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| Today's Gospel including John 3:16 happen during Nicodemus' dark night of the soul. |
©2024 The Rev. Seth Olson
Holy God, let my words be your words and when my words are not your words, let your people be wise enough to know the same. Amen.
You may not realize it, but today we are celebrating many occasions all at once! It is—as you know from that sleepy feeling you are experiencing—Spring Forward Sunday. It is also Refreshment Sunday when monastics and those ultra-pious among us relax their extreme Lenten disciplines for a day. Some call today Laetare Sunday for the first words of the old Latin Mass, “Laetare Jerusalem” or “Rejoice Jerusalem.” Some places even wear pretty rose vestments (like this one!). On this day we are also hearing G.O.A.T.s sing—Generations of Apostles Together Singing. Today also marks four years since the COVID-19 Pandemic began to disrupt our churches, schools, health care system, and lives! It seems like long ago and yesterday at the same time. While much of life has regained some sense of fullness, there’s still much hurt, division, and disease that was exposed during that time.
In reflecting on these past 1,458 days with colleagues, parishioners, friends, and neighbors, I noticed common themes: fatigue, exhaustion, and burnout; anger, depression, and despair; isolation, lamentation, and grieving. The lack of routine and certainty mixed with the fear of a disease that one could not see made things like going to church, or a concert, or a restaurant anxiety-producing. When everyday events become cripplingly fearful this causes a ripple effect that had less to do with the disease itself and more to do with the need to quarantine and protect one another, which disrupted our innate need to connect with one another. A residue of this scary time remains, for our ability to be resilient is a communally based skill—we gain the attribute of bouncing back within our network of support.
Think about this: after 9/11, the Kennedy Assassination, or Pearl Harbor where did everyone go? To their churches or other religious/community centers! Where could we not go during the pandemic? To our churches or other religious/community centers! While being cast out from these hubs of togetherness cost us all, those who were more vulnerable before 2020 faced a more challenging battle with COVID-19. Communities of color lost a larger percentage of jobs, were more food insecure, and had a higher death rate (by percentage) than white communities. Women lost their jobs and did not gain them back at a higher rate than men.
Holding these truths and our grief weighs heavily on our souls—enough that we may feel as though we are surrounded by darkness. The phrase from Saint John of the Cross arises to capture this shared experience. Together we are going through a “Dark Night of the Soul.” Fittingly enough, today’s Gospel lesson takes place entirely in the dark.
Jesus spoke the familiar words of John 3:16 not on a mountaintop to a crowd, nor to his beloved disciples as a summary message, but within a conversation with a teacher of Israel who came to Jesus during his own dark night of the soul. That Pharisee, Nicodemus, was in crisis mode.
Nicodemus witnessed Jesus perform marvelous signs that pointed to something greater. The Pharisee had to see Jesus before he left Jerusalem. But being either too scared of other Pharisees, too busy with his own work, or too considerate of Jesus’ public ministry to find him during the day, Nicodemus sought Jesus under the cover of night.
The section of John right before today’s Gospel lesson depicts Nicodemus stumbling, mumbling, and fumbling through a conversation with God Incarnate. Nicodemus could not understand a spiritual rebirth or as we know it down south—being born again. He did not grasp the invitation Jesus offered to enter into new life.
Maybe Nicodemus was burnt out, exhausted, or soul-sick from being involved in a political hierarchy that took advantage of many. Regardless of the reason, in this midnight conversation, Nicodemus seemed to be drowning in the deep end of the baptismal pool, while Jesus stood lovingly on the surface asking this teacher of Israel to set his mind on divine things.
What we heard today picks up with a reference to Moses’ bronze serpent in the wilderness—the story from Numbers this morning. Those who were struck by poisonous snakes in the wilderness would look upon Moses’ staff (shaped like a serpent) and live. When Jesus compared himself to the bronze serpent lifted high, he was foreshadowing his own death on the cross and his ascension into heaven. He both pointed back to the pain that the People of Israel experienced in the wilderness and forward to the pain that his followers would undergo at his Crucifixion (and beyond). Jesus here made a turn from spiritual renewal to what it meant to be the Son of Man and his followers—John 3:16.
Now many will get fixated on this verse. They will even write it in dust on the back of an 18-wheeler or on posterboard at a sporting event, but what lies at the heart of this message given to a lost leader of Israel in the middle of the night comes after that most famous verse in John 3:17! Jesus’ mission was not to permanently fix the world by solving all our problems. These last years have taught us that a million times over. There is still evil, and not because Jesus failed.
God the Father sent God the Son not to condemn the world but to redeem it; however, that does not mean Jesus magically fixed it either. The world was in a condemnable state when Jesus came into it. Jesus’ death, like the death of prophets who came before him indicated this sad truth. Sadder still, the world is still in a condemnable state. We still kill, exile, or otherwise silence prophets: those who speak out against systemic racism, Xenophobia, sexism, homophobia, or transphobia are vilified; climate scientists have their reports stuck in a drawer or trashcan; victims of trauma, tragedy, or trafficking are often made to think these horrors were their fault.
So, what was it that Jesus was trying to accomplish if not fixing all of this? Well, what did he say to Nicodemus?
Jesus said to Nicodemus that even though the light had come into the world, the world was still interested in darkness. Jesus said this to a powerful religious leader who was part of a complex system that perpetuated the chasms of that day—this happened through imperial collaboration, oppressive taxation, and a religious framework that said, “That’s just the way things are.” In essence, Jesus said this system is still focused on keeping the poor down and the rich up, still interested in protecting the powerful, and still committed to the status quo. Jesus was not trying to tell this leader that he came to die for him, he was trying to tell Nicodemus that it was time to expose the truth, it was time to step into the light, it was time to choose whether he would sneak to Jesus at night or follow him in the broad daylight.
So, what happened? WDND? What did Nicodemus do? We only have two more bits from John that describe Nicodemus. First, he stood up for Jesus in the Sanhedrin—the religious governing council of that time. This was a huge turnaround, and Nicodemus was ridiculed by other Pharisees when he stood up for the truth. Second, Nicodemus boldly went with Joseph of Arimathea, another powerful man, to take down Jesus’ body from the cross to care for him after his death. It seems that slowly Nicodemus was willing to follow Jesus not just at night, but also in the light.
John 3—including the most well-known verse of the Bible—was Jesus’ way not of making a simple theological statement about his salvation-filled reign as the Son of God, but rather it was a way of challenging the already religious—people like you and me—not to conceal our belief in the Son of God, but to live our lives as part of his reign here and now. And, in Christ’s Reign oppression cannot stand, evil cannot persist, falsehood cannot continue.
We must be willing to explore our own inner darkness, so that we can follow Jesus into the light. We must behold the Light of Christ and partner with God in vanquishing oppression, spreading good news, and speaking the truth in love. As this Lenten journey continues, ever bending towards Jerusalem, Holy Week, and the Cross, will you walk with Jesus through the dark night of the soul and into the light-filled way of God’s love? What would Nicodemus do?
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