its own efforts. When our society decides that the values and morals of the past are too hard to live up to, instead of declaring itself to be un-righteous, it changes the values and morals. The extreme example of this is the push to change laws about homosexuality. - And there are plenty of other examples. So, society declares itself to be the judge and jury and declares its innocence by amending the law. This is self-righteousness because it is self imposed and it is subjective, temporal and false.
Who can be declared righteous by God? To be righteous according to God’s law means attaining perfection, and since, and in the pattern of Adam and Eve, we all fail and fall short of this perfection. Our actions fail, but so does our relationship of trust with God.
The first way to attain righteousness is to be “right” and perfect. The second way is a gift of God. It, being a gift, is not something we attain by our work and self goodness, but it is bestowed by God to His people. We read that Abraham believed God and because of this simple act of faith, God credited it to him as righteousness.
It reminds me of a poster I saw many years ago, “Let go and let God”. There are so many things about life that we don’t understand and mysteries about God also. There are many anti-God voices in the world, whether acting out of hurt, ignorance or malicious intention, these voices impact on us and the society in general causing doubt and deception. It is only through genuinely seeking the voice of truth that we can find some clarity.
In order to find God and truth we need to first be honest with ourselves and this means putting aside our pride and pre-conceived notions - it means acknowledging our lack of righteousness.
In our Gospel we read about Nicodemus, who came to Jesus at night. Why at night? He didn’t want his peers to know about his vulnerability. Nicodemus showed himself to be vulnerable and humble, because he came to Jesus with questions about eternal life, even though his peers would have consider themselves and him, (as they were Israel’s teachers,) to have the answers about eternal life. So not only was Nicodemus acknowledging his vulnerability he also showed a willingness to turn from the popular opinion and seek truth in God. – As I often ask, would you prefer the truth or a lie that made you feel comfortable? Nicodemus lived in a world where sacrifices were offered for sins and the law was explained in great detail. Many people are comfortable within black and white rules.... but Nicodemus sort the truth, even if it confused him and made him uncomfortable – which it did. What is your choice?
John 3:10 –15 ““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 me, when it comes to doubts and the mysteries of God, this is the bottom line.... Jesus lived and claimed to be the one who came from heaven – he is therefore either lying, deluded or he is in fact the God the son. Looking at the evidence (many facts about him as an historical figure quoted in both Christian and non Christian historical sources) shows convincingly that he is who he claimed to be and therefore I believe, and I believe that to be evidence enough to cover any other doubt.
How do we respond when faced with the overwhelming evidence of God? As the song, One of Us, declares, “and would you want to see if seeing meant that you would have to believe.....” -and how do we respond when God calls us?
Genesis 12:1 “The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.”
Abraham had a call from God and he obeyed. But more than that, God promised to make Abraham into a great nation. At the time Abraham was 75 years old and childless, never the less, he said “yes” to God.
God calls us.... not necessarily to any place, but to a state of being. We are called to turn away from the popular beliefs of society and peers and believe in the one true God.
In our Gospel reading there is an amazing promise given;
John 3:14-17 “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.”
The promise is that anyone who believes in Jesus may have eternal life in him. Please notice that the promise is not conditional upon anything you “do” so much as what you “think”. The promise is a gift of eternal life through Jesus..... No longer does death have that sting.... why? Because we have this hope that we and our loved ones have life eternal through the gift of God and belief in Jesus. I don’t despair over the loss of Joe... though sad and cranky about it for me, I’m joyfully confident that he is alive and well eternally. When Joe died he had the most amazing peaceful smile on his face.... this only happened after he died... I know he is smiling still.
Though this is a gift freely given, the choice is ours to receive it. To receive the gift we need to acknowledge the truth and declare our “self-righteousness” to be fallen short of true righteousness.
As soon as we enter into this “faith” relationship with God it should be sealed with the sign of Baptism – as much for us as for anything spiritual – it is us who often need the ceremony to truly acknowledge our state of being. Just as Abraham believed God and it was his belief which made him righteous, he also answered God’s call and committed himself to a course of action.
We are also called to believe, and likewise, we are declared righteous by our belief, yet we also need to make a commitment to be in relationship with God – it is through this relationship we are saved.
Jesus refers to the relationship in which we enter as being “born again”. This is a wonderful reference because it refers to being born spiritually as God’s child. The analogy is understood from what we know of physical birth.... we might be wayward children at times, but we remain the children of our parents. In the same way, as the children of God, we do often still go astray but our reality as the children of God cannot be severed.
Psalm 121:5-8 “The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”
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