Rev Peter W NimmoGrace first, not judgement: sermon for the Second Sunday of Lent, 5 March 2023
Gospel reading: John 3:1-17
Our Scripture reading comes from the Gospel of John, where we meet a character- Nicodemus- who appears only in this gospel. Nicodemus was a leader of the Pharisees, a group within the Jewish faith, who are usually portrayed in the New Testament as disagreeing with what Jesus does and says. Nicodemus goes to see Jesus ‘at night’- it sounds like a secret meeting, as it wouldn’t seem right for someone of Nicodemus’s stature to be consulting Jesus. Nicodemus will appear twice more in the Gospel of John, once when he defends Jesus at a meeting of Pharisees, and after the death of Jesus, when he helps prepare the body of Jesus for burial.
The most important part of today’s Gospel story comes right at the end. That’s when we hear that God has sent his Son into the world, offering eternal life, not to judge the world, but to be its saviour. It’s the climax of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus.
Nicodemus was curious. But he could not be seen publicly to be too interested in Jesus. It wouldn’t be right for somebody like him- a respectable religious leader- to be seen with someone like Jesus- a radical young preacher and healer whose message often upset the religious establishment of the day. So Nicodemus sneaks in to see Jesus at night, in the dark, when there is nobody around, nobody to see what he’s up to
You may feel that that’s rather unworthy of him. Shouldn’t someone interested in Jesus message be open about it? Does Nicodemus make you think of a politician who keeps their real beliefs hidden, and acts a part? In other words, do you think Nicodemus is a hypocrite?
Yet there are times when it is dangerous to say that you are a Christian. In this country, it could affect your reputation. I knew someone once who told me that he was a butt of jokes and scorn among their work colleagues because they were open about being a Christian. For the same reason, it’s hard for younger people at school to admit to having a church connection. And in many places around the world, speaking the truth about Jesus can get you into terrible trouble. That can happen even in a supposedly Christian country- there have been priest arrested in Russia for preaching that of course the invasion of Ukraine is an affront to God, and contrary to Jesus’ teaching.
So let us not judge Nicodemus too harshly. ‘Judge not, that ye be not judged’[1] is an axiom which we ignore too readily. But it is a command of Jesus to his followers. Jesus said,
Do not judge others, and God will not judge you; do not condemn others, and God will not condemn you; forgive others, and God will forgive you.[2]
It is not for us to judge other people for their faults. In fact, if we can learn to forgive others, says Jesus, we might know forgiveness ourselves.
The Pharisees were known for holding to a strict sort of religion. You had to do religion right, or it didn’t count. It’s no wonder that Jesus often found himself in conflict with them. For he often felt that the Pharisees’ approach was to judge others, and ask questions afterwards.
Reading the Gospels, reading about how Jesus treated people, I’m always amazed that so many people who claim to follow Jesus are so judgemental about other people. In fact, if you were to ask people outside of the church what they found most off-putting about Christians and the church, ‘judgementalism’ would likely be quite far up the list. Too many people have had a hard time at the hands of Christians who are too quick to judge and condemn. There are still plenty of people around who had a hard time growing up, constantly belittled and condemned by harsh religious parents or school teachers, being told that they are making God angry. No wonder such people want nothing to do with Christianity.
Pope Francis answers questions from journalists aboard his flight from Antananarivo, Madagascar, to Rome Sept. 10, 2019. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) See AFRICA-POPE-PLANE Sept. 10, 2019.In 2013, Pope Francis caused a stir when he responded to a journalist’s question about gay people, because he replied
If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?[3]
At the time, the BBC reported:
[Pope Francis’s] remarks on gay people are being seen as much less judgemental than his predecessor’s position on the issue.
It as is if the media expected someone speaking on behalf of the Church to be judgemental, to always want to say ‘no’. No wonder Christianity has come to have such a bad reputation in our society. Church leaders and many other Christians so often seem to judging people, as if they had never heard Jesus warning us not to do so. And that has put so many people off wanting to have anything to do with Christianity.
If the Gospels are anything to go by, Jesus was rarely judgemental. And that offended the Pharisees. In Matthew’s Gospel, we read that Jesus called a tax collector named Matthew to follow him. Tax collectors were notorious- they were like collaborators, taxing tax from their fellow Israelites to pay the Romans, and making a profit from doing so. But Jesus does not judge Matthew for his past, but invites him to follow him- and then he gets into trouble for what he does next. He goes for dinner at Matthew’s house. The Pharisees are furious:
While Jesus was having a meal in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and other outcasts came and joined Jesus and his disciples at the table. Some Pharisees saw this and asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with such people?”
