7 June 2009 St. Athanasius Lutheran Church
The Feast of Holy
Trinity Vienna, VA
“Driven
to the Cross”
Text:
John 3:1-17
Grace, mercy, and peace
to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
How many of us wouldn’t
like an opportunity like Nicodemus had. To sit down with Jesus, one on one, and
talk. No distractions, no crowds, no beggars crying out for mercy, no people
tugging at Him for healing. And Nicodemus was well-qualified for such a
conversation - he was a teacher of Israel; perhaps today he would have a Ph.D.
in theology.
But this night was more
than he bargained for. Before Nicodemus could even ask a question, Jesus takes
the conversation over and takes Nicodemus where He wants him to go. Where
Nicodemus needs to go.
For this is how God
works. He drives the conversation with us - not the other way around. In the
beginning, at creation, God drove the conversation - He spoke and it is so. It
was God who drove the conversation with Adam and Eve after they sinned, and
with all the Old Testament saints, like Abraham and Moses and Isaiah. When it
came to our re-creation, our redemption, God drove the conversation - He sent
His Son, the Word made flesh, into the world, to save a world lost in sin. And
so should we be surprised that the same is true with us today - with you and
your life, it is God who drives the conversation. For if you think of your life
as an ongoing conversation with God, it has this rhythm. God speaks and we
listen. God gives and we receive. We breathe in His Word, and then breathe out
His Word in prayer and praise. And in this conversation of life, we are filled
with questions - why things happen; why other things don’t happen. There is
much we would like to know.
But like with
Nicodemus, it is not we who drive our conversation with God - He is in control.
He takes us where He wants us to go; where He knows we need to go. And so
through the events in our lives, through all the ups and downs, through all the
twists and turns, through all the Word we hear, our conversation is driven by
God - that He may give us what we need: namely, Himself. Our triune God -
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - is driving the conversation so that we may
believe, and believing have eternal life.
And so as much as we
would like to drive the conversation, it is better that we don’t. For when we
do, it is all about what we know, and
what we want to know. But when God
drives the conversation, it is about what we don’t know and don’t even know enough to ask! That’s why Nicodemus
doesn’t even understand what Jesus is telling Him. Born again? He’s thinking of
husbands and wives and human birth and the things he knows. Earthly things. But
Jesus is telling Him of heavenly things. And with these words, telling
Nicodemus that sinful men don’t just need a little work, a little revision, a
little improvement - we need a new birth. A whole new start. A death and
resurrection. For, Jesus said, unless one is born again he cannot see
the kingdom of God.
Now, we usually think
of heaven when we hear those words, but to see the kingdom of God means more than simply going to heaven - it is
to see the kingdom of God for which we pray in the Lord’s Prayer. Not only His kingdom of glory, but also His kingdom of power, by which He is
working and ruling all things in this world with His power for the good of His
own, and His kingdom of grace, His
Church, where our good and gracious God is working and ruling with His grace,
giving His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. Unless we who are blinded
by sin are born again from above, we will be like Nicodemus - not even able to
see the kingdom of God sitting right in front of us! [Point to the Font and the
Altar] Sitting right in front of us.
So what is this new
birth? This birth from above? Well, think of babies. We have several here. A
baby is a new person who must learn everything - how to see, how to hear, how
to walk and talk. They are rocked in a cradle, carried on the arm, cleaned when
they mess themselves, and grow. And this is what we are. As we are born again
from above, we are new people who must learn, grow, be carried on the arms and
rocked in the cradle of the church . . . and yes, be cleaned, forgiven, when we
mess ourselves. We are new people. Not the same old people. New people.
And this is not
something we do - again, we don’t even know what we need. God is driving the
conversation of your life. And so just as you were brought into this world
physically by another, so it is spiritually as well. It is, Jesus said, by
water and the Spirit. It is in Holy Baptism that you were born again from above
and given a new life through the death and resurrection of Jesus. That through
that water where your Saviour has attached His Word and promise, your old man
is put to death with Jesus, and a new man brought to life in His resurrection.
Now, some people think
that’s asking too much of baptism; of a little water splashed upon someone’s
head. And it would be if it were just plain water. But where the Word and
promise and Spirit of God is, anything but new life is too little!
But Nicodemus didn’t
get it. His Ph.D. wasn’t doing him any good this night. And so Jesus gives Him
a picture of what He means - the bronze snake in the wilderness. Remember your
Sunday School lessons, Nicodemus? When Israel was mired in rebellion and sin,
they could not get themselves out. They could not rescue or save themselves.
