Lent 2A
image: “Nicodemus Coming to Christ” Henry Ossawa Tanner / Public domain (wikimedia)
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 with Melissa Meyers, #pastorbesties, Youtube Channel
Richard Bruxvoort Colligan Psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist, Patreon
Genesis 12:1-4a, Nicole Cox, #pastorbesties, Youtube Channel
Richard Bruxvoort Colligan Psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist, Patreon
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17, Erin Geoffrion
Musician - Risn “It Ain’t Easy”, IamRisn.com, soundcloud.com/iamrisn, Facebook, @IamRisn
John 3:1-17
Initial Thoughts
Week two of the Lenten series “Jesus and Pals.” How Jesus interacts with each of these reveals to us something of Jesus. This is about Jesus, not about Satan.
Lent 1A - Satan, “Worship and serve only God”
Lent 2A - Nicodemus “[Jesus was not sent] to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him”
Lent 3A - Woman at the well, “I am [the Messiah]”
Lent 4A - Blind man, “I am the light of the world”
Lent 5A - Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and the life”
Has anyone ever heard this one before?
Bible Study
Context: Discussion with Nicodemus
Takes place at night, immediately after the table turning incident in the Temple. Jewish leaders are not happy with him.
Nicodemus, a Jewish leader (Pharisee), is convinced by Jesus’ actions that he is “a teacher who has come from God.” Implies that there are others who have this same belief.
Jesus responds that this isn’t enough. You must be “born anew” to see God’s kingdom.
Nicodemus does not understand, so Jesus explains that people must be “born of the spirit.” Nicodemus still does not understand. This passage is a part of Jesus’ explanation to Nicodemus.
Nicodemus
At the margins- not the last nor the first, shrouded in night
A Pharisee - deeply embedded into the religious leadership. Fearful of others seeing him?
Nicodemites - German Christians who sympathized with the reformers, but were not willing to be publicly identified with them
Nicodemus, like many people, are curious about faith, but are perhaps unwilling to “take the plunge”
Is Spiritual but not Religious the Nicodemites of today?
Nicodemus is on a journey - first questioning in the night, then defending Jesus (John 7), then burying Jesus (John 19)
Johannine Theme:
Sign - Dialogue - Discourse (Karoline M. Lewis - Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary - Feasting on the Word – Year A, Volume 2: Lent through Eastertide)
No sign, but Nicodemus refers to the signs that Jesus has done
dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus
Discourse on the Light and the Dark - v. 11 that can be directed at the reader as much as at Nicodemus (Nic does not matter for the rest of the passage)
Translation: “From above” - anonthen - can also mean anew or again - hence being “born again”
Gestating Faith
Being born again - there is a lot of time and energy that goes into birth - why would faith be any different?
Baptism - Is this a command to be baptized?
YES - Jesus says “born of water and Spirit. What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of Spirit is Spirit.”
NO - Being born of water is natural birth, Also Jesus says (right after this) that he is the source of Living Water - again alluding to him being the way. To be born in water and the Spirit is to live in the way of Jesus.
Kingdom of God - one of only three mentions in the Gospel of John - here twice and again in 18:36 as “my kingdom”
Themes of light and darkness
Nicodemus comes at night and is referred to as the one who came at night
Nicodemus won’t “come into the light” until the end (chapter 19:38-42)
See verses 18-21 esp.
How to address this language of condemnation?
Do we truly want to be exposed by the Light of the World? To have our hypocrisies and justifications revealed?
Condemnation is not the judgment of God, but the judgment we bring on ourselves when we try to hide our unfaithfulness
v 14-15
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake” is a clear allusion to Numbers 21:4-9
Recalls God’s continued saving work in the world. In the Wilderness, there was a very present danger from which God was able to protect the people.
God continues to protect the people, now through raising his Son.
Just as the Israelites were saved from death by looking at the bronze snake in the wilderness (Numbers reading) so all people can be saved by looking to Jesus, but what does that mean?
Crucifixion? Jesus raised up on the cross.
