AtomYou’re a Teacher and You don’t understand? The GRACE Question!!
Pastor Dave Peterson
First Lutheran Church
February 28, 2010
John 3:1-21
Today we continue…the 2nd week of our Sunday Lenten series on the “Questions of Faith” from the gospel of John.
Last week…from John 1 – “What are you looking for”
Today…from John 3 – Are you a teacher and you don’t understand?”
Don’t understand what…that that which separates the Christian faith from EVERY other religion in the world…GRACE!!! Let’s walk in…
Norman Neaves tells the story of a fifteen-year-old girl who went to a youth conference in Oklahoma. She was short; she would never grace the cover of a glamour magazine; and she had been crippled from birth. Thus, when a dance was held one night at the hotel, she simply sat down in corner chair, put her crutches on a nearby chair, and spent the evening watching the others dance. All the time she was smiling because She knew the rules. This was the way it had always been.
Norman Neaves, who tells the story says, “The music was the kind that peals the skin off your face and overloads the auditory nerve, and the floor was full of teenagers moving with the rhythm.” Then, a very special thing happened. In the middle of the dance set that evening, a slow number was played by the band, and out of the blue, a 16-year-old regular type boy went over to this girl, held out his hand and said to her, “Please, would you dance with me?” She looked up with unbelieving surprise, and with a smile quivering on her face, she said, “Yes.” As she reached for her crutches, he put them aside and together they began dancing; The young man holding her tightly, and she holding on to him tightly, lest she stumble and fall. It was a beautiful sight to behold.
Later that evening, one of his friends went to the young man and asked, “As the two of you were dancing, I noticed that she whispered something in your ear. Do you mind if I ask what it was?” (Now, if he was a Brad Pitt or a Taylor Lautner…and she was to be transformed into a gorgeous beauty queen…A.K.A. Taylor Swift, this would make for a great Hollywood movie…but this wasn’t Hollywood, she was a real person…he was a real person)
And the young man said, “You’re not going to believe this, but she said that this was the first time that anyone had ever asked her to dance in her whole life.”
And that day a moment of GOD’S GRACE happened!!
Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Do you not yet understand? It’s nothing you do…the Spirit does it: the Spirit blows when and where it will – Nic…it’s all grace. Position, honor, success, responsibility, who you know, what you have – they’re not what counts in God’s Kingdom. It’s all grace.
Grace Given—Grace Received
Grace Received—Grace Given!!”
Let’s look at Nicodemus for a moment.
John’s Gospel doesn’t dwell on him; it doesn’t tell us much about him. Yet he is one of the most intriguing persons in the Gospel.
He was an important man, obviously a well-thought-of member of the Pharisees. Remembering that Nicodemus being a Pharisee is an important fact, especially when we are talking about how a person is saved—what salvation is all about—the meaning of grace.
In many ways the Pharisees were the best people in the whole country. There were never more than 6,000 of them. They were what were known as the brotherhood. They entered into this brotherhood by taking a pledge in front of three witnesses, that they would spend all of their lives observing every detail of the scribal law….
the most sacred thing in the world.
the perfect word of God.
The way of salvation…
To add one word to it, or to take one word away from it, was a deadly sin….
I say this to reminds us that it was this good man, committed to the Law, committed to doing what God would have him do—it was this man who came to Jesus inquiring about salvation…coming at night…because he had a reputation to maintain!!
He knew the rules of life…We know the rules of life…life is about position, honor, success, responsibility, about who you know, what you have…
And Jesus asked the GRACE QUESTION:
Don’t you understand?
All of that counts for NOTHING…because, the Kingdom of God has a different measuring stick,
it’s all about GRACE!
It’s a story that’s been told by Grace-Preachers for years…but yet rings so true…the story about a man who died and went to Heaven. When he showed up at the pearly gates, St. Peter was waiting. “I want to enter Heaven,” said the man. “You may enter,” replied Peter, “if you have accumulated 100,000 points on earth.”
“Well,” said the man, “I was baptized in the church and scarcely missed a Sunday in my entire life.”