For someone who claimed to be a religious teacher, eating with tax collectors and ‘other outcasts’ was a scandal for the Pharisees. And Jesus did nothing to lessen the scandal:
Jesus heard [the Pharisees] and answered, “People who are well do not need a doctor, but only those who are sick. Go and find out what is meant by the scripture that says: ‘It is kindness that I want, not animal sacrifices.’ I have not come to call respectable people, but outcasts”.
Jesus did not judge those whom others considered ‘sinners’ or ‘outcasts’. In fact, he said, he had come to call them to follow him. No wonder the conventionally religious leaders were outraged by him.
And now, here is Nicodemus here to see Jesus. A leader of the Pharisees, a religious faction which is particularly critical of Jesus and his message. A man who won’t come and talk to Jesus publicly, but sneaks in to see him in the dark, privately secretly. But when Nicodemus came with his questions to Jesus, he didn’t say to Nicodemus ‘You’re my enemy, I’m not speaking to you!’ Instead, they have a conversation. Jesus does not judge Nicodemus.
So, for example, Jesus speaks of how those who would be part of the Kingdom of God need to be ‘born again’. That’s a bit of a mistranslation, apparently, because you could also translate the Greek as ‘born from above’. For Jesus is speaking about the Kingdom of God: ‘no-one can see the Kingdom of God without being born from above’. In other words, if you want to see what God is doing in the world, you need a rebirth which comes from God.
For the Kingdom of God, says Jesus elsewhere, is among us. The Kingdom of God is God at work in our world today. Rather like the Spirit which Jesus speaks of in this passage: a wind which blows where it wills, and none of us can control it, and no-one knows where it is going. For the living God is free to do what he will, his Kingdom appears where we don’t expect God to appear, his Spirit blows like the wind and we don’t know where it comes from or where it is going… ‘and it is like that [says Jesus] with everyone who is born of the Spirit’.
‘[And] it is like that for everyone who is born of the Spirit’. We are Christians, called as Matthew the tax collector was called, to follow Jesus; born from above, born of the Spirit, blown along into becoming believers in this cynical, secular world of ours, because we have felt the wind of God blow in our lives- and it is of God, and that’s hard to explain to people today. But the Spirit is God blowing freely at work in the world, blowing in our lives, and blowing in the lives of who knows who else, blowing in lives very different from us, people are often treated as tax collectors and sinners… but we are not to judge them, for who knows what God is getting up to, who knows how the wind blows.
The wind blows where it will, and the wind of the Spirit has brought us together in this place, to this Table, to encounter Christ just as Nicodemus once did. And in many ways, it’s a surprise we’re here, because none of us a perfect. Like the Pharisees, we do judge others when we know we shouldn’t. Like Nicodemus we do sometimes hide our allegiance to Jesus. But we can come to Jesus with our questions, and he will not condemn us. We can come to this Table, and eat and drink with Jesus, because Jesus once, scandalously- sat at Table in Matthew’s house, eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners and outcasts and was unrepentant about being with people like that. Jesus, who ate with tax collectors and sinners, is the host of our meal today. Jesus, who welcomed Nicodemus, even though he was a Pharisee, welcomes us again with all our questions and uncertainties, offering grace first, and not judgement.
The wind of God has blown us here today. And the wind of God is blowing us still, blowing to remind a judgemental church that Jesus didn’t judge. Blowing away traditions and attitudes that lasted for generations to bring about grace and life where there has been too much judgmentalism and death. And as we once again gather at the Lord’s Table, and share in the bread and wine, we hear again the good news- God loves the world so much that he has sent his Son, not to judge it, but to be its saviour! The Saviour we now meet at this table, who shares his bread and wine with sinners, and his body and blood to save the world.
Biblical references from the Good News Bible, unless otherwise stated
© 2023 Peter W Nimmo
Featured image: Christ talking with Nicodemus at night Crijn Hendricksz Volmarijn (circa 1601 –1645) Wikipedia Commons
[1] Matthew 17.13 Authorized Version
[2] Luke 6.37
[3] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23489702
#Christ #judgement #Nicodemus
Venice church of Christ
Spencer Baumgardner
Karen B. Jones ☑️
Charismatic Batman
Giant Awake
Jonathan Mills
Marko Schairbaumo
Awe & Wonder & Dream media