“Lift High the Cross” Hymn:
“Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim till all the world adore his sacred name. Come, Christians follow this triumphant sign The hosts of God in unity combine. O Lord, once lifted on the glorious tree, as thou hast promised, draw the world to thee.” George William Kitchin and Michael Robert Newbolt, 1916.
“The reference to the Son of Man being 'lifted up’ here means that Jesus will be physically hung on a pole… Here is my sentiment about this story, from Numbers: The people were cursed by God because they refused to accept God’s provision (e.g. They complained about the “miserable food” called manna). The snakes were the punishment. To be “saved” from the snakes they had to look at the bronze serpent – they had to reckon with their refusal to accept God’s provision. There is a coarse frankness in looking at one’s sin in order to be saved from it.” (D. Mark Davis, Left Behind and Loving It)
Lifted up as a model? Jesus raised up as the Way in which to follow.
“Help Us Accept Each Other” hymn:
“Help us accept each other as Christ accepted us; teach us as sister, brother, each person to embrace. Be present, Lord, among us, and bring us to believe we are ourselves accepted and meant to love and live.” Fred Kaan, 1974
Resurrection? Jesus raised from the grave?
“Because He Lives” hymn:
“Because he lives, I can face tomorrow; because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know he holds the future, and life is worth the living just because he lives.” Gloria and William Gaither, 1971
Story telling? Nicodemus only gets it when Jesus reminds him of the story
I love to tell the story Of unseen things above
3 I love to tell the story, for those who know it best
seem hungering and thirsting to hear it, like the rest.
And when, in scenes of glory, I sing the new, new song,
’twill be the old, old story that I have loved so long.
Author: Kate Hankey (1866); Author (refrain): William G. Fischer (1869)
Tune: [I love to tell the story] (Fischer)
Link to the OT: If you church likes contemporary worship music
“Lift Up The Suffering Symbol” by Michael Card 1989 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5E8CmqGVVI
John 3:16 - Faith and Works
Seen by many Christians as the summation of the Gospel
What does Jesus mean by belief in the Son of God? To simply testify, “I believe!”? I don’t think so
Mark Davis’s direct translation: “For in this way God loved the world, that [God] gave the only generated son, in order that anyone who believes in him would not [be] destroyed but have life eternal.” (Left Behind and Loving It)
Verses 19-21 clearly link belief with deeds. One who believes in God, who “come to the light” do so because “their deeds have been done in God”
John 3:16 is not about a one time being born again, but an invitation to follow the Way of Jesus.
Your belief is shown in your deeds
The difference is demonstrated in real action
All things will eventually be exposed to light
Those who hate the light do wickedness. Those who remain in the light do truth.
v. 16-21
John often divides things into two distinct categories.
Spirit and World
Darkness and Light
Life and Death
Truth and Wickedness
Those that believe and those that do not
These dichotomies reflect a “minority group defining itself not only within the diversity of Judaism but also defining itself among followers of Jesus. In this context, polemical language against the Jews and secret believers functioned to affirm members of a minority community defining itself in relationship to other communities making similar claims to truth. The purpose is not to exclude others, rather to support those who likely make difficult choices to belong. Likely the intent was to encourage others to join them.” (Marilyn Salmon, from Working Preacher)
Purpose of the exclusive language is not actually to exclude, but to invite.
The difference is demonstrated in real action
All things will eventually be exposed to light
Those who hate the light do wickedness. Those who remain in the light do truth.
Life and Death/ Spirit and World/ Darkness and Light
These divisions reflect a choice presented throughout scripture: separation in Creation; life in the garden/death outside; life on the Ark/death in the flood; life through the Exodus/death in the sea; Matthew 25- sheep/goats; etc.
