Sermon for 2nd Sunday of Lent – morning
Sunday 12th March 2017
Romans 4. 1-5, 13-17
John 3.1-17
Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs
There is a classroom just along from this School Hall, on which is written something like “We believe in second chances.”
Well that is basically the message of the Gospel – the Good News – that we all get second, third and even more chances in God’s wonderful economy. The trouble is that most of us – especially perhaps those in the church, – don’t often live our lives as though we truly believed it!
What do you most want from life?
Most people would answer something like “Love, long life and happiness.” Well the good news is that those are offered to every Christian in our Gospel reading today. In St John’s Gospel are those words so familiar, that we hear at every funeral service…
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 his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
There God offers us the chance to be loved; to have a very long life – as long as eternity; and salvation. “To be saved” may have all sorts of meanings, but at the very least it means to be set free from fear – which must be a precursor to happiness I imagine.
So you are being offered love, long life and happiness; but how much do you have to pay to get these things?
Jesus offered them to a Jew named Nicodemus who belonged to the Pharisees; that group of Jewish scholars who took a very detailed and fundamentalist, moralistic view of Scripture and religion. Nicodemus thought that to please God you must obey every law in the Old Testament, then apply them strictly in all that you do in life. If you did this meticulously, then you would earn the right to enter the “kingdom of God”, which most Jews thought would be a new era in earthly history, beginning in their lifetime. There would be a new ruler for the Jews (indeed for the world) called the Messiah – the anointed one of God. But this could only happen when every Jew had obeyed every law in the Scriptures for 24 hours. That is why they so feared this dangerous liberal called Jesus, who seemed to be saying, “Forget the details; just learn to love God and love your neighbour.”
Jesus said, “You can’t even see the kingdom of God when it is underneath your own nose!” which left Nicodemus a bit confused and put out!. The entry ticket depends not on strict morality, but on rebirth. To enter the kingdom of God you need a fresh start, a second chance, entirely dependent on God – just as when a child is born it is entirely dependent on its parents. So in the same sort of way, we must learn to rely completely on God’s grace. Then we will receive love and happiness as we build God’s earthly kingdom of justice and peace; and after our death, our life in God’s kingdom will be not just long, but eternal.
Sometimes particularly enthusiastic Christians will ask you the question, “Are you born again?” – something that I confess always leaves me personally a bit nonplussed. And if they add “have you found Jesus?” I am afraid I usually respond, “why, I didn’t know he was lost!”
If they mean can you identify that one moment in time when you underwent an emotional conversion and asked Jesus into your life? Then the answer is “no” – although I know that others will be able to answer “yes”, and that is wonderful for them.
But if you mean, “Have you given your whole life to Jesus; to learning more about him and following in his way?” then the answer would be different. And I could, with integrity, say “Yes”. Indeed I would answer that I am born again every day, because every day I have to remember that I can do nothing in my own strength, but only by trusting in God’s love and forgiveness for me. Learning to trust in Him is a lifelong commitment – a process that will never end this side of the grave.
You want love, long life and happiness? Easy! Just be born again; make a fresh start, and give your whole life to Jesus. Make living a life of unselfish love, as Jesus told us to, the most important thing in your life.
If you haven’t done it before, or if (like most of us) you feel you are slipping a bit, do it right now: say Amen to this prayer.
Dear Jesus, I want to be born again, giving my whole life to you, doing what you want me to, and trusting in your forgiveness, not what I have done, to get me to heaven. Amen.