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Well, of course, this story would never apply here but both our Gospel and Old Testament reading are about change.
Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. As a leading Jew he, presumably didn't want to be tainted by being seen with Jesus, but nevertheless he seemed full of admiration. He recognised that Jesus taught with an authority which could only come from God. No one could do what Jesus was doing unless God was with him. He and Jesus engaged in a conversation which was that of two rabbis having a theological conversation as equals. The central point of what Jesus said to him was the need to be born again if the Kingdom of God was to be revealed. Nicodemus took this literally and in questioning whether a person who is old could re-enter the womb a second time he missed the point of what Jesus was saying. Jesus was speaking of being born of the Spirit. Those who have been re-born through Baptism, understand that what Jesus is saying is that it is in the heart and soul that re-birth takes place when we embrace not only the teaching of Jesus but also the way of life that he came to bring. Life which is no longer earth-bound but spirit-filled.
The conversation with Nicodemus moves off into other areas when Jesus give what is in John's Gospel the first indication of his death. The Son of Man will be lifted up is reference to what will happen to Jesus when he is crucified. When he is lifted up the full glory of eternal life will be revealed and those who embrace the Cross will share in victory which changes lives as it defeats the evil in the world and replaces it with love. In other words, the more we live in the love of God expressed on the cross, the more we are changed.
In this conversation with Nicodemus, John puts in place his central understanding of the Crucifixion as a triumph not a defeat. Of all the Gospels, John emphasises the glory of the cross which is so central to his theology and so essential for our salvation. Michael Ramsey, in possibly his most important book, The glory of God and the transfiguration of Christ, took up this emphasis of John when he wrote:
Calvary is no disaster which needs the
Resurrection to reverse it, but
a victory so signal that the Resurrection follows quickly to seal it.
As if to stress this, Jesus uses his conversation
with Nicodemus to take us to the heart of the Gospel an to the central
point of our Lord's mission. He does so in the beautiful and
tremendous words which tells us in no uncertain terms what God is doing
in Jesus.For God so loved the world that he gave
his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but
may have eternal life.
You want to know what the Gospel is about?
Look no further!The emphasis is on God's gift. He gave us Jesus and because of Jesus, he gave us eternal life That is what Nicodemus was offered. If he changed his heart, he would change his life for ever. We do not know whether he took up the offer because his conversation with Jesus seems to end and Nicodemus slips back into the night. We can, however, assume from two other events that what Jesus told him entered into his heart. In John Chapter 7, we hear that when the Jewish leaders were trying to arrest Jesus, Nicodemus challenged them. He thought that Jesus deserved a fair hearing in which he could tell them what he was doing and so defend himself. Nicodemus was rebuked but it was clear that he had learned something from that night-time conversation.
Our next meeting with him, of course, is after the Crucifixion when he went with Joseph of Arimathea to claim the body of Jesus and to give him a decent burial. We know no more of him than that, but both these incidents indicate that his conversation with Jesus had a lasting effect. Whether he became fully changed is open to speculation. he is referred to in some of the legends associated with the early church and because he was clearly a good and decent man, we might dare to hope that Jesus really did change him.
If we are uncertain of that as far as Nicodemus is concerned we can be absolutely sure about the change in the other character in today's readings. Abraham, or as he still was in today's reading from Genesis, Abram, occupies a very special place in God's heart and his vocation to become the Father of the Nations places him at the very beginning of the Christian Faith. He is also revered in Judaism and in Islam, where he is known as a prophet from who Muhammad could trace his ancestry. The New Testament calls him a man of faith and an obedient man who accepted God's call to him and who never wavered in his service of God. His faith and obedience was severely tested when God asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac and it was vindicated when God stayed his hand at the last moment. The Eastern Orthodox Church commemorates him as the Righteous Father Abraham and keeps not one but two feasts days dedicated to him. And all those accolades began on the day that God asked him to change his life by serving him.
Now let me tell you that God isn't always that particular about who he calls to serve him. There is no pre-condition that you have to be saintly for God to use you. Those who are tempted to hid behind the excuse, but I'm not good enough, when asked to do something in the church or the world for God, will find that God has rather deaf ears at that point! The paragon that was Abraham was also a liar. He lied to Pharaoh in Egypt that his wife was his sister and he repeated that lie some time later to King Abimelech. When the King decided he rather fancied her, Abraham did nothing to disillusion him. Thankfully, before the worst happened, God intervened.
