Sermon for March 14, 2021 - The Fourth Sunday in Lent - Year B - The Ven. Pat Zifcak

The story of Nicodemus is not part of our Gospel reading this morning but it does set the stage for us as it introduces us to some of the significant distinctions between this Gospel and the Synoptics, Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  Nicodemus came to Jesus by night.  He asks him about signs.  Jesus speaks of being born of water and Spirit and speaks of himself as the Son of Man.  Contrasts, language, those whom we meet and the stories they tell, who Jesus is and what he explains and requires all set this Gospel apart.

  On Wednesday night at House Church as we talked about the reading for this morning, I found myself drawn to the shadows, the contrast of light and dark, day and night.  And most powerfully I have found myself repeating, “And this is the judgment….”  The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness.  Was that true then?  Is that true now?  What I think is true is that feeling ready to meet Jesus face to face, to account for the decisions we make, the deeds we do, is overwhelming.  And, we are in Lent.  We are face to face with light and dark, life and death, good and evil.

The lectionary does not always give us readings that support a single theme but reminding us of the Israelites in the wilderness, their complaints and God’s response sheds light on the Gospel.  Repent and pray.  Pray that God who is merciful will show us great kindness as we strive to walk in the way God desires for us.

Soon we will come to the most powerful season of light and dark as we enter Holy Week.  Our worship will be at a distance but the images in our sanctuary will be signs of momentary joy and deep sadness, of individual deeds and the community gathered, of accusation and denial, of strenuous moral effort and failure, of suffering and solace, of fear and miracle.  Repent and pray.  Pray for the courage to walk the road to Jerusalem, to believe what you have been told, to love those who walk with you, to look at the face of Jesus. 

“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.”  Our faith in Jesus illumines the darkness in our lives.  It gives us courage to live lives open before God.  It makes our humanity sacred, our mistakes acceptable, our efforts laudable.  Repent and pray.  Pray that God will help our unbelief and increase our trust in the one who loves us unconditionally.   When I was teaching swimming to infants and toddlers, I understood the power of trust in extraordinary ways.  I let go of infants, trusting the phenomenon that they hold their breath under water instinctively; I held toddlers in deep water, assuring them that they were safe. They trusted me to let them go.  It was in teaching swimming that I also came to understand the imagery of life and death in baptism.  Death seems very near when you cannot breathe.

Crucifixion is suffocation.  “I can’t breathe”!  I understand our Episcopal use of crosses and not crucifixes but in our Old Testament lesson and the reading from the Gospel, we are led to symbols of the crucifixion, not an empty cross yet but a crucifix.  Can we watch as darkness falls?  Can we trust God’s word?  Do we believe in the resurrection?  Turn and pray.  Pray that your faith will lead you through the gates of the city, to the cross, to the tomb.  Pray that your suffering leads to resurrection in the heart of Jesus and that you have faith to turn toward all who suffer with an outstretched hand.  Alice Walker wrote:  “...I began to see how the constant focus on the suffering of Jesus alone excludes the suffering of others from one’s view….”  Jesus’ death and resurrection does not perfect us but it should change us.  I pray that none of us can look on the suffering of another and not feel anger and sorrow, not want to help, not want to yell for justice!  The sight of Jesus lifted up on the cross has power to bring people to faith and repentance.  Turn and pray.  Pray that you will be overcome by your emotion, that you will promise to do something or do more, that you will give from your abundance, that you will look for the least, the lost, the lonely and remind them that God loves them unconditionally. 

We are saved by God’s grace and there is nothing we must or can do to earn it.  It is a gift.  How we accept such a gift is known to others by the life we live.  We hear in Ephesians, we are what God has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works.  Faith is not passive; faith is our belief made visible, turned outward.  Pray to be a champion for all that is good in our broken world, to be a witness and co-conspirator to those who suffer from the evil done to them, to be a light in the darkest corner, to be an evangelist for Christ’s love, to be a Christian.