SHOWING UP ALL THE WAY

Sermon preached by the Rev. Michael Anderson Bullock

[Genesis 12:1-4a; Romans 4:1§-5, 13-17; John  3:1-17]

What’s up with Nicodemus?  More to the point, why does the Lenten, biblical tradition want us to meet him?  I mean, Nicodemus is a very minor character in John’s gospel.  In fact, he appears in only three cameo-type scenes.  So, who is this guy?  Why at the outset of this penitential season (the season of expressing our spiritual “regrets” (“regret” being what “penitential” means) – why is our attention being drawn to him?  What does Nicodemus have to do with Jesus’ steady march to the Cross and our own Lenten life?

I don’t know about you, but I see a lot of me in Nicodemus.  I see a lot of you in him, too.  In fact, he may be the proto-type person who needs what St. Philip’s has: a safe place to ask questions and to risk growing and maturing into what we see in Christ.  Yet, like many of us, Nicodemus doesn’t yet know what he needs or what a place like St. Philip’s is for.  He’s not sure if what he experiences is heart burn or God.  Nicodemus personifies what it so often takes to follow Jesus and to be open to the emerging process of becoming Christ-like.  Specifically, it is Nicodemus’ penchant for showing up that slowly but steadily causes him to grow – grow both in his awareness that it is God, not heartburn, in his chest and his own restlessness speaks to his desire for a life that truly matters.

It is as if Nicodemus needed to confront what our parish motto rightly and pastorally publicizes: “Be careful!  If you come here, you will grow.”  If you keep showing up, your life will purposefully change.

Speaking of which, do you happen to know what the most popular class at Yale is?  It is Professor Laurie Santos’ “Philosophy and the Good Life”.  Moreover, Yale Divinity School professor, Miroslav Volf, has a popularly read book, “Life with Living”.  And the Atlantic magazine’s Arthur Brooks writes serial essays, entitled: “How to Build a Life”.  Are you beginning to see a pattern?

“If you come here, if you keep showing up, you will grow”.  But be careful about this.  The life you get may be finally one worth living.  With eyes and hearts and minds of integrity and courage, the pattern before us is of yearning souls and the opportunities to have a life that is life-giving.

In this vein, here is a stunning observation of this pattern that should give us all pause.  It comes by way of a Liberty University PhD student, Aiden Gregon, whose research on the Gen Z generation (those who have been born in the last 30 years) indicates that about 60% of these young adult’s report that they experience a lack of “meaning or purpose” in their lives.  60%!

What if…what if the crux of the “affordability” issue that so many of us are talking about now – what if at its heart, the problem is not so much economic as it is spiritual?  So it is that I can’t help but repeat myself: Everyone is religious; the problem is what we worship, what we hold at the center – what we show up for.

I am positing that Nicodemus may be a poignant model for each of us, especially in the season of Lent, which is a spiritual time to prepare ourselves for the joy and purpose of Easter: Joy a product of gratitude; purpose stemming from the reality of God’s gift of new and purposeful life, revealed in Christ crucified and raised.

What I see in Nicodemus as an example is that he keeps showing up – showing up to deal with Jesus and to discover what Jesus knows about what a “good life” is really about.  I’m also saying that at our best, St. Philip’s is a safe, reliable, and supportive place in which to show up and to learn how to grow into the God-life in Jesus.

So, let’s take a closer look at Nicodemus and ask: Who is he and in him who we might be.

In St. John’s gospel, Nicodemus is a very prominent guy.  He is, in fact, a leader of the Jewish people; a member of the governing Sanhedrin; a legal expert who held office at Jerusalem on the supreme council and highest court of justice.  He was a member of a body of 71 men to whom Rome had given limited authority to oversee its Judean vassals.

St. John identifies Nicodemus as a Pharisee member of the Sanhedrin.  All of which means that Nicodemus was well-placed and well-off, a member of the Jewish elite, whose job entailed not irritating the Roman conquerors, all the while maintaining the Hebrew faith and culture for the people of the Covenant.  From this, one can see the reason Nicodemus came to Jesus by night.  He had questions for Jesus – serious questions.  Yet, he had to be careful – careful about being publicly associated with this challenging rabbi and the life he conveyed.

Here’s a question for us to think about: Have you ever come to Jesus by night so that your public persona won’t be damaged?  I have.  What about you?

So it is at night that Nicodemus shows up to check Jesus out.  What drew Nicodemus to do this?  What’s the reason he felt that he had to slink in the dark to talk to Jesus?

