Being Born From Above

John 3:1-17 is the Lectionary Gospel text for next Sunday...

Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin.  It is astounding that a Pharisee of that time and place came to Jesus.  According to the Gospels, the Temple Cult leaders of the time were very much in collusion with empire (Rome).  They had corrupted the faith for their own gain under the oppressive occupation of empire.  Jesus addressed and confronted this often, as we have witness in the Gospels.

What Jesus told Nicodemus was astounding.
You cannot SEE the Kingdom of God without being BORN FROM ABOVE.
It is about the Spirit and not the flesh.  It is about being connected with God and not the world.
It is about GRACE (3:16,17) and not merit, self-righteousness or earned salvation (empire values).
It is about living Agape Love and not out of Greed, Hatred, lust for Power or desire for Status.

Nicodemus did not at first get it, much like many of us.

I was ordained (ELCA) in 1986.
I was Born From Above after ten years of ministry, in 1996.
It took me four years to leave that form of ministry so that I might live my faith.

It was not like Moses' Theophany of Exodus 3.
    It was not by some fantastical experience of wonder.
    It happened gradually, as I really studied the Gospels.
    It changed me, how I saw Jesus and His teachings, and how I saw the world.
    It changed me, and how I saw ministry.
    Moses became the Agitator of Empire, and Liberator of God's people.

It was a bit like Jacob wrestling with God (Genesis 32).
    I had to wrestle with what God wanted, over what I wanted and my embedded beliefs.
    I had to wrestle with God and learned that God always wins (even cheats to win).
    I was changed in how I looked at my mission in life, and not just ministry.
    I was changed in how I approached the world and the children of God as sisters and brothers.
    Jacob became Israel.

It was maybe a little like Saul and his epiphany (Acts 9).
    I was blinded by the intensity of light in the Gospels, having been accustomed to the darkness
           of life under empire and its twisting of the Word.
    It took some time and help for me to see past the darkness and hear Jesus' voice in my life.
    It changed how I looked at religion.
    It opened my eyes and heart to Grace and Agape Love, and the need to live it with others.
    It drives me to this day, to the mission of the Gospel of Jesus -
           witnessing to what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled as God's Will for us.
    It has changed my whole life.
    Saul became Paul.

Nicodemus did not turn around completely.
He did defend the rule of law pertaining to Jesus (John 7:50), and showed some compassion for Him after His death (19:39).
He remained in his position and did not immediately leave it to follow Jesus.

He had sought out Jesus and Jesus taught him about God's Kingdom and how we must see it.
Jesus taught him about Grace in Agape Love.
Jesus went on to teach him (verses 18-21) that those who believe in Jesus and His Way are not
     condemned but those who do not are already condemned because they cannot see it.
People who choose the darkness of empire over the light of the Kingdom are already condemned.
That truth is not in the lectionary text.

We must be born from above.
We must gaze upon Jesus (like the serpent in the wilderness on the pole- Numbers 21), to be healed of empire's
     poison in our lives.
Just as the poison of sin (greed, hatred, lust for power, desire for status - empire values) has
     threatened us, so to be delivered we must look at its antidote in the Agape Love and Grace of
     Jesus.

Luther said that the Gospel in a nutshell is John 3:16.
It is our hope, that we believe in Jesus' Way as children of God, thus be born from above to SEE the
     Kingdom of God values of Agape Love and Grace, and then live them in our lives as Jesus taught,
     commanded and modeled for us to do.

If we do not do that, humanity is lost.
That is not God's intention.  God has given us Grace in Agape Love through Jesus that we might
     be delivered from the sin, destruction and death of empire.  And that we might change the world.

If we can get past our embedded theologies which are elided with empire values, we may SEE it.
If we can commit our lives to Jesus and Jesus' Way, we may live it, which is our hope.
If we live it, we may help change the world around us, which is its hope.

Pastor Jamie