Cedar Valley Lutheran Church
Lent 2A March 1, 2026 John 3:1-17
All the others fled from the hill of crucifixion and had gone into hiding. Two unlikely characters, however, didn’t run away, instead they found the courage to go to Pilate to get permission to bury the body of Jesus. One, Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple afraid of what his family and friends might make of it, and the other, Nicodemus, a leading Pharisee of all things.
It was a messy job, lowering his body from the cross, leaving them covered in blood and dirt as they stretched up to release his hands and feet and placing him to the ground. They must have made a couple of trips to the new tomb nearby, carrying his body and, then, hauling the hundred pounds of myrrh, aloe, and the linen shroud. After preparing his body for burial, they took one last look at this one who made such a profound impact on their lives and, with all their might, rolled a huge stone in front of the opening.
Exhausted, this dubious pair sat quietly on the ground nearby. They had seen so much - things they still found hard to imagine. Words could not express all the confusion tumbling through their minds. Silence was the best they could summon at the end of the day. Joseph finally rose to his feet and with a deep sigh, bid farewell to his companion and slipped away into the growing darkness.
Nicodemus remained and the chill in the air took him back to that first night he went to see Jesus. For a long time, he had watched Jesus and listened to him and what struck him was how alive he was. He had a peace about him Nicodemus longed for. He had an abiding connection with God that went beyond the command of scripture. Nicodemus wanted that too and that is what brough him to the door where Jesus was staying that night some three years earlier.
He recalled their conversation and how Jesus took control of it. It caught him by surprise, he had so many things he wanted to ask Jesus but instead, Jesus talked about being born again and about the wind blowing wherever it wants, not knowing where it comes from or where it goes. Nicodemus came to realize that Jesus was speaking of spiritual things he didn’t understand at the time.
Now, alone in the dark and lost in the thoughts of that first conversation, what struck him the most was Jesus’ reference to Moses lifting up the bronze serpent in the wilderness. The rebellious Israelites had angered God one to many times and God sent serpents that would bite them and cause them to get sick and die. Moses had to intervene on their behalf and, so, God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and wrap it on a pole and if they looked at that after being bitten, they wouldn’t die. Nicodemus understood how God had taken what was a cause for their destruction and turn it into a means of salvation.
Jesus talked about how he would be such a bronze serpent lifted up for the salvation of the world. And now, Nicodemus questioned if this past day was what Jesus was really talking about that first time they met. But how … how could his cruel death be a source for new life? How could the dark deeds played out in his crucifixion bring light to the world?
As he finally walked away from the tomb, he let go of all the questions and doubts and hopes and fears that consumed him. “Rest in peace,” he said as he looked back one last time at the place where Jesus lay. Tomorrow would be a new day and regardless of all that had happened Nicodemus knew that there was only one thing to do … the one thing he started to do ever since that night he went to talk to Jesus. He would let the light of divine love that filled Jesus’ essence and had captured his attention a long time ago be the torch burning in his heart and the guiding star directing his hands and feet in service to others. Little did he know that in a few days all that had happened would start to make more sense when the power of life over death and light over darkness showed itself in all its glory.
Pentecost 7B July 7, 2024 Mark 6:1-13
We see in our gospel reading for today the continuation of a theme that has been running through the life and ministry of Jesus from the beginning. Again and again, Jesus has been forced to deal with rejection: rejection for what he teaches, rejection for what he does, and rejection for who he is.
The Pharisees criticize him for healing on the Sabbath. His disciples chastise him for sleeping in the middle of a stormy sea. Even his mother and his family try to get him to stop working so hard because his zealousness is proving to be an embarrassment to them. And today, Jesus returns to his hometown of Nazareth and it happens again. The people who sat next to him in worship, who celebrated with him at festivals, who watched him play and grow up, can’t accept what he has become.
At first, listening to Jesus teach in the synagogue, these family friends and neighbors are astonished by his eloquence and spiritual insight. They are impressed: “Where did he learn all of this?” they ask each other. “How did he get to be this good?” they wonder. “When did he get so wise all of a sudden?” they question. “After all, he is one of us. Up until recently he was just a local handyman, patching our roofs, framing our doors, and fixing our wobbly tables and chairs.” What happened? Where did Jesus get all of this?
Well, the answer to their questions is that he got all of this from them. He got it from his parents and siblings and relatives. He got it from his teachers at the synagogue. He got it from the values kept by his neighbors and from the stories he learned of his hometown heroes and his local scallywags. Jesus, in essence, is a mirror, showing them who they are and the role they played in shaping his identity and his place in the world. And the same is true for us. So much of what it is that makes us who we are and the things we do is shaped by our environment. And the history we carry and the people who have left a mark on our lives play a big part in our identity.
But their amazement suddenly shifts and they take offense at him. Someone in the crowd – perhaps a jealous neighbor, or maybe a childhood rival, or possibly the village gossip who loves to stir up trouble – questions the fact that Jesus has stepped out of his lane and ignored his place in the community. “He was one of us and now he thinks he’s something more – he has become something we didn’t expect him to be – something that doesn’t fit into the box we put him in.” And their doubts leave him powerless to do what he would love to do for them – what he has done for so many others.
But before we judge them too harshly, let’s imagine that we are also standing among his homies wondering the same thing ourselves. Like them, how often have we missed the holy among us because we could only see what we wanted to see? How often have we missed the new thing God is doing in Jesus because what we could only see is the old and familiar? How often have we not allowed Jesus to surprise us?
I remember something a wise friend told Pam and me when we were newly married. She said that we should surprise each other every once in a while with something unexpected. That surprise, she said, keeps the intrigue and the mystery of love alive in a relationship. I believe that part of the gospel mission for us involves an element of surprise. Because our openness to being surprised, keeps us open to the intrigue and mystery of God’s deep love for us so that it doesn’t get old and boring and meaningless.
My prayer for you, my friends, is that when you listen to Jesus you can hear a new thing God is doing underneath the comfortable traditions and the familiar habits of your faith. I pray you will be surprised by the mystery of the abundant life God has for you in Jesus – a life filled with love and grace … with mercy and forgiveness … with freedom and peace. May you have the eyes to see and the ears to hear the surprising good news God has for you in Jesus Christ, our Lord.