He also used people. When his wife Sarah was found to be unable to have children, they hatched a plot that he should go with their servant Hagar and have a child with her so that they could adopt. When Sarah subsequently conceived and bore Isaac (supposedly when Sarah was 90 and Abraham was 100) the illegitimate son, Ishmael, together with his mother were banished to the desert. And this was the man God chose to be the Father of the Nations!
But whatever his failings - and it is rather comforting that God can use us warts and all - he was a man who demonstrated remarkable faith in God.
The Lord said to Abram, Go from your own
country and your kindred and your father's house to the land I will
show you ... So Abram went.
Later in Genesis, when God told him that his descendants would be more than the stars in the night sky, it is said that Abraham believed the Lord. This simple but profound statement shows us a man who trusted God totally. So when he was asked to give up everything and become a nomadic wanderer, he just did it. Quite amazing really. How many of us would do the same if an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared here this morning and said: Leave Epping. I expect that the excuses would be ingenious though some have done it the other way round - like that monk in our Epping Window who is setting off from Waltham Abbey to preach the Gospel in Epping, and one or two clergy since, I believe!
Of course, we can look back on Abraham's journey and with a little imagination realise that it would eventually lead to Epping. This is because Abraham's journey and the billions of his descendants it produced is actually the journey of the Christian Church. The Nations of Which Abraham became the Father was to lead the people of God to Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth, and from there, where else could the road go but to Epping? And of course to all the places where the Christian Church has been and is working, witnessing and hopefully changing lives. This is the story of Pilgrimage - the start of the Holy Journey of the people of God which ahas brought the Gospel to all the places where Jesus is known, loved and served.
Abraham, and possibly Nicodemus, are on two journeys. The journey of personal vocation and the pilgrimage of the Church, which is not simply about ourselves. God so loved the world means that our pilgrimage is to go through the world (and in our case Epping and its surroundings) and gather up as many as will accompany us on our pilgrimage of faith. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ who chose to save the world from within. Ours is not an other-worldly religion but one in which this world is surrounded by and impregnated with the Love of God. This is where Jesus is at work. and he is at work in all who, like Abraham, believe in the Lord - and that hopefully includes you and me. We serve Jesus; we witness to God, when we are walking with the lord in the thicket of this world and transform everything (everyone) by love - as St John of the Cross puts it. God isn't calling Abraham nor talking to Nicodemus today. he's talking to and calling you.
Yesterday I led a Bible Study at a Vocation Day in the Bradwell Episcopal area. Over 50 people of all ages gathered to try and hear what God was saying to them and how they might serve him better, in new ways. It was exciting to see so many exploring God's call to them. Whatever message they hear throughout the day, I hope that the most important one was Love the world. Love the world with the heart of Jesus. To do that, we must know that love for ourselves and we must be prepared to let God not only love us but change us.
If we are to love the world with the sacrificial, even Crucified love of Jesus, what has to change? What has to change in us if we are to hear God's call to us to leave our homeland and travel with Jesus - and for homeland, try reading comfort zone. God is calling his Church to pilgrim with Him in new and uncharged territory. To be unafraid to let go and let God - to let God change us and change our church so that it becomes a wayside chapel on the journey of humanity to God's Kingdom.
There is a saying Change the World, staring with Me - so what in you needs changing if the love of God is to grow more deeply, joyfully and permanently? This is a good Lenten question. Such change means also changing fears and apprehensions and hesitations and trust God. Can you do that? Can we as a church do that? Actually we are already doing it - or trying to. But God always says there is more that he wants from us - not more activity perhaps, but more love and openness and care and affirmation and acceptance of each other and those who come to us here or who meet in the highways and byways.
So the question I put to you is: Can you change enough to sense and be part of the excitement of believing in a God who believes in us so much that he gives us Jesus? What will you do with that gift? Will you follow Jesus wherever he may lead? Or do you prefer the hesitant faith of the night - engaging with Jesus but not actually giving your heart? Are you Nicodemus or Abraham?