Lent 2, Year A

Today we are talking about gifts from God.  In some ways today’s sermon is complementary to last week’s sermon.  You will recall that last Sunday’s sermon used the example of Flylady dealing with a messy house by setting a fifteen-minute timespan for cleaning, and that Lent gives us the opportunity to take on one spiritual practice for a limited timespan, so we don’t get overwhelmed and do nothing, and so our faith doesn’t die from a spiritually sedentary lifestyle.  What we do as we practice our faith matters.  At the same time, a relationship is made up of two people, and if we pay attention only to our side, we will miss something essential.  

Starting today, our lectionary takes a break from this year’s reading through the gospel of Matthew, so starting today we will be spending the rest of Lent in the Gospel of John.  The preacher Fred Craddock introduces today’s gospel passage by saying, “In John 3:1-17, the church overhears Jesus tell a religious leader that the life abundant and eternal is a gift from above and is not attained by achievement, claim, or proof. Nothing could be more appropriate for Lent than a reminder that prayer and fasting do not earn anything” [Preaching Through the Christian Year A p. 159]. 

Today’s passage is a complicated one, and we’re going to look closely at some of the details.  First, a note about the structure.  In today’s passage, as the scholar William Barclay points out, John follows a pattern he often uses in his gospel: The enquirer says something (verse 2).  Jesus answers in a saying that is hard to understand (verse 3). The enquirer misunderstands that saying (verse 4). Jesus answers with a saying that is even more difficult to understand (verse 5).  And then Jesus gives a discourse and explanation.  John uses this method so we can see people thinking things out for themselves, and so that we can do the same [The Gospel of John, volume 1 p. 124].

In this passage, Jesus’ saying which is hard to understand is: “You must be born—and then he uses the Greek word  ἄνωθεν (anothen).  This Greek word has two parts, “ano” which means “up” and “then” which means “from (a place).  In the other places in John’s gospel that use “ano,” it always means “up” and in the other places in John’s gospel that use “anothen” it always means “from above” or “from the top”.

In English we use the phrase “from the top” metaphorically, like a musician saying, “take it from the top,” which means “start from the beginning” or “do over”. The same is true in Greek, ἄνωθεν (anothen) can also mean, “again” or “anew,” but that isn’t its primary meaning.

When we look closely at this passage, we see where Nicodemus’ misunderstanding happens. Jesus meant “from above” (as in, from God) and Nicodemus took it as “again” (as in, a second time). Fred Craddock writes: “It is striking that the popularization of this expression has accepted Nicodemus’ misunderstanding (born again) rather than Jesus’ word” (p. 160).  Nicodemus’ misunderstanding leads to a grotesque question: how can a grown-up enter the mother’s womb and be born?

Jesus corrects this misunderstanding: It’s not about being born from the flesh again.  It’s about being born of the Spirit.  As Jesus sums it up, “What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.”

Okay, we’re going to look at one more Greek word in today’s text, and then we’re going to talk about why this matters.  The verb, γεννάω (gennaō) in regards to women means: “to give birth to”.  When applied to men, it refers to the males’ role related to birth. It can be translated: “to beget” or “to become a father of.”  As a side note, this is a root of plenty of English words that have to do with birth.  The Greek word comes via Latin into English, and give us words related to birth such as “generation,” “genitals,” and “genealogy”.  The Greek word also takes on a metaphorical or figurative sense of: “to bring forth,” “to produce,” “to cause to happen.”  In English, we see these figurative meanings in words like “generate” and even “genesis”.  

Our birth in the flesh is caused by our parents.  Going through the process of birth is a major event for a baby, no question, but the baby is not the one who sets this process in motion or causes it.  The point is that the newborn receives, unearned, all the blessings of life on earth.  So here’s why this matters.  Jesus is using this metaphor to tell Nicodemus about grace, about unearned gifts from God.  Nicodemus is a leader of the Jews, a Pharisee.  He’s spent his life getting really good at following the law, resisting temptations, doing everything right, doing all the practices that his society holds sacred.  If anyone could earn holiness, it would be him.  And Jesus blows his mind by saying it’s not about that.  Jesus says instead it’s like God giving birth to his spiritual life, which he receives, like a newborn who has done nothing to earn it. The same is true for each of us. 

There are various kinds of trouble we can get ourselves into otherwise.  Some of us think of ourselves as being not very good at this believing stuff.  And the more we feel like a failure spiritually, the harder it seems to believe at all.  When you think it’s all about you and your abilities, you lose sight of the fact that God has already placed that spark of faith in your spirit.  The good news of the gospel is that that spark of faith, however small it may seem to you, is a gift to you by the grace of God.  And instead of responding to it with self-blame, you can receive it with gratitude.  

Some of us can get ourselves into trouble with envy toward the people who seem to have more faith than we do, or feeling superior or judgmental toward the people who seem to have less.  For one thing, Jesus is repeatedly telling people that those who seem holiest on the outside are often not those who are holiest on the inside, and those who seem unholiest on the outside are often holiest on the inside.  Jesus is also repeatedly telling people that they’re often wrong at assessing other people’s faith, and they’re often wrong at assessing their own.  Even more important, since these things are unearned gifts, they are not things we take credit for ourselves.  Even the apostle Paul, whose faith changed the world, is emphatic that he is not going to boast about his own faith, he’s only going to boast about God’s grace to him in his weakness.  He tells us to do the same.

We can look at faith as receiving a gift from God, receiving God’s love.  And whatever response is stirred up within us as we receive God’s love is also a gift from God.  If there are still things we don’t understand, that’s fine.  Nicodemus can hear the wind blowing, and he doesn’t know where the wind came from, or where it will go afterward.  He doesn’t have to know everything.  The wind is here now and he can hear it.  He doesn’t have to know where it was yesterday, and he doesn’t have to predict where it is going to be tomorrow.  Our faith is not a body of material that our intellect must master; it is a relationship, in which we are loved, and we have always been loved, and in which we love.  We can keep receiving God’s love even with our questions.  We can keep loving God even with our questions.  

A newborn doesn’t understand how love operates.  But a newborn does receive love even without understanding it, and receiving love is what enables babies to live and thrive.  As babies grow, they respond to love even before they understand it.  And do any of us as adults really completely understand love?  But we are loved anyway, and we love anyway.   

God has loved each of us since before we were born, without our having to do anything to earn it.  We can receive that love that comes to us by God’s grace, and receiving that gift is in itself a gift.  To receive God’s love is an act of faith, an act of belief.  We want our faith to grow, of course, and we want to do what we can to nurture it.  Still, it was God who gave birth to the faith in our spirit, and instead of judging ourselves or our neighbours, we can rejoice in that gift and in our gratitude to God for giving it to us.