Genesis
12:1-4a & John 3:1-17
Blessed to be a Blessing
The encounter between Jesus and
Nicodemus invites each of us to give careful attention to what it is that we
are searching for. Prior to this
encounter with Jesus, Nicodemus had a rather charmed life. He is a member of Jerusalem’s the ruling elite.
He surely experienced the accolades which
came with such a position. But Nicodemus
realizes something is missing. He comes to
Jesus looking for something different, something more.
There is a difference between
experiencing a charmed life and receiving God’s blessings.
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. But 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
no matter what they face – and they will face much disappointment. Their station is not to live a charmed life;
their call is to the blessing which will enable them to be 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. He did not live a charmed life!
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 awareness that
we have the opportunity to be a blessing in the lives of others. A blessed life is a life lived with the confidence
that through us the lives of others are better.
A blessed life is a life which bears the marks of having come to Jesus
to ask what it is that one must do.
Tradition has it that Nicodemus
circled back around in order to aid Jesus in the days between his death and
resurrection. He does seem to come to
understand that blessings are not a measure of what good comes to us as much as
an indication of how we are a comfort to others.
"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. And then go, and be that expression of God’s blessing
for which the world is crying.
Amen.
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