The invitation is to choose life
Salvation
“At a basic level, in the Gospel of John to be saved is to enter into the intimate relationship that God wants with every believer. How that salvation happens depends on the person, the encounter, and the circumstances, because of incarnation. By definition incarnation demands particularity...Salvation for Nicodemus is not the same as the Samaritan woman at the well.” Karoline Lewis, John, p. 50
“John’s good news is that the world came into being through the logos remains the object of divine love. Just as John understands the creative activity of the Word to be ongoing, her perceives God’s love for the world in Jesus to be continuing and profound.” (Mary Foskett, Feasting on the Gospels, John, volume 1; p. 69
Eternal Life - εχη ζωην αιωνιον (eck-ay zo-ain aionion)
εχη - to have or hold - in the present tense - this is not something which is coming but something which begins immediately: “The word here is in the present tense. ETERNAL LIFE begins NOW. It is not a future reality, but a present one found in Christ! Whoever is trusting in God has life which continues into eternity.” (Rob Myallis)
αιωνιον - does not mean eternally (aiodios- does refer to everlasting/eternity), but rather refers to a set period of time- an aion/eon. An aion is undefined but could easily mean this life - how we live fully in this moment, this aion which we have been given
Thoughts and Questions
Life and Death- the choice presented to Adam and Eve (Genesis 2), given to the Israelites by Moses (Deut. 30) is once again raised by John. Not in terms of immortality or the quantity of life, but rather the quality of life.
This echos Jesus’s call to repentance/metanoia/ to change your hearts and lives toward God
Moses calls the Israelites to follow the commandments
God calls Adam and Eve to obey God
When we obey God’s commandments to love God, self and other - then we live life to the fullest. When we do not- this leads to death.
“How can we experience life without its Author? Shame, eating disorders, gender-based violence, climate change, shattered families, racism, oppression, war, and death itself all are natural consequences of humanity’s small and monumental choices to reach for peace in their own way.” Lisa Sharon Harper, The Very Good Gospel
What does it mean to “do truth.” How can we as a church do more truth? It cannot be just about telling the truth, although that is an important part. Expanding on the concept of “doing truth” could make for a sermon. Truth, Justice, and Love seem to be linked by this passage. Part of loving the world is acting for justice. Part of doing justice is telling the truth. Part of doing truth is living in love.
Memorizing John 3:16 separates belief from action.
Belief is important, but verses 19-21 reveal that judgment comes not based on belief, but on action.
Remain in darkness or live in the light. The choice might start with belief, but it is only revealed in actions.
What does it mean to identify oneself as Christian? We often feel the need to explain or label our Christianity (progressive, evangelical, etc.)
Are we willing to take on the responsibility of being “Christian”? to Proclaim good news to the poor, hope in the face of crucifixion, sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed, to walk to the cross alongside Christ?
What does it mean to believe in Jesus?
It is to believe that he is the divine incarnate who bled and died for our sins?
Or is it to believe that the Way of Jesus- living the Gospel of Love in word and deed to God and neighbor - is the path to salvation?
Psalm 121
Initial thoughts
Psalm Song - "God is Holding Your Life" by Richard Bruxvoort Colligan
A pilgrim’s song
Dangers of traveling in ancient Israel were myriad.
Hills were a place of danger, hideout for bandits. A huge group could be over next hill. Terrain was treacherous. Water was scarce, especially in dry months.
Bible Study
Rolf Jacobson calls the structure “Elegantly Simple”
v 1-2 Traveler’s question and confession
v 3-8 Priestly blessing
Beautiful chiasm in v 1-2
I look to the hills (creation)
From where will my help come? (Question)
My help is in the Lord (Answer)
Maker of heaven and earth (Creation)
Psalm tells us about God
God doesn’t rest
God is ever present
God keeps promises.
The Timeless Psalms, Joan Stott.
Daily reminders of God’s presence
Creating God, at work in the world all around
Enduring comfort of God’s presence
Permanence of God.
Present sense before the hills
Weathering the shadows in God’s presence
Trustworthiness of God
Growth is nearly impossible in the valleys, but God is still present.
Rest in God’s presence
Day or night, through all activities of the day.
Thoughts and Questions
When you look to the hills, what danger do you see?
What is just over the horizon that is troubling you?
What is the source of the anxiety, stress, or burden?
As you move along your journey, you never reach the horizon, but God is always present.