Like many Judeans of the time and especially as a member of the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus had heard increasing reports about Jesus, which presented the undeniable historical fact – then and now -- that Jesus was drawing large crowds not only because of his riveting teachings but (more to the point) for the amazing healings he provided among the people.  He healed them of their brokenness, and with that a new and different kind of hope arose, a new and different life emerged: one of “Emmanuel: God with us”.

Nicodemus says as much, as he explains to Jesus the reason for his nighttime meeting.  “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” [3:2].  The “signs” Nicodemus refers to are the healings of people’s brokenness; and in John’s gospel these “signs” that Jesus does are “signs” not only of what life is like on God’s terms but that the God-life they manifest is also present and operating among them in Jesus.

That’s a lot for Nicodemus to take in.  It’s a lot for people now to take in.  After all, it is easier to keep the notion of “Emmanuel: God with us” at arm’s length as an abstraction or an aspirational philosophical concept; but in Jesus’ presence and in the midst of Jesus’ actions, the haunting “religious” question inevitably erupts: “How can this be?”  But the truth is that the actual question is: “How can this reality be contained in what I know and recognize now?

“Be careful! If you come here and you will grow”…beyond what we can contain.”

What is at play here is the old and too-often neglected Christmas question: namely, how is Jesus the embodiment of God’s presence among us? the embodiment of the “Good and Purposeful Life”?  This “Emmanuel” stuff continues to rock our boats, just as it evidently did for Nicodemus.  With Nicodemus, we are still perplexed by this “Emmanuel: God with us”.  And the question is not really so much: “How can this be?” as it is “How far will this go in me?”

Jesus’ response to this question is swift.  “No one can see [read, “show up”] to the Kingdom of God without being “born from above”, “born anew”, “born again”. [3:3].  That’s what Jesus says to the high court leader.  What does it mean?

The issue of being “born again” still reverberates among us, often delineating the litmus test for real faithfulness.  With great enthusiasm, people (especially in the 1960’s and 70’s) identified their commitment to Jesus with this moniker: “Born again”.  Dealing with Jesus does entail a very new start and experience – a birthing of the soul, but there is also more to perceiving “God with us” than a “once and done” vaccination – a “been there, done that, got the teeshirt” sort of pep-rally notion.  Clearly, being “born again” or being “born anew” or “from above” is an essential experience not only of opening oneself to God and beginning to take the God-life seriously; it is also a commitment to the ongoing process of showing up, of growing into the reality of “Emmanuel, God with us” and “Building a Life” that is grounded in Christ and, thereby, truly worth living.

As I said earlier, today’s gospel scene is the first time we meet Nicodemus and encounter his example.  The second time he appears [7:50], we find Nicodemus in a heated Sanhedrin meeting.  Embroiled in a heated discussion of how these faith leaders might deal with the growing and threatening Jesus movement, Nicodemus rises to make a point of order.  He reminds his judicial brothers that the Law of Moses requires that a person under suspicion have a hearing and the opportunity to make his case before any judgment is rendered.  In this second scene, Nicodemus reveals his integrity and courage, his sense of justice that defends the rule of law in the face of popular expediency.  In so doing, he shows up to protect precious space for God’s life to be “with us”.

The third and final scene with Nicodemus comes most tellingly at the crucifixion and death of Jesus.  Witnessing what for all intents and purposes was end of Jesus and of “Emmanuel: God with us”, Nicodemus joins another quiet and maturing disciple of the Lord, a man by the name of Joseph of Arimathea.  Together, these two men go to Pilate and demonstrate the truth to power: They request permission to remove Jesus from the Cross and give him the dignity of a proper burial, using the very tomb that Joseph had prepared for himself. [19:39].  And with Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus again shows up -- bolder than before -- to do the hard and threatening work of following Jesus and growing in and through the face of death, itself.  In this, we see that Nicodemus has come a long, long way from slinking out in the dead of night to meet Jesus.  In the face of oppressively powerful Rome, nonetheless, Nicodemus shows up at the cross.  Do we?

I have asked, What about Nicodemus?  I have suggested that he is us in our stumbling quest to deal with what it takes to have the life only God can give: a life that is not defined either by fear or by death or by ourselves.  In the end, Nicodemus stood in the purpose of Jesus’ life, his death, and finally in his resurrection – because “God so love the world…”.

The entire “world”?  “How this can be?”  Show up!  You are welcome to do so in this community of faith and join us as we “Come and See” life on God’s terms.  But be careful: You will grow – grow in ways none of us can contain.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.