Journey's Weekly Homilies

4th Sunday of Lent, Year B
March 30, 2003
Homily by Sam

II Chronicles 36:14-16
Ephesians 2:4-10
John 3:1-20

'Born From Above'

"We must all live together as brothers or perish together as fools."  So said Martin Luther King.  After years of plotting and months of threats, deadline after deadline, we are now in the midst of war.  Soon we will count our dead and order their graves.  We will repair the ruined cities, care for war-torn peoples, and try to somehow extinguish the violence of our most recent war.

How can it be that after centuries of human conflict we know more about forcing our will on others than resolving our differences as equals?  How can it be that a few tyrants can hold entire countries hostage and bring the the world to the brink of catastrophe? And how can it be that even this group of loving people struggles to make the simplest of decisions together?  Why is it so difficult to live together as brothers and sisters even when our continued existence requires it?  And the Truth from today's Gospel haunts me:  "Unless you are born again from above you cannot see the reign of God."

As I have pondered these questions and weighed the truths of this Gospel I have come to love the character of Nicodemus.  He is a man born into a world of hierarchy, privileged through his family, certain of how to win the clash of wills and collect more than his share of the spoils.  His name means, "Champion of the Pagans".  Something tells me this is a nickname.  It is too fitting to be his real name.

Yet this wealthy and powerful man seeks Jesus out at night perhaps telling himself that he wants to test the strength of this mysterious teacher and expose his weaknesses.  Yet he cannot conceal his own heart's longing, tired of years of intellectual battles, spoiled by privilege, and alienated from the people he once meant to serve.  Deep down Nicodemus knows that Jesus is everything he is not.  And he longs to join Jesus in spite of his background and training.

And so Nicodemus, like us,  tries to have it both ways: a ruler over people by day and a fellow seeker in a circle of equals by night.  As this Gospel tells it Jesus instantly recognizes the torment in this man's soul and challenges him to choose between the world he has known and the world he secretly craves.  Can a man accustomed to wealth and power come to live without distinction among
brothers and sisters?  Unless you are born again from above you cannot enter the reign of God.

But how is this possible?  How can we give up the proud defense of our own rightness, the misguided passion that leads us to trample our brothers and sisters?  It is possible only because God longs for us even more that we long for God.  It is possible because one fragile man demonstrated the love God in a way that we cannot forget even amid the clash of arms.  And that Truth follows us, haunts us to this day, and will transform us if we give ourselves completely to it.

Even Nicodemus the righteous ruler and foolish follower is saved in spite of himself.  The next time we see Nicodemus his friends are plotting to kill Jesus.  He shrewdly cites the appropriate precedent yet reveals more than he intends.  Nicodemus tells them that it is not correct to condemn a man without hearing from him yourself.  The conspirators immediately spot his conflicted loyalty and exploit it.  "We all know that a leader of the people cannot come from Galilee," they say.  "After all are you from Galilee?"  A counter argument from scripture and a veiled accusation.  Perhaps he is one Jesus' admireres, they insinuate.  Nicodemus has, as we might say, 'outed himself'.

At the conclusion of the Gospel Nicodemus affirms his deepest longing for all to see and abandons his pseudo-family for good.  He, along with Joseph of Arimathea, publicly claims the body of Jesus, a duty reserved for family.  Nicodemus annoints Jeusus in the manner befitting a king, and sends him gently into the arms of God.  And he, along with Jesus, is been born again.

What will it take for us to be born again, to truly cherish each other and every person on this tortured planet as brothers and sisters even when we disagree?  It is as though we, like the Jews in the first reading, were kidnapped from the land of freedom, schooled in the ways of the empire, and miraculously returned again to the land of our birth.  Will we live again as free people?  Or will we bring the habits of hierarchy with us and rule over each other in the land of promise?

We cannot walk dry-shod into the reign of God.  If we are to live in justice and freedom we must be cleansed of oppressive habits that cling to us yet.  We must enter the river Jordan and immerse ourselves in the deep waters of baptism.  Born of water and Spirit we may realize God's promise.

We stand today amid the destruction we have wrought.  We plot the fate of ancient cities and bring destructionn to their peoples.  Yet in our hearts we long for a land of sisterhood and brotherhood.

We will not find our heart's desire in the temple of our own righteous cause nor in the unchecked exercise of our own might.  We must build from the sure foundation of God's mercy.  Only then might we realize the good of who we are and who we might be.   A good that God creates in us.  A good that we regularly subvert.

Next Friday, April 4th a group of us will gather to acknowledge our muddled attempts to make decisions together as a community.  We will seek forgiveness from God and each other, and dedicate ourselves to becoming God's children again even as we wonder how the promise of freedom might yet unfold in our midst.  May God bless us as we move forward into that land. 

"One who will not give his life, one who will not share it with the multitude or with even one:  forlorn shall he be.  One who gives what she has she shall live eaten up and she shall know at last she's born."