Jacobson says that Psalm 121 is often hung in labor and delivery rooms and over cribs in Jewish homes.
How can use this blessing in our daily life, as we embark on journeys. How may the Psalm, and the God it describes, be a blessing this Lent?
Genesis 12:1-4a
Initial Thoughts
Who was Abram’s brother?
Read 11:27-32 and you see that Abram came from somewhere, too.
The narrative of him moving makes less sense if you don’t get an idea of where he starts.
“Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran was the father of Lot.” (Gen. 11:27, NRSV)
“Terah took his Abram and his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there. The days of Terah were two hundred five years, and Terah died in Haran.” (Gen. 11:31, NRSV)
This begs the question - were they already on their way to Canaan when God spoke to Abram?
Bible Study
Hard division between chapters 1-11 and chapters 12-50?
“It has long been practice in Genesis study to drive a sharp wedge between chaps 1-11, the so-called Primeval History, and chapters 12-50, the Patriarchal History. More recently… there has been renewed interest in the integrity of Genesis as a whole.” (Terrence Fretheim, New Interpreter’s Bible Old Testament Survey, p. 21)
For those proposing a hard break, “12:1-3 is a fulcrum text linking Abraham with ‘all the families of the earth.’ Hence, it has been common to claim that God’s choice of Abraham had a universal purpose: to extend God’s salvific goals through his family to the entire world.” (Fretheim, p. 21).
God’s salvation is rooted in Creation - not only Abraham’s family. “God’s work of blessing in the world does not begin with Abraham; it is integral to chaps 1-11 and so God’s blessing work through Abraham must involve intensification and pervasiveness, not a new reality. Since God saves Noah, his family… Issues of creation and redemption are integrated throughout Genesis. God’s promises and salvific acts must finally be seen as serving all of creation. God acts to free people, indeed the entire world, to be what they were created to be.” (Fretheim, p. 21, emphasis added)
Brueggemann: “There is no doubt that in the construction of Genesis, a major break in the narrative is intended between 11:32 and 12:1. Indeed, it is perhaps the most important structural break in the Old Testament and certainly in Genesis…” And yet, in his Interpretation: Genesis, Brueggemann creates a reading block of 11:30-12:9. “The reason for this arrangement is that God does not begin the history of Israel ex nihilo. The history of promise does not emerge in a vacuum.” (Walter Brueggemann, Interpretation: Genesis, p. 116)
The nature of the promise
All about God’s work
I will make of you
I will bless you
I will magnify your name
I will bless those who bless you
I will curse those who curse you.
All of this is a gift of God. Abraham’s place of promise is a pure gift from God.
Provides stark contrast from the situation presented in Genesis 11:30. Abram and Sarai are not going to make this happen - only through God.
“The promise is concluded by what seems to be a commissioning. The well-being of Israel carried potential for the well-being of other nations. Israel is never permitted to live in a vacuum. It must always live with, for, and among the others. The barren ones are now mandated for the needs of others.” (Brueggemann, p. 119)
Thoughts and Questions
God’s call is one “to abandonment, renunciation, and relinquishment. It is a call for a dangerous departure from the presumed world of norms and security… The narrative knows that such departure from securities is the only way out of barrenness. The whole of the Abrahamic narrative is premised on this seeming contradiction: to stay in safety is to remain barren; to leave in risk is to have hope.” (Brueggemann, p. 118)
When you put this story in the greater context of a bridge between chapter 11 and 12 - when you consider that Abram’s father Terah was taking his family “went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran, they settled there.” This begs the question - “Was God simply nudging Abram to get up and finish the job he had already started?” Abram’s family moving to Canaan was actually a part of the Creation narrative, the calling of Abram was actually the impetus to move toward the completion of Creation.
God wanted Abram to finish what he started.
How many times do we start a project, a good work, a ministry, but leave it uncompleted when it get difficult, or we burn out? Abram was on his way to Canaan, but settled for five years.
Settling - while generally seen as a positive in our culture - is not a Biblical value. In modernity, “to settle down,” means to behave or mature. In the Bible to “settled down” is to stagnate, become barren, and die.
