2nd Sunday in Lent, Year A
March 1, 2026
John 3:1-17
Have you ever watched someone from afar who caught your attention and you wanted to hear more–and were intrigued with their message but not quite sure what the message was? Maybe it was a speaker, preacher, or an author, maybe some other charismatic leader for a cause or a musician with a message. Someone you admired from afar. When I was a girl, it was certain female musicians. For most of my young life I dreamed of having a guitar and white go-go boots (and a matching white Ford Mustang)–I got the guitar!
Now I did end up playing in a few bands, but most often was just a girl with a guitar, and ended up getting a job where I found myself working in the world of Christian speakers, musicians, and artists. Very rarely did I hear any messages that captivated me, but a few times I did. A way of speaking about God that grabbed my attention and captivated my heart, and I would think, “Now I need to know more about THAT.” I would sort of hang out on the sidelines and listen more deeply to a message that soon began to open up just a little window into my heart. Maybe this Jesus had something to say to this scrappy girl with a guitar.
So I get Nicodemus. Now I don’t know if he was necessarily ever interested in an ancient form of go-go boots, but he certainly was intrigued with Jesus and wanted to know more about why all those common folk were following him around and more importantly, what was he saying to them? And I understand that unsure search of Jesus in the night when no one is looking. What I didn’t know is that that is the moment when faith begins. And I didn’t know how one step of faith can change your life forever.
Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a teacher of Israel, and a religious leader of the Jews, he knew the scriptures well. Right before this clandestine meeting at night, Jesus had just caught everyone’s attention by flipping over the tables in the Temple and pouring all the coins from the money changers on the floor. Perhaps Nicodemus had also been troubled by what was happening in the sacred space where he served.
Nicodemus was intrigued with this man, Jesus. He listened day in and day out to religious teachers pontificating on the scriptures, so he’d heard a lot of sermons. Despite the fact that Jesus had just royally ticked off Nicodemus’ colleagues by publicly calling out their hypocrisy, Nicodemus was nevertheless drawn to what Jesus had to say and so he took the first step of faith and went looking for him. And it was seriously risky for him to do so.
In our Old Testament reading today we have Abram and Sarai also listening to a voice, believing it to be God, and do the unthinkable and dangerous action of leaving the safety of their tribe and head out into the great unknown. This faithful stepping out in obedience to this God was reckoned to Abram (who God called Abraham) as righteousness.
The letter from Paul to the Roman church reminded the new church that God’s promise and call to Abraham was so that all families of the earth will be blessed through Abraham’s faithfulness. It was a promise long before the Law ever entered the story. From the very beginning of our scriptures God was already signaling that the intention is to bless all nations, all people of the earth. And it was to come about through a family discovering the One God from the many gods. And going with that God on an act of faith. And it was reckoned to Abram as righteousness.
So, back to Nicodemus. He is a teacher of the Law. It was what governs and guides Judaism, but had become exclusive. Perhaps Nicodemus was remembering that covenant God had made with Abraham so that “all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Not excluded! Abraham was the father of Islam and Judaism, and ultimately Christianity, too. These three faiths are known as the Abrahamic faiths. How tragic that we have forgotten this blessing and created such hostile enmity with our relatives.
I think Nicodemus must have been quite faithful to the scriptures and took his role as a religious leader very seriously. He knew the Law deeply and there was something this young Jewish man, whom some were calling Rabbi, had to say that was bringing the Law to life–a deep inner understanding that Nicodemus’ scholarly mind wasn’t quite able to analyze and rationalize easily. So he had questions. He, too, stepped out and took a risk to seek out Jesus. I believe this first step was also reckoned to him as righteousness. He, like Abram, stood to lose everything–family, security, wealth–to do what the Spirit was nudging him to do to lead him to God’s purpose for him. Faith evolves, but it got going with one hesitant step in the middle of the night.
In the tv series The Chosen, Nicodemus is portrayed as one who longs to follow Jesus but finds himself unable to let go of his reputation, privilege, and familial demands. His deep desire is to be with Jesus but he just can’t yet and it brings him a deep sorrow. Jesus hugs him anyway on his way out of town to the next village.
Yet something had been planted in Nicodemus and that first act of faith to meet with Jesus was significant enough to begin a change. He must have recognized that the message of Jesus was part of the covenant with Abraham, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, to save and heal, not to condemn.” Nicodemus will appear again later in the scripture to defend Jesus to the Pharisees, and again to bring one hundred pounds of spices in order to properly prepare Jesus’ body for burial. He did not understand where God would lead him in his first encounter with Christ, but faith grew in him as he must have pondered the words Jesus left with him. And he is now remembered forever as the Pharisee that cared for Jesus’ body.
Because faith evolves, it grows in us over time, is complicated by doubt, it falters in tragedy, yet is not dependent on us being good enough or able to create it for ourselves. Our faith starts when we take that first step toward Christ–bringing our doubts, questions, and all. And then another unsure step and another until they become more confident. The key is–keep stepping!
We do not know how long Abram wrestled with this new concept of one God only, how long it took for him to hear God, and what kind of inner turmoil he went through to have enough courage to respond to God’s call, but he was already an aging man when he and Sarai set out to parts unknown, leaving everything they knew behind them. So it was undoubtedly a faith that grew in him over time and much less likely a burst of sudden enlightenment or impulsivity.
So it should be no surprise that we, in our humanity, will also struggle with faithfulness. Your faith, though, isn’t valued on whether or not you doubt from time to time. What does God require of you? To do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God, the prophet Micah reminds us. Jesus himself said the most important commandment was to love God and love your neighbor. And you are going to find that kind of faithfulness to God’s command is not as easy as it sounds. Anxiety and fear might rear their ugly heads because living true to loving your neighbor brings a mighty number of challenges and risks because the world doesn’t love them. The world will dehumanize people, calling them animals, scum, you name it–you’ve heard it all. The world of greed and power operates and thrives off the backs of the poor, so trying to bring justice and kindness to all challenges those principalities and powers. And that is risky business, too.
What does it mean to be born from above and to have faith? This was also Nicodemus’ question. To be born from above by water and the Spirit, to believe in Jesus, is to leave the darkness of our minds and to come into the light. In John’s Gospel believing and doing are inseparable. Nicodemus lives in the darkness and the shadows of this story until its conclusion, when he emerges publicly with Joseph of Arimathea, to bury Jesus.
Jesus likens his midnight encounter with Nicodemus to a child still safe in its mother’s womb. You are still gestating, Jesus implies. Yet faith grows, and continues to grow, even after a rebirth in your heart and soul. Childlike faith matures one step at a time. God calls us today to be a blessing to all people. We continue in faith, whether or not your faith is ready to take a big leap like Abraham, or if yours is gestating in the dark like Nicodemus, collectively we have enough faith to do what God calls us to do and be in this place and time. Because enough faith is what we have, one step at a time. St. Christopher’s, a light on a hill, stepping out to bring Christ’s message of love and healing to all people.
Magdalena's Musings 