2nd Sunday in Lent A

Faith
 2nd Sunday in Lent A
The readings today invite us to reflect on faith and introduce us to Nicodemus and to
Abraham. The letter of Paul is a commentary on Abrahams faith
1. The reading from Genesis describes the call of Abraham.
He lived in the ancient city of Ur of the Chaldeans, in what is now southern Iraq. God called him and told
him to leave his country and move to the land of Canaan. There God would make Abraham a great
nation, meaning that he would have many descendants.
Abraham and his wife Sarah were already old, and had no children. Yet Abraham trusted in God, and
believed: he packed his belongings, gathered his flocks and moved to the land of Canaan. Do you have
any idea of how hard it must have been for Abraham to migrate to a new country?
I know a little something about this from my own personal experience. As you know, I was a member of
a missionary society, and, after college, I expected to spend the next 4 years studying theology in Milan,
Italy, about 15 miles from my home town. Then one day, I received a letter from my religious boss telling
me that I had been chosen to go the US to study theology, and that I was scheduled to depart in a couple
of months..
I did not expect to leave my country and my family 4 years ahead of schedule. But I took that to be a
sign that God had plans for me and wanted me in the US. Two months later I found myself in a classroom
in Worthington, Ohio, listening to lectures in a language I did not understand.
That was the hardest thing I had ever done, but I was young, and I had people who helped and supported
me. Abraham was old. He had every reason to question Gods promises. Who had ever heard of a
woman past child bearing age becoming pregnant and giving birth? But he trusted God, obeyed,
endured the hardships of migrating, and remained loyal.
God blessed him and his great grand children gave rise to the 12 tribes of Israel. And all the people of
faith who believe in one God call Abraham their father.
2. In the Epistle to the Romans Paul uses Abraham as the example of the power of faith
Some early Christians Jews had argued that, to be saved, all Christians had to first convert to Judaism and
obey the laws of Moses.
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Sunday in Lent A
But Paul argued that Abraham was chosen by God, beloved by God, blessed by God, in the right
relationship with God centuries before Moses and his laws existed. Abraham did not obey the laws
of Moses, and yet he was a good man in the eyes of God because he believed in God.
So Paul argued that what makes people acceptable to God is faith, not obedience to the laws of
Moses. We are saved by having faith in Jesus, by being baptized, and by following his example.
1. Nicodemus is mentioned 3 times in the Gospel of John
In this episode, where he meets Jesus at night to learn more about his message
Later as the Jewish Ruling Council (Sanhedrin) and the Pharisees tried to get Jesus arrested,
Nicodemus stepped in and told them that they could not condemn him without due process.
Finally, after Jesus crucifixion, Joseph of Arimathaea got permission to take Jesus body and bury
him, and Nicodemus brought myrrh and aloe to embalm Jesus body.
Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, but was a good man who, seeing the miracles
performed by Jesus, became convinced that he had come from God, because God would not give
this kind of miraculous power to anyone who did not speak for him.
Yet, as he listened to Jesus message, he was perplexed by the statement that we need to be born
again. How can we be reborn? By going back to our mothers womb? That didnt make sense.
The story of Nicodemus represents the struggle of many good people who hear the Gospel, are
impressed bit it, but cannot understand some of the message. Some parts dont make sense to
them.
The Gospel of John uses the metaphor of being born again to describe the experience of baptism, of
receiving Gods grace and the Holy Spirit as a new birth.
Jesus was talking about a spiritual re-birth. However, some of the people, like Nicodemus, heard
these words and took them literally, as if he was talking about a new physical birth.
The language used to describe God and religious experiences is very limited and inadequate. God
is infinite, and we are not. We use metaphors and analogies to describe God [God is like a father,
God is like a king] but even though these analogies give a glimpse of God, but they can be
misinterpreted and lead to misunderstandings.
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4. So, what can we learn about faith from these readings?
In a few moments we will recite the Creed: the list of things all Christians believe. Is faith the belief in
the statements of the creed?
a. Yes, to have faith we must accept that God exists and that God is communicating with us, that he sent
Jesus to redeem us and to teach us. But there is more to faith than agreeing mentally with a check list
of doctrines
. But what if we have questions and doubts, does that we we do not have faith? Actually both Abraham
and Nicodemus had questions and doubts.
. Abraham is the example of faith, but, after he moved to the land of Canaan, time was passing and he
and Sarah were still childless. He too had doubts and questioned God.
. Sarah laughed when she was told that she would give birth to a child in her old age.
. Nicodemus could not understand some of the statements that Jesus was making and had questions and
doubts. We all have doubts because God has created us a reasonable beings. We use our mind and to
reason, and if we dont understand, we ask questions and wonder about things.
b. But, beyond that, faith includes trust, obedience, endurance and loyalty. Abraham trusted God and
remained committed to his mission, in spite of having questions and doubts. Nicodemus remained
committed to Jesus, in spite of the hostility of his Sanhedrin colleagues, and remained loyal to even even
after he had been killed.
. To have faith is to trust God like a small child trusts his/her parents.
. To have faith is to endure, to persevere even when the going gets tough, and to be loyal to our believes
even when belief is unpopular, even when everyone else quits and walks away.
. To have faith is to repent when we do something wrong. To pick up the pieces and start over.
. To have faith is to learn from Jesus and like him love God and our neighbors.
. There is a story about faith in the Gospel of Mark (9:24). A man asked Jesus to cure his son. Jesus asked
him, do you believe? He answered, I believed, Lord, but please help the little faith that I have. Let
this be our prayer