Genesis 12:1-4a Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 John 3:1-17 Psalm 121

The Lord himself watches over you; [Psalm 121:5a]

The Lord shall watch over your going out and your coming in,
from this time forth for evermore.  [ Psalm 121:8]

Do you believe these words of the psalmist?  Do you truly believe that the Lord himself watches over you?

And, if you believe that the Lord continuously watches over your going out and your coming in [in other words – all that you do], is this continuous watchfulness by God an effort to find fault?  Does it well up the sense of panic such as you might feel when a policeman is following you for a long period of time in traffic?   I’ve never forgotten meal management classes in college when an assigned observer was counting every footstep, noting any cabinet doors left open, analyzing every minute detail of proper or improper handwashing.  This sense of continuous oversight tends to set off all the paranoia alarm bells in us.

Is this God’s intention for watching over us?  Or, does God watch over our going out and coming in as a loving parent seeks to provide and protect beloved children?

Just this week, more than once, I’ve had a conversation about the difficulty of accepting, fully and deeply within our souls, that God loves us.  When we encounter an irrational sense of self-defeatism within ourselves and in others, I believe we are encountering someone who cannot accept fully that he or she is loved by God – God, who watches over our going out and coming in, not because God seeks to punish us for our wrongdoings, but because God loves us with perfect unconditional love and wants to embrace and protect us – God, who seeks to guide us toward the path of peace inwardly in our own hearts and outwardly with our neighbor.

Did Nicodemus, of our Gospel lesson, understand that he was loved by God?  Nicodemus was a man steeped in religious ritual.  As a Pharisee, he would have spent day after day, from the time of his youth, being educated in the Torah, memorizing the prophecy, debating the hundreds of laws that had been crafted by his ancestors in their sincere and fervent effort to be faithful as God’s chosen people.  Recorded in Leviticus are more than 600 laws regarding the proper procedures for Temple sacrifice, the intricate guidelines for the priesthood, specifics of ceremonial purity and personal holiness.  Here, every aspect of daily life is legally bound by religious law – marriage, daily activity, work, acceptable foods – how to prepare them and when they can be eaten – on and on.  Nicodemus would have spent his life consumed with this checklist of systematic requirements of this legalistic God who demanded to be obeyed – a god who dealt harshly with offenders.

Paul, like Nicodemus is a descendent of Abraham, and like Nicodemus, had been steeped from early age in the intricacies of Levitical law.  Yet, by virtue of his dramatic conversion to faith in Jesus Christ, Paul writes to the Romans, reminding the Romans that he and they are not justified because they are biological descendants of Abraham or through any checklist of earthly works performed out of fear of punishment by a wrath-filled God.  Abraham himself was not justified by his earthly works; Abraham was justified by grace through faith.  Along with the Romans to whom Paul was writing, we are justified through the grace of Jesus Christ.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.  [John 3:16] How many times have you heard that?  John 3:16 – How many times have you seen it on bumper stickers, and football helmets, and T-shirts?  What does it mean to you?

“Love” is a frivolously-used and under-understood word in our common English discourse.  And, until we can fully embrace its true meaning, until we can fully embrace for ourselves the unconditional love of God, we cannot truly embrace love from any source.  John 3:16, as familiar as it is, is simply a cliché that resides on the surface of our flesh, pretty words that fail to penetrate the darkness of our hearts.

Nicodemus came to Jesus in the dark of night, apprehensive and fearful of the backlash from fellow religious leaders if he were to be discovered seeking Jesus’ counsel.  Jesus was already considered a nuisance; his recent cleansing of the Temple had established him as a true threat to religious and political leaders.

Nicodemus came to Jesus in the darkness of his own perplexity – disturbed by inner turmoil, confused by what seemed to be contradictions to the foundations of his life-long faith journey, fearful of the future impact of the truth of Jesus’ radical message.  Believing John 3:16 and proclaiming among the public of first century Jerusalem that this Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah who would bring eternal life, not just to an elite population, but to any and all who believed, would alter his life forever.  In the darkness, Nicodemus was frightened and mystified and conflicted.

But, Nicodemus did come to believe, and Nicodemus did proclaim this love beyond human understanding – this love that brings about our salvation, purely as the gift of God’s grace through our faith in Jesus Christ.  While nearly all of Jesus’ followers would flee in fear at the crucifixion, it would be Nicodemus, joined by Joseph of Arimathea, waiting at the foot of the cross, who would boldly receive Jesus’ broken body from the cross and reverently and lovingly anoint Jesus’ body in preparation for burial according to the Jewish customs into which they had been steeped.

Throughout Lent, our fraction anthem is the Agnus Dei – Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world.  Have mercy on us; grant us your peace.

Certainly, our Christian mission is to confront the sin and evil of the world.  But, surely, the first step in our mission to search out and confront the sinfulness of the world, is to convince ourselves and our neighbors of the words of John 3:16.  Surely, our greatest mission is to bless someone every day, whether friend or stranger, with the understanding that he or she is loved by God – loved by God, who forever watches over our going out and our coming in, before we wake in the morning, after we drift off to sleep every night, not because God seeks to punish us, but to guide us toward the path of peace that passes human understanding.

For God so loves each and every one of us, that he has assured our place with him in his kingdom for all eternity.  Even in our brokenness and sinfulness, God wants us present with him forever.  For God so loved the world.