What is greater than God, more evil than the devil, the poor have it, the rich need it, and if you eat it, you'll die? It’s a riddle. Can anyone guess what it is? I got this one on google, please don't google my riddle! The answer is nothing!
Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus sounds very much like a riddle. We can actually create a riddle based on their conversation. Here’s one: “Who can see the kingdom of God without being born from above?” The answer is no one. What about from Nicodemus’ question? Can we make another riddle? “Who can be born after having grown old and enter a second time the mother’s womb and be born?” I will answer this riddle at the end of my sermon. So, if you have sleep deficit from daylight savings, I gently urge you to wake at the end of this sermon so you know the answer to this riddle. In the heart of this riddle lies this matter of being born from above. What does it mean to be born? Without it, there’s no chance of seeing and entering the kingdom of God. Jesus doesn’t hide what he means by being born from above. He gives Nicodemus another hint that being born from above is the same as being born of water and Spirit. Then he brings up the image of the wind that blows where it chooses and us not knowing where it comes from or where it goes. This image of the wind is reminiscent of the creation story in Genesis 1, “a wind from God sweeping over the face of the water.” If we put all these pieces together, which are being born from above, of water and Spirit, the wind from God who chooses where it comes and goes, we have one picture that we are familiar with. That is the sacrament of baptism. It is the baptism Jesus received. The baptism of Jesus is not just one of the events that happened to him. It is the passion of Jesus. It is his resurrection. That sacramental event of Jesus’ baptism at the Jordan river foretells his death and resurrection. And this Lenten season we participate in his baptism. In our Ash Wednesday service, we are introduced to the purpose of Lent. The BCP says, “This season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church.” In this sense, the gospel reading today is a text that shapes and patterns us to the spirit of Easter. Once baptized, God’s grace in a mysterious way changes us whether we feel it or not. The transformative work of the Holy Spirit never ceases to work in us. We become the new creation and new being. And this season of Lent helps us become much more aware and attentive to the transformative work of the Spirit. Which is one of the reasons why we give up on certain activities, behaviors, or food. This image of giving up during Lent is what St. Paul talks about in his letters to the Romans. Faith, not the law, is what matters. Faith in Christ places us in a right relationship with God, which we call “righteousness.” Faith is not something that we work so hard to get it. It is not a human creation. It is never mine. It is always given. It comes from above. It is born from above. Faith is a gift from God. My seminary professor once said, “If somebody says he lost his faith, well...he never had it from the beginning!” Faith in Jesus Christ creates in us our desire to be like him, to follow him, to love him. It awakens us that we are nothing but dust and to dust we return. Every Ash Wednesday for 5 years, I usually give ashes to more than 100 people in the hospital. (No worries, my fingerprint on my right thumb is still there!) The imposition of ashes is not a blessing. It is a sign that reminds us of our mortality and penitence. It brings the fundamental truth right in our foreheads that we never live forever. We are mortal. We all die. But people in the hospital love to be imposed with ashes! It’s not that there’s something magical about ashes. This ritual in a way brings the truth that awakens who we really are. We are human beings created by God. When we know who we really are, humility arises. With ashes, we are somehow forced to see what matters to us. There’s this experience and feeling of being humbled before God, before ourselves, and before others. We experience some kind of peace. We somehow experience what it’s like to let go and let God. When St. Paul talks about faith over work, he urges us to let go of our own ego and let God appear. Empty our hearts, and make room for God to happen. It’s not a one-time exercise, but what our baptism constantly leads us to. Faith in Christ as the baptized is about letting our baptism run its own course in our lives. Follow the passion of Jesus. Live it out. Faith is like swimming. If you try to use your own strength to float in water, you end up becoming too stiff. You will eventually sink. It is all about relaxing and letting go. So, faith is about allowing our baptism to float and flow through our daily lives. It is about giving up our desires to control everything. Instead, trust in Jesus, not trusting in my own work or effort to be holy. Recognize and accept my inability to genuinely love someone unlikable, and pray for the love of God to change me so that I can truly love God and others as myself. Through our baptism, we sink, float, and flow in the Jordan river with Jesus. We are getting into his life, death, and resurrection. We are being embodied into the Body and Blood of Christ. Through our baptism, we are in communion with Christ. At the Eucharist we receive and drink what we truly are in our baptism. During this season of Lent in 2017, during this highly divisive, anxiety, fear, and hatred-filled era we are living in, I urge you to let your baptism of water and the Spirit roll down like waters and righteousness of Jesus Christ like a mighty stream. Let our baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Spirit lead us to witness the resurrection of love, the divine love incarnate Jesus raising in the midst of those who are oppressed and hurt. And let us hear the voice of Jesus, “God so loved you, them, us, and the world that he gave his only Son!” As I promised, I end my homily with the answer to the riddle, “Who can be born after having grown old and enter a second time the mother’s womb and be born?” After having grown old, it is us Christians who enter a second time the womb of God and are born again and from above in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit! It is us Christians through Baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. |
Paul"...life up your love to that cloud [of unknowing]...let God draw your love up to that cloud...through the help of his grace, to forget every other thing." Archives
January 2025
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