They wanted to! Oh, did they want to! Those serpents biting them were painful
and deadly. And that is our situation still today as well - people today are
trying to overcome sin in all kinds of ways and create utopias in this world
where we can live beyond the reach of sin. But all our attempts fail. Because
while you may be able to separate yourself from all those sinners “out there”,
you cannot escape the sinful poison coursing through your own veins. You cannot
escape the truth that wherever you are, sin is. Israel dying in the
wilderness is a picture of us. For the same satanic serpent that bit Adam and
Eve, and that bit the people in the wilderness, is still working and biting us
in our lives as well. Injecting the potent and powerful and deadly venom of sin
into us.
But as powerful as sin
is, there is an even more powerful antidote. That comes not from us, but from God.
That comes not from within us, but from outside of us. That comes from God, who
so
loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him
should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the
world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through
him. Saved by taking our condemnation and death away from us and
putting it all upon Himself. That it be on Him and therefore not on us. Jesus
did that for all people on the cross.
He did it for you in Holy Baptism.
And having our spiritual blindness healed as we are born again from above, we
look to the cross - as Israel looked to the snake on the pole - and live.
And so your baptism is
a great and powerful thing. And know that there are no stillborns with the God.
The author and giver of life keeps His Word. He speaks and it is so. That some
depart from this faith is also a reality - one that we wish was not so. But
that does not lessen God’s love or power for us in Jesus. When we drive the conversation
with God, we want to know why does this happen? How? But Jesus drives us in a
different direction - to His cross. To see the power of sin that was borne by
Jesus, but to see that power overcome and defeated. Not that we have all the
answers, but so that we have the answer that we need. So that we have the life
that we need. That whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
But believe what? We
confess it each week in the Nicene Creed. We will confess it today in the
Athanasian Creed. That our triune God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is
driving the conversation of our lives, that we may hear, that we may see, that
we may believe. That you believe in God’s Word made flesh on the cross, for
you. That you believe God’s Word of forgiveness spoken to you. That you believe
God’s Word in the water which gives you new life. That you believe God’s Word
which makes mere bread and wine into His life-giving body and blood, for you to
eat and to drink. That you believe His love, and that all this is for you. That your life is not about
what you do, but what the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit have done for
you.
For satan doesn’t care
who you are. Whether you have a Ph.D. or never finished High School. Whether
you are wealthy or poor. Whether you are young or old. He is an equal
opportunity killer who doesn’t care who you are because no human can overcome
him on their own. No good work, no strength of ours can stand against him.
But there is One who
can, and who did! Who spoke against him in the Garden, who spoke against him in
the wilderness, and who speaks against him now. Who speaks a powerful Word! Our
Saviour, the Son sent from the Father who is working in us still through His
Spirit, exorcising satan from us in baptism, breaking his power in forgiveness,
and giving us a transfusion of His blood - that the old sinful, poisonous blood
coursing through our veins be replaced with His life-giving blood.
For if satan is an
equal opportunity killer, Jesus is an equal opportunity life-giver, who has
come to give His life to all. That all
- bar none! - that you may be born again from above. No longer hopeless,
but hopeful. Not longer dead in your sin, but alive in Christ. No longer blind,
but filled with the light of life. That born as children of God here, we may
live as children of God forever.
Nicodemus got more than
he bargained for that night with Jesus. Perhaps we could say it turned his life
upside-down. But if you’re upside-down in sin to begin with, doesn’t that mean
Jesus is really turning you right-side up? Then that’s a good thing. Not an
easy thing! Faith is often a struggle, as so much of what we see and feel
contradicts what faith believes. But while there are many things we do not know
and cannot understand, the cross shines in the midst of it all, saying: But you
do know this. Here is God for you. Here is God’s love for you. Love to the loveless shown that they might
lovely be. (LSB #430 v.1)
And so with Nicodemus
and with you, it is to the cross that Jesus is driving the conversation of your
life, in all that is happening, that you may look to Him and live. That all
that He is, He give to you. That you have what you need most, and know how
stunningly much God loves you. That you join your voice with the saints of ages
past and those still to come, and confess: Blessed
be the Holy Trinity and the undivided Unity. Let us give glory to Him because
He has shown His mercy to us.
In the Name of the
Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which
passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ
Jesus, our Lord. Amen.