A word of caution before we dive into the Bible passage. Whenever one reads the Gospel of John one must be aware of layers of meanings to a single word or phrase. There is no one way to understand a particular word and often all layers add to what John is trying to convey. The layering reminds us that faith can be taken and affirmed in many ways.

Nicodemus, a Jewish scholar and teacher, comes to Jesus at night to learn from him. Nicodemus believes that Jesus must be a teacher from God, but his message is so very different from the tradition in which Jesus grew up, Nicodemus wants to know more. Jesus doesn't make it easy or straight forward. His answers to Nicodemus' query don't fit the question or seem to make any sense. Jesus says that one must be "born from above" or another translation says "born again" or "born anew." Nicodemus takes this literally and wonders how this can happen. Jesus then says, "No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit."

What happened this morning in Katie's baptism is that she received water on her forehead…three times…once in the name of the Father or Creator, once in the name of the Son, Jesus the Christ, and once in the name of the Holy Spirit. Then we marked her with oil in the shape of a cross and called her by name as a follower of Jesus Christ. Finally, we laid hands on her and prayed that the power of the Holy Spirit would work within her, her whole life long. Katie was born anew, born again, born from above as she was born with water and spirit. The Holy Spirit will continue to work in her and transform her. Baptism brings new life as it brings the Spirit of God so we might become who we were truly created to be. As Katie grows older she will have more opportunity to witness to the action that took place this morning. Baptism is a gift of love from God and a gift of love from parents to their children.

Now I want to move to the last verses which we heard read this morning. "For God so loved the world that God gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him." God came to the world in the person of Jesus so that we might know the holy presence of the Divine…so that we might be able to enter into a holy relationship with God through Jesus. Jesus came so that we might have an intimate relationship with the great mystery we call God. What kind of love is this…that will empty itself to become fully human…to know intimately our pain, our longings, our dreams and hopes, our sorrows and losses? God longs to be in union with us and offers us a way in Jesus.

I want to speak to the term eternal life. When I was a child I understood eternal life to mean life after death…that we accepted Jesus into our hearts and followed his way so that we would go to heaven and live forever after we die. Early Christians thought that it meant that they would never die, that they would be immortal. I now understand eternal life as a metaphor for living here and now in the presence of God. Jesus' offer of his own life through being lifted up on the cross makes eternal life possible for those who believe. When we choose to follow Jesus and say yes to him; eternal life begins because we have begun a new path, a new way of living. We have been born again in Christ. With the Spirit of the Living Christ living within us we are new creations, led not by our own desires and wants but by Christ' will for our lives. Surrendering our ways to God's ways takes time as the Holy Spirit works within us. As we open our hearts and minds to the reality of the holy presence of the Divine within us transformation occurs. God's desires become our desires. We too, like Christ are human and divine. To be deprived of God is to be deprived of our own true existence!

Jesus wants to help us be all that we can be which will bring us true happiness and joy. Many of you have experienced times of complete awe and peace as you have felt the presence of the holy within you or you have witnessed the presence of the Holy Spirit in another person. God did not send Jesus to force salvation upon us, but to make it available to anyone. We do not need to perish…to remain dead to the life and love that Jesus offers. Jesus did not come into the world to condemn it but rather to save it as it had gone astray from God's ways. We have a choice, each one of us, to say yes or no to Jesus. I know that God never gives up on us and is always there to offer loving salvation and new life in the Living Christ.

Love is God's fundamental disposition toward creation. Through history God has shown love to God's people in so many ways, sending teachers and prophets and now sending Jesus to show us in his daily living how to truly love one another. Jesus taught us that love means that there are not outsiders and insiders…all are welcome to sit and eat with Jesus. He ate with Pharisees, Jewish religious leaders and he ate with tax collectors and those called sinners. Much of his ministry was in the north amoung the hated Samaritans and Gentiles. He paid no attention to the laws about who was clean or who was not clean. He touched the unclean as he healed lepers and women who were bleeding. He spoke to women and children in public which crossed another boundary. Everyone, absolutely everyone, is welcome, is loved by God through Jesus. God's love sets the stage for Jesus' later commandment of love. On Maundy Thursday, the night we remember the Last Supper, we will hear Jesus give his disciples a new commandment. "You are to love one another just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

So my friends, Jesus will not force himself on us or hate us because up to this moment we have not chosen to follow him. Rather he longing waits for us, knocking on the door of our hearts, waiting for us to invite him in. Together we can journey in eternal life, in intimacy in a way that is beyond words. Together we can become all that God has intended. Together we can show the love of Christ to a hurting world with our actions and words inviting absolutely everyone into the family of God. There are no outsiders, no one who is "unclean." God's unconditional love is for everyone. Thanks be to God!



Home Page

Copyright 2008 Northwood United Church. All Rights Reserved.

free web template sponsored by Body Kits