“That’s good,” said Peter. “That’s one point!”
“One point?—only one point? Well, I did serve on the Administrative Board for 20 years, and I taught Sunday School for 25 years.”
“That’s good. Another point.”
“What!? Only one more point!? Well, I tried to live a good life. I tried to be a good father and husband.”
“That’s good,” said Peter again. “That’s worth one more point.”
“Wow” said the man with a tone of dejection. “At this rate, the only way I will get in is by the Grace of God!”
“That’s right!,” said St. Peter with a smile on his face. “And that’s worth 99,997 points. Welcome into the Kingdom of God!!”
Nicodemus didn’t understand this…YET!!. And thus Jesus asked: “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet do not understand these things?”
And, 2000 some years later…The question still remains. And, despite the witness of scripture and our experience, so many of God’s people continue to live not understanding God’s Grace.
We continue to hear the voices of the Kingdom of this world…and in doing so…We continue to believe that the Kingdom of God is based on the rules of this world, the rules of position, honor, success, responsibility, about who you know, what you have…about who is in and who is out…when Jesus teaches that:
The kingdom of God is based on the GRACE of God that re-defines who belongs…and includes crippled sinners…people like Nicodemus…like you and me!!
In other words, as you have heard me say over and over because it’s so much a part of my understanding of the Gospel:
We continue to think that, in order to “get in”
we HAVE to serve rather than GET to serve…
BUT NO…because….
God’s GRACE GIVEN means we’ve been set free TO live in GOD’S GRACE… We GET to…
We can’t EARN GOD’S GRACE….
We GET to live in this GRACE…
At the extreme…Sometimes I get the feeling that people even live in ways thinking we deserved life; that we’re entitled to it…even to the point that we had something to do with getting it and keeping it. But, think about it.
What did you do to receive life?
What are you doing to deserve life?
Life is grace. Life itself is a gift of Grace.
Grace Given and Grace Received…
Grace Received and Grace Given away…freely…
Let’s go to the end of the story as we know it in the Gospel of John…
The last picture of Nicodemus is in John 19. He and Joseph of Arimathea asked for the body of Jesus after the crucifixion in order that He might have a decent burial.
One of Rembrandt’s most famous etchings, portrays this scene. The limp, dead body of Jesus was slowly taken down from the cross. Joseph of Arimathea, dressed as the person that he was, in all his finery, stands close by. In the darkness, further away, veiled in shadow as only Rembrandt could do it, with his face lined in sorrow, is Nicodemus. He is holding in his hands the linen cloth in which Jesus’ body would be buried. The Gospel says that Nicodemus also brought with him a mixture of spices, myrrh and aloes, “about a hundred pounds”. One wonders what Nicodemus must have been thinking as he stood there, waiting for the body of Christ to be taken down from the cross.
Obviously, much was going on in his life—this wealthy man, bringing fine linen and a bountiful amount of expensive spices to anoint the body of one who had died as a common criminal.
Was Nicodemus still just as mystified as he had been when he came to Jesus that first time? I think not!!!! I sense that then, at the foot of the cross…Nicodemus finally did understand!!
You see, understanding comes at the foot of the cross…
For, it’s at the foot of the cross where Grace is given and grace is received.
And, it’s at the foot of the cross where Grace received is now given!!
Catch that?
It’s at the foot of the cross where God’s Grace was given to Nicodemus and grace is received by Nicodemus.
And then…it’s at the foot of the cross where Nicodemus understand that this GRACE now received is meant to be Given away, in service to Jesus!!
It’s the image of the cross…
Grace Given…Grace Received
Grace Received…Grace Given Away…
And the young man said, “You’re not going to believe this, but she said that this was the first time that anyone had ever asked her to dance in her whole life.”
Do you understand? It’s about Grace. All Grace.
Did you find yourself imagining how that young woman felt? Unattractive, crippled, never having been asked to dance. And then came a Giver-of-Grace, who died on the cross…and Grace happened.
Did you find yourself identifying with how she felt?
If so, then you are beginning to understand grace also!!
AMEN!!!
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