Sermon - February 17, 2008: Second Sunday in Lent

Vicar Mark Niethammer

A concept that I have never fully understood recently came to the forefront of my thoughts. It concerned revelation and what that truly means, or at least what it can mean. It is true all Scripture was revealed by God to those who physically wrote the texts we now have. But this has never happened to me and I doubt it has happened to any of you. 

In light of my lack of understanding of what revelation really is, I did a google search looking to define this word. I found some helpful definitions and some not so helpful ones. Interestingly, the first definition that came up on my computer screen was: Revelation: a doom metal band from Maryland. Hmmm…I am looking for working definitions of this word, not for some dark and depressing, head banging musical group.

The next entry was…Revelation: the last book of the New Testament. Ok, closer, but this doesn’t tell me anything about what Revelation truly is. Finally, I came across Revelation: an enlightening or astonishing disclosure. There we go. Why this wasn’t the first definition, I will never understand, but oh well, it is out of my hands!

Our lives can be filled with revelations of many and various kinds. The disclosure part could be anywhere from someone telling us how to properly finish a task, to more productively executing the job at hand when we ourselves couldn’t before the particular revelation. Revelations can also come in those quick “light bulb” moments, those flashes of genius in which we “see things more clearly.”

A personal example of a revelation was when I was in College. I was a music major seriously considering a career in education…I wanted to be a band director. I loved (and still love) music and wanted to share that with kids, to give them the same amazing guidance I had through my high school years. I had never considered anything else until one day as I was talking to my friends about faith, religion, etc. They said, “you know, Mark, have you ever thought about seminary and the ministry?” 

I laughed at them. I thought it was a horrible idea, but here I am now. I realized that this was something I needed do, and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t get away from it. My call to ministry grew so much that it wouldn’t let me do anything else…so here I am, now immersed in my theological education.

While not all revelations are of this nature…and some CAN be quite trivial, they often result in a change; either in the way we view something, like a season, or our outlook in a particular situation. I had a revelation this week while reading the gospel text, and I think that Nicodemus probably had one too. The gospel given to us today shows Nicodemus, the learned Pharisee trying to figure out how he can be born again. “Now,” he asks, “how can I re-enter the womb and be born again.” Oh, Nicodemus, you are so misguided. Jesus tells him that he must be born from above, from the spirit, from the wind. Nicodemus wanted to see what he is to do, he doesn’t want to believe, doesn’t want to truly trust that Jesus can lead him to the kingdom.

To conclude his lesson to Nicodemus, Jesus says one of the most familiar and most often quoted lines of the Bible. “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. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” 

The power of these two verses easily gets watered down by overuse, or at least John 3:16 does, so it can be helpful to see it in new light, to forget what contexts we may have seen it in, and really listen to what it is saying to us…now.

My readings this week led me to these two verses and in those, a few words stood out to me: love, condemn, and saved. In these couple words lies my big revelation for the week and ultimately for the season of Lent.

Lent, typically the solemn, pensive journey to the cross and resurrection of Christ can evoke an affect that some love and some hate. The darkness, the penitential nature of much of what happens to us, can become heavy…too heavy. Some would say that this heavy depression is just what Christians need, just what we all should have in order to see, to truly see the coming glory of the resurrection, that incredible season that we are approaching. Others however, in light of the recent death of a friend or loved one, or in the midst of ill family members, need something more. They need a revelation in the midst of the doom and gloom that often faces them.

I ran into this quote by William Willimon, a bishop in the United Methodist Church, and found it helpful: “In the midst of our trivial moralizing, our scolding, supererogation, and scrambling for a few penitential brownie points, John reminds us of why we’re here. We are on the way of the cross not because of what we have done or left undone but because of what God has done. 
The cross is not simply one more piece of damaging evidence that seals shut the case against guilty humanity.”

The revelation of a promise of love and support is what is needed when we ourselves are overcome with the gloom of shame, depression, and fear. Jesus gives us that moment with these words: loved and saved.

Lent, the journey of prayer and fasting as we await the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord gives us hope. Hope for the future, and hope for us now. “God did not send his son to condemn the world but to save it,” we are promised. The bloody crucifixion that was, did not happen in order for us to mourn our own humanities, our shortcomings and our frailties. The cross happened so that we may see the love of a God who saves. 

The Love that comes through Jesus’ actions is what ultimately saves us. We can look forward to the time when we can be with Jesus in the Kingdom, when we can escape the empty promises of the World. The love of Christ is what ultimately saves us from the depressions, fears, and shame that bog us down.

We are NOT condemned. We ARE loved and saved. If in fact we were condemned, if we were apart from God’s grace, from God’s love, then we would have a reason to be gloomy in this season…but we are not condemned. We are not condemned because God graciously welcomed us into God’s family in our Baptisms, that glorious giving of the Spirit to us, for us, promising us love and salvation. 

It is because of this love, this salvation, ultimately, this baptism that we are empowered to become vessels of Christ’s love until he comes again. Entrusted with this task of both trusting God with our lives, but also with being this grace to our communities, we embody God’s love for others. Our Baptisms call us to daily washing of renewal and repentance and as we come up from those life giving waters, we will find a God who does not condemn, but loves and saves; and we will find a world who needs to hear, who wants to hear the revealing love and grace of God. 
Amen

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