Sunday, March 12, 2017

Sermon - 2nd Sunday in Lent

Genesis 12:1-4a & John 3:1-17                                                                       

                                                        Blessings - They Come in All Pains



            I do realize that some of you were not here last Sunday, so I should apologize for continuing a thought this morning which you were not a part of from the beginning.  But as I read and prayed over this Sunday’s Gospel lesson, I kept coming back to one of the points which Pastor Hoffmeyer made in his sermon.  He spoke of the fruitless attempts to find our heart and soul’s desire in that which does not have the capacity to satisfy those longings.  He spoke of the ways in which we are encouraged to spend our time and spend our money attempting to obtain that which will forever be placed just beyond our grasp. 

            He identified the only answer to our prayers.  And that answer is the grace of God, freely bestowed upon us.

            Nicodemus comes to Jesus.  Nicodemus has some pretty basic questions.  Jesus has some answers for him.  But the answers Jesus offers (or at least the way he offers them) do not match with the expectation which brought Nicodemus to Jesus in the first place.  Even Nicodemus, it seems, may be looking in the wrong direction for the thing which he so deeply desires.

            I hope to couch all of this under the banner of confusing short-term satisfactions with eternal solutions.  I am hoping that we might depart this morning with a clearer dichotomy between fleeting accomplishments and genuine rebirth and renewal.  I was moved by Pastor Hoffmeyer’s distinction last Sunday between what it means to be blessed by God as opposed to living a charmed but fleeting life.


            Look again at the 17th verse of John, chapter 3.  It reads:  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.  This verse beauti­fully parallels this morning’s reading from Genesis 12.  There, God speaks to Abram, telling him, I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you may be a bless­ing ...in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.  God's blessing does not shield them from the harshness of human existence.  God's blessing provides them with the assurance they will need in order to persevere.  Having been blessed, they become a blessing to others. 

            Abram was indeed blessed.  He is the patriarch to whom three of the world's major religions trace their origins.  Abram (whose name is changed to Abraham, so as to reflect his prominence) is revered as the father of faith for Jewish, Christian and Muslim believers.  He is blessed; his blessing is the root out of which our own blessing emerges. 

            But remember with me the realities of this man's life.  Twice he finds himself in situations in which he has to lie about Sarah being his wife.  Abram and Sarah are wondering shepherds.  Without a home, they are at the mercy of landed lords and rulers.  Abram knows Sarah's beauty will make her an object of desire, that he may be killed so another might claim Sarah.  So they say Sarah is his sister.  Abram is not murdered, but Sarah is taken into the home of another man.

            Abram is blessed.  But remember his nephew Lot, the one who was not satisfied with the harsh pastures of the hills and chose instead to go into the valleys of Sodom.  By the Oaks of Mamre, Abram learns that Sodom is to be destroyed.  It is Abram who has to argue with God - risking his stature in God's eyes - in order to save his nephew.

            Blessed?  Sure he is.  But Abram and Sarah are growing old.  Unable to conceive, Sarah asks her servant, Hagar, to be the mother of Abram's child.  The child born to Hagar, Ishmael, becomes an irrita­tion and a fight ensues which threatens the whole clan.

            Abram was blessed by God - but his life did not always show the signs of what we might call a blessed existence.

            Everything and more that can be said about Abraham can be said about Jesus.  He is indeed blessed:  He is the One acclaimed as God's Messiah.  Is there another whose name is better known around the globe?  The great civiliza­tions of the west bear the marks of Jesus' teachings.  Churches bearing his name can be found on every continent, in practically every nation.  No one is more clearly associated with what it means to be favored by God - but remember Jesus' life.

            While we prefer to imagine it differently, Jesus was only able to attract a very small band of followers.  His message is not that widely accepted.  And his message proves so disruptive that Jesus is eventually condemned by the authorities of state and religion.  When he is taken in to prison, even those who claimed to be disciples abandoned him.  He dies a painful death upon an instrument of torture.

            Even though his life took on none of the forms we would associate with blessedness - Jesus was indeed blessed.  Blessed because God had promised he would be a blessing.

            A blessed life is not a life free from pain and disappointment.  That kind of a life would better be called a charmed life - it is a life marked with good fortune.  A blessed life is something differ­ent - a blessed life is a life lived with the assurance that no matter what I might encounter, God will never abandon or forsake me.

            Earlier I called your attention to John 3:17. I deliberately did so, as a way of causing you to think of John 3:16, without actually needing to read it.  I realize that the association most folks make with John 3:16 is the encouragement to believe so as not perish.  But for me the real power of this verse lies in its opening clause.  The promise of eternal life is preceded with the acknowledgement, For God so loved the world.  It is God's love for us which leads to the birth and ministry of Jesus which results in our salvation.  God's love for us.  God's blessing, coming to us and remaining a part of our lives.

            God's blessings are found among us for God has promised to come and dwell with us.

            If I had a nickel for every time I had wished being a disci­ple of Christ's meant my life would flow more smoothly, I would be a rich man.  But it just doesn't work that way.  At least it hasn't in my life, and it hasn't in the lives of so many others with whom I regu­larly gather for worship.  God does not protect us, set us off from the rest of the human population because doing so would call into question the whole notion of God's love for the world.  God's love results in God coming to be with us - to share our lives and suffer our pains.

            With all due respect to those who are affirming their faith this morning, being active in the church does not reduce the trials and tribulations, the hard­ships and difficulties of one's existence.  Being a part of God's church does not shield us from pain.  But coming here allows us to see the beauty and strength of God's promise to be with us.  Among God's faithful people, we are allowed to see that a charmed life might be nice - but a blessed life is a thing to cherish.

            "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be (blessed) through him." Come, receive God's blessing.


Amen.

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