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
Initial Thoughts
Last week we had Paul commenting on Adam, and the Hebrew Bible text was the fall in Genesis.
This we’re backtracking in the letter, but moving forward in the Hebrew Bible. The Roman’s text is about Abram, as is Genesis 12.
Next week we jump ahead to Romans 5:1-11, the part of chapter 5 we skipped last week. The Hebrew Bible reading is from Exodus, getting water from the rock, and there is no direct connection.
Bible Study
V 1-5: Abraham began his relationship with God because of Faith. We are connected to that relationship through Faith. This does not eliminate the Law, but it precedes it.
Wrapping up a section about the Law and faith, wrestling with the seemingly eternal struggle between faith and works.
Ends chapter 3 with “Do we then cancel the Law through faith? Absolutely not! Instead, we confirm the Law.” Which seems odd, because the short-course in Paul seems to argue that he is working against the Law.
“The translation of Romans 4:1 has been much debated. As Richard B. Hays persuasively argues1 4:1 is best rendered in two questions: "What then shall we say? Have we found Abraham to be our forefather according to the flesh?" Paul voices the second question in order to argue against it, a not unusual process for him. Paul believes that the text and order of events in Genesis 15 is crucial to a proper understanding of who is in Abraham's family.” (Sarah Henrich, Working Preacher)
“Abraham had faith in God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Abraham trusted God - had faith - before
Workers get paid for doing work
Faithful get grace that they do not earn.
Grace comes before doing anything to those who have faith.
If you trust God will give you grace, it’s already done.
Transactional language might feel off-putting, but he is actually deconstructing the notion of faith as transaction. God works in ways that do not make sense to transactional economics or culture.
Verses 4-5 According to Eugene’s Peterson’s The Message: “If you're a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don't call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it's something only God can do, and you trust him to do it - you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked - well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.”
Skipped part, v. 6-12 is important background stuff, but gets technical.
Brings in arguments surrounding circumcision
Main point: Abraham and God’s relationship precedes circumcision.
God called Abraham before he was circumcised, not because he was circumcised.
Abraham is the father of both the circumcised and the uncircumcised, because his relationship with God started before circumcision and continued afterwards.
V. 13-17: Abraham is the father of all who have faith. We inherit what was promised to Abraham through faith, not by following the Law.
The emblem of the Law was circumcision, which was passed down from generation to generation.
Grace is not inherited like circumcision. It is inherited like faith.
“The Law brings wrath” -- the law simply convicts those for doing the wrong thing. It is not a positive force
Even though people have faith, they still break the Law.
So if it is only about Law, we are all in trouble.
All the Law can do is point out who broke it.
The inheritance of Abraham does not come from following the Law.
The promise of Abraham is through faith - which is how he got started in his relationship with God in the first place.
Faith is the basis of inheritance.
Verse 17 according to Eugene Patterson: “We call Abraham "father" not because he got God's attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn't that what we've always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, "I set you up as father of many peoples"? Abraham was first named "father" and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing.”
Thoughts and Questions
This can feel like a very heady exercise is theological minutia, but for Paul, this is personal: “Paul had experienced God's amazing, unbelievable, overflowing love and forgiveness. How could God, in Jesus Christ, have forgiven him for all the evil that he had done?…God had offered him new life, and he had believed.” (Lucy Lind Hogan, Working Preacher) How can we make the grace and love of God personal? How do we move this from a Biblical lesson to a sermon that moves?
“Finally, a most important point is that this faithful God justifies the ungodly, not waiting for them to shape up first.” (Sarah Henrich, Working Preacher)
Thanks to our Psalms correspondent, Richard Bruxvoort Colligan (psalmimmersion.com, @pomopsalmist, patreon.com/RichardBC). Thank you to Scott Fletcher for our voice bumpers, Dick Dale and the Del Tones for our Theme music (“Miserlou”), Nicolai Heidlas for our transition music (“Sunday Morning”, "Real Ride" and “Summertime”) and Bryan Odeen for our closing music.