Oh Nichodemus!

 

John 3:1-17 Reflection I read somewhere – have no idea now where I read it… the story of a newly minted convert who went to see the local Christian missionary. He asked the missionary this question. “If I did not know about God and about sin—would I go to hell?” “No”, said the missionary, “not if you had no knowledge of God’s commandments”. “Then for heaven’s sake”, said the convert… “Why did you tell me?” I can identify. It is often easier to shut out the ways in which God calls us to new life than it is to open ourselves to change and hopefully growth. And yet there is this yearning—this need—this desire to enter into a deeper knowledge and understanding of God and our relationship with God and each other. And isn’t that really why, year after year, we enter into this season of Lent hopeful that this year all of the fasting and penitence will lead us to some sort of corrective that will make us more worthy of God’s (and everyone else’s) love. That’s where I believe the missionary got it wrong. It’s not the lack of knowledge that relieves us of responsibility. It is the act of Love, bestowed upon us by God, in many and miraculous ways, that welcomes us into forgiveness and healing. This week in the SSJE email Br Geoffrey reflected on the feeling of shame that is a debilitating contributor to our life as Christians. He wrote, “I wonder if you have some action of which you are ashamed, which you keep remembering, replaying, again and again. Maybe God is longing to reassure you that God remembers your sin no more, and you should stop remembering it as well. You may not be able to forget, but you can stop remembering and trust God’s word.” The story of Nichodemus does not end with the encounter in our Sunday Gospel. This Sunday we will explore the other “Nichodemus encounters” But for now I think that we all yearn for some answer, some formula, that will lift our shame and our longing for love and acceptance and map out a plan for action. But life is not like that. We are not in control. That’s Jesus’ guidance for Nichodemus.  Jesus is telling him that there is no mitzvah (deed) or bracha (blessing) that offers God’s love. To be “born again” is to recognize our spiritual dependence on our relationship with God and to open ourselves to receive God’s love. Buen Camino, Mtr Jane Image attribution: Pittman, Lauren Wright. Born Again, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57087 [retrieved March 2, 2023]. Original source: Lauren Wright Pittman, http://www.lewpstudio.com/.