Fourth Sunday of Lent
Year B
John 3:14-21
(homily preached at St Stephen's Episcopal Church, New Harmony, Indiana)
Today’s Gospel Reading
Made me think of bumper stickers
I am not a big fan of bumper stickers
For one I have a very particular husband
who likes the cars neat
and tidy and un-decaled
I don’t like them because…most of the time…
they think they say a
lot in a few words but
really they end up
saying nothing
Or they think that’s all there is to say about something
That is
complicated and deserves way more
reflection and conversation
Like the one that says
‘BEING NICE TO PEOPLE IS A GOOD IDEA’
That is on my daughter’s car
I know…it’s harmless
So sure…I guess…being nice is a good idea
But it is so minimal…surely there is more to talk about
Or even the popular COEXIST
It isn’t that the sentiment is wrong
It just seems so minimal…I want so much more
Can’t we do better than plain old being nice to people?
And can't we do better than beige coexistence?
I want more
In today’s Gospel we have THE bumper sticker verse…
the most famous verse in all of scripture
The only one almost universally known by its citation alone
John 3:16
For 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
No doubt this is a great line
And very good news
But on a bumper sticker…
I want a lot more
My gut tells me that this ‘believing’ business is not as easy as
we might wish
…as a one-liner…it seems orphaned…
plucked out of its context
and plucking verses out of a gospel narrative
Makes me uncomfortable
So bear with me
I want to zoom a ways out and then work back in a bit
In the beginning of the Gospel of John
We hear about the light coming into the world
And how darkness will not overcome it
The darkness versus the light theme is set up from the beginning
The play between Darkness and Light
Fills John’s narrative
And on either side of today's gospel passage is a story
About believing
Nicodemus is in front…Today’s passage is the tail end of that
story
And the story of the Samaritan Woman at the well comes next
And these two stories illuminate each other
Aside: Remember
Nicodemus? He’s the upright Jewish
leader who visits Jesus at night…not quite ready to make his interest public. They have a discussion about being born again…being
born from above and Nick goes all literal and wonders ‘How can I go back into
my mother’s womb?’
Remember the Samaritan
woman at the well? She comes at high
noon because the other women have shunned her.
Jesus comes and she gets sassy with him…he asks for a drink of water and
she says ‘You don’t even have a bucket---good luck!’ Then Jesus starts talking
about living water and never getting thirsty again. She goes all literal too and wants some of THAT
water…anything to not have to come to the well at the hottest time of day! But then he reveals her to herself, and himself to her...and she believes. And then she goes to
tell everyone she can find.
Nick is male
She is female
Nick has a name
She is THAT woman
He is a religious leader
She is a religious outsider
Nick comes by night
She meets Jesus at the brightest part of the day
Nick misunderstands and remains clueless
…the jury is still out on Nick
She also misunderstands but believes and goes to witness with
passion and energy
He stays safe
She trusts and risks
In our text today
Between these two stories
I hear the invitation
To leave the darkness…which is sometimes where we feel at home
Where familiarity brings us comfort
Where we know our own hiding places
In John’s Gospel the reader…the hearer
Is included in the drama
And the drama unfolds as a crisis of decision-making
It is asking each hearer
Will you believe?
Will you step into the light…whatever and wherever that next bit
of light might lead?
I was just in Denver for a week
Helping with my grandson Theo
And one thing I really wanted to do was to go to church at
The House For all Sinners and Saints
It is a Lutheran Church
Nadia Bolz-Weber, the founder, has become quite a rock-star
preacher
and I really wanted to hear her and to experience this unique
community
Now this is inner city Denver
The congregation is wildly, wildly eclectic
From khakis to dreadlocks and everything in between
Beautifully colorful
Not quite Evansville
Not quite New Harmony;)
The liturgy
Was BOTH deeply traditional and sacramental
AND beautifully imaginative and creative
But it wasn’t until my flight home
As I was reading Nadia’s latest book
Accidental Saints
Finding God in all the
Wrong People
That this play…this way that John’s Gospel
Puts before us Darkness and Light
Got real and concrete
It came in Chapter 14
The Dogs of Good
Friday
The community had gathered for the traditional Good Friday
Liturgy
The Passion Story…sung
The singing of “Were you
There”
The Cross…venerated
(…part of that veneration was placing purple tulips on the cross
that laid atop the Altar)
It had become the community’s custom
After the solemn liturgy ended
To pack up that cross
And the purple tulips
And take them to a place in the neighborhood
A place of darkness…a place of crucifixion
That year, there had been a profoundly gut-wrenching incident
Of a young mother who shot her three children before shooting
herself
So they went there
They walked the clunky cross down the dark alley where
a chain link fence held back a pack of barking dogs
They laid the cross on the concrete
The people sat down
And the chanting and prayer began
Soft, quiet, mournful
But as soon as they began the barking stopped
After some time
They packed up
Leaving the tulips in a pile on the spot in the darkness
And as they walked back to their cars
The barking picked up again
And now I will quote:
“A week later I got a
call from Laurel,
who works for a faith-based
community-organizing group.
“One of our
gun-violence prevention clergy called me this morning,” Laurel said. “One of the families in the
neighborhood told him that a group of random Christians came to the area of the
murder/suicide singing, praying, and bearing a cross. He wanted to make sure that we knew the
neighborhood noticed. Pastor Tyler
wanted you to know how grateful he is for what House for All did and how you
all helped to bring a sense of healing.
It was so dark. We had no idea anyone was watching.”
This story seems to be compelling me to find my way
From my nicodemus-ness
…my fondness for safety
…And comfort
…And an easy Christianity
It seems to be inviting me
From that
and toward
HER
Toward the Samaritan woman’s lightness and courage and passion
In John’s Gospel
The hearer is given stark choices
Believing versus Unbelieving
Living in the light versus Hunkering down in the darkness
The thing is…at least for me
These decision moments are not one and done
I have to keep navigating
Between my Nicodemus and That Woman
The Dogs of Good Friday
story
Is a story about bringing whatever light or faith
any of us might have on a given day…in a given moment
Whatever light is within our grasp
It is about bringing our bit to places where healing is needed
But we don’t bring it alone
It is when together
we gather all our little bits
then…then…healing happens
to everyone…the giver, the receiver, even the passers-by
And the source of those bits of light
Is the love of God
That came into the world
Was made flesh in Jesus
Who suffered, died, was buried
Who rose on the third day
Ascended and who is now present among us
Through the power of the Holy Spirit
Present
In the most ordinary of
ways
In our gathering and our singing
In our confession
In our eating and our drinking
The source is the love of God
Present and always inviting us to
Come
Come into the light
Come live in the light
Come share the light
