Homily Second Sunday in Lent Year A, March 16

God tells Abram to “go from your country” to the land that God will show him. God promises a blessing on Abram and his descendants.

If we look at the Book of Genesis this is the turning point, we have seen how Adam and Eve sinned by eating of the tree of knowledge, and thereby left paradise in the Garden of Eden.

We have seen how the evil that unleashes sin led Cain to murder his brother Abel. How the wickedness of humanity prompted God to send a flood, but allow humanity to survive through Noah and the animals he brought on board the ark.

We have seen how people built the Tower of Babel to reach the heavens. But the only result was division and many different languages for the peoples of the earth.

These are all stories the ancients passed down to explains early history. But in Abram God has found a leader who he will bless. Abram is already 75, according to the text, and he has already accumulated wealth and success in human terms.

But Abram is obedient to God’s call and God’s promise. He moved on to an unknown land with his possessions and his extended family.

If we look at the human story throughout history, it has a story of moving on. My ancestors on both sides came from the United Kingdom, first my mother’s side of the family from Scotland in the early 1800’s, and then my dad’s from southern England in 1912.

My ancestors like yours went from their country to a new land full of promise, but also of many challenges.

This story is told over and over again throughout the world. In many cases departures can be painful, and require great sacrifice. This is certainly true for many refugees from countries where there is violence and persecution.

But we also have to see God active in blessing our journeys, even if they require being uprooted as Abram was in ancient times.

Abram is also an example because of his age. It would have been easier to stay, to leave the challenge of moving on to the next generation. But God was not finished with Abram.

And we must believe God is not finished with us, whatever our age. We all have gifts to offer as we seek to serve God, whether it is by moving on to something new, or helping to carry out an existing ministry in a better way.

God certainly wasn’t finished with Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee. And Pharisees usually don’t fare well in the Gospels.

They were guardians of the Jewish law, which they held sacred. They believed the law governs every aspect of life. So they codified the law in a Book called the Mishnah, and the interpretive book on the Mishnah, the Talmud.

The word Pharisee means separated one. They were a group apart, who dedicated themselves to observing every aspect of the law.

Nicodemus was also a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, a court of 70, which was the supreme ruling body for Jews. And he belonged to a prominent family.

So this meeting between Jesus and Nicodemus was remarkable. A Pharisee, a member of the Sanhedrin, a wealthy and educated man meeting the son of a carpenter, who had no formal education, and lived as an itinerant rural preacher.

It happened at night John reports. The time is symbolic. It represents darkness, confusion, uncertainty.

John uses darkness and light that way in his Gospel. Jesus , by contrast, is light, and brings light to the darkness.

The dialogue between the two men is difficult because they are speaking on different levels.

Nicodemus can’t understand what Jesus means when he says no-one can observer the Kingdom of God without being born from above.

Taking this literally, Nicodemus wonders how anyone can be born a second time---how could one re-enter one’s mother’s womb.

Jesus continues with his theological approach, reminding Nicodemus that no-one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and of spirit. “You must be born from above,” he tells Nicodemus.

But Nicodemus is still puzzled. “How can these things be?” he asks.

That is something all of us can sympathize with. The mysteries of God—--father, son and Holy Spirit, rest on faith, not the law, or science or the intellect.

Jesus has cautionary warning for Nicodemus. “You are a teacher of Israel yet you don’t understand this?”

So Jesus is telling Nicodemus that if he can’t understand the simple truths Jesus is teaching, how will he understand the deeper things of life, the heavenly things.

So we like Nicodemus have to remember that our Christian faith is in both our heads and our hearts. It is much more than obeying a set of laws, or saying a creed.

We have to recognize God’s power and blessing in our lives.

And so this dialogue ends with one of the core Gospel passages for Christians. It begins in love. “For God so loved the world.” It continues with the act of giving—that he gave. It describes the gift as the one most costly—his only son. And those who believe in his truth—whoever believes. Will ultimately find eternal salvation—may not perish, but have eternal life.

May we learn from and be inspired by these words as we carry on our Lenten journey.