Pilgrim Journey: New Beginnings
March 8, 2020 – Rev. Daniel Ervin
This season of Lent we are on a Pilgrim Journey together, journeying into deeper relationship with God. Last week, we took the first step required for any pilgrimage: which is to decide to leave home in the first place, and to decide what all you’re going to leave behind in order set out on this journey. And I invited each of you to think about what you need to leave behind that hinders your relationship with God and with others?
Maybe you’ve decided to leave behind guilt you have felt over a decision you made, or leave behind and ignore judgment you experience from others, or you’ve decided to leave behind anger over a situation. Or that desire to control every detail of your life – maybe you want to leave that behind.
Maybe you’re like me and realized you needed to delete Facebook off of your phone to focus better on God without all that noise and distraction. There are some things that will just weigh you down on this journey, so I hope that you’ll continue to think about what you need to leave behind as we embark on this journey together.
But today, we take the next step, which is to ask an important question: is it really possible to leave those things behind, to be changed, to start anew and afresh on this journey to God? Is that even possible?
This question—is it possible to start anew?—is at the heart of our Gospel reading today. Nicodemus is a Religious leader among the pharisees. He has admired Jesus’ words and miracles from a distance, and is drawn to him—drawn to him to the point that he is toying with the idea of following Jesus on this Journey.
But a lot is weighing him down. He’s got a lot to lose should he leave home and go on this Journey with Jesus. He’s a leader among people who are totally at odds with Jesus. To leave the Pharisees and follow Jesus would be like Bill Gates leaving his role as CEO of Microsoft to sweep the floors at an Apple Store in the mall. What would people think? He’d lose all his power, his prestige. He’d leave behind friendships. He’d have to completely change his mindset and outlook about the world. Is that kind of drastic change even possible?
Nicodemus doesn’t know if it’s possible. You might not know if it is either.
Nicodemus isn’t exactly willing to risk much in order to find out. So he decides to go to Jesus at night—where no one will see him, where the stakes are low. And in the dark of night, he has a conversation with Jesus that answers his question…well, it sort of answers his question.
“No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above, Jesus says—or “without being born again,” as some translations put it. Being born a second time—doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to Nicodemus, so Jesus clarifies—Nicodemus, to enter the kingdom of God, you’ve got to be born of water and Spirit.
So the answer to our question—is this kind of big change in our life’s direction possible?—the answer is yes—Jesus says thatthrough water and God’s Spirit, this kind of change in direction is possible. For Nicodemus. And for you and for me, this change is possible.
But how it’s possible, what that change will look like for us is not always so clear. Christians have many different theories about how we are transformed and born again, or born from above. I’m sure most of us have heard of the phrase “born-again” Christians — you might even consider yourself to be a born-again Christian, which is a great and wonderful thing. Born again Christians are those who tend to believe that in choosing to leave behind the old life and follow Jesus there is an instantaneous transformation within yourself. It’s as if you can remember the very date, the very moment, in which you accepted Jesus and your life changed for ever. I think of the story of Abraham that we read from Genesis today. Abraham, were he alive today—and were he a Christian—we might call him born again. God calls him on a journey to leave behind the old life and take up the new life. And in an instant, Abraham and Sarah pick up everything and move to a foreign land, trusting God to be with them. We get no sense of hesitation from Abraham. He is changed on a dime.
You know people—or at least stories of people—who have had this kind of born again experience. As soon as they begin the journey to follow Jesus, the addiction subsides, or their attitude changes, or things in life just begin to work out for them. These are the types of people who can give you the date that they were born again. And maybe that is you. And that is wonderful testimony to the grace and of God.
But there are many of us, maybe more of us, who are not like Abraham. We hear God’s call to set out on the journey to deeper relationship with God, and we want to follow, but we are the ones who set out bucking with fits and starts. We get a ways down the journey and we hit a bump along the road and turn right around to go home where things are comfortable. Maybe we’re doing everything right, best we can tell: praying, worshipping, serving God, and yet that relationship never seems to grow any deeper, and we get discouraged. We worry—is this change really possible for me? I know it is for others—look at Abraham, look at that preacher on TV—but is it possible for me? Is this journey going anywhere, or am I just spinning my wheels?
I think this is why Nicodemus is such an important character in the gospel. We often look to role models to show us the perfect, right way to do things. It is good to follow Abraham. But it’s also important to have role models like Nicodemus who show us that for some of us, the journey to deeper relationship doesn’t come as easily as Paul on the road to Damascus-type moment or an Abraham moment. I suspect that for Nicodemus there was lots of back and forth. Faith and doubt. Hope and despair. And yet–Jesus assures him still—this is possible for you: by water and God’s Spirit it is possible.
Judging by this story alone, Nicodemus looks like a failure, doesn’t he?Nicodemus leaves in the dark, just as he arrived. He’s apparently no more of a disciple than when he started out. He’ll go back to being the same pharisee as before, not having taken any risks.
But if we follow John’s gospel, this isn’t the last we see Nicodemus.
Later on, the pharisees are testing Jesus and arguing with him. And Nicodemus this pharisee stands up for Jesus in presence of these other pharisees—Nicodemus urges them to give Jesus a hearing. Leaving in the dark wasn’t the end of Nicodemus’ story—the Spirit of God was still leading him on this journey.
But even that is not the last time we encounter Nicodemus—After Jesus has died, and buried. Nicodemus goes to the tomb—maybe even in broad daylight—to bring spices to anoint Jesus’ body. You see, Nicodemus was not so much born again in a big way. He was born again, and again, and again, in small, almost imperceivable ways—being transformed into a disciple of Christ, slowly, but surely leaving home in the old life and arriving in the new.
Perhaps you have been born again and that has been a powerful transformation. We celebrate with you. But if find yourself struggling on this Journey, if you find your self taking steps backwards as well as forwards. If you find yourself wondering if this change and transformation is possible for you—look to Nicodemus. And maybe not so much look for the big—miraculous moments of being born again. Look for the small blessings and graces, the way that you are being born again and again and again by the water of your Baptism and God’s spirit, and know that you are on your way to deeper relationship with God, and on your way to the new creation. Amen.