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Trinity Sunday
June 11, 2006 Sermon
by The Rev.
Bill Van Oss
Readings
The Pharisee Nicodemus, whom we just
heard about in the Gospel, was a big shot.
Pharisees, at the time of Jesus were big shots. They were called “the
brotherhood”, there were never more than 6,000 of them, and they all
took one important vow.
They vowed that they would spend their lives observing every detail of
the scribal Law.
They believed the Law was the perfect and complete word of God, and that
it contained everything necessary for living a good life and obtaining
eternal life.
The Law was contained in the first 5 books of the Old Testament:
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
But this was not enough. A simple law like “Keep holy the Sabbath day”
was defined and debated by Pharisees – rules and regulations about
exactly what it meant to not work on the Sabbath were written down and
codified.
For example – to tie a knot on the Sabbath was to work. A man was guilty
of sin if he tied the knot of a camel driver or a sailor, but a woman
could tie up a slit in her clothing or the strings of her cap or girdle.
Pharisees like Nicodemus spent their lives defining what was acceptable
and unacceptable in regards to the Law. They had tremendous authority
and power over people as a result. They could proclaim someone a sinner
for having broken the law. They could have someone killed.
Nicodemus was powerful. He was a big shot. And yet, he sought out Jesus.
Now he knows he can’t talk to Jesus openly, for people might ask:
“What’s someone as important as Nicodemus doing talking to a simple,
itinerant preacher like Jesus?”
So Nicodemus comes to Jesus under the cover of darkness; he comes to
Jesus at night.
And Nicodemus says: “Rabbi, I can see that you are truly powerful, I can
see that you have a unique and powerful relationship with God.”
Perhaps Nicodemus realized that his reliance on self and status, his
quest for power and position, was not giving him life, but rather
robbing him of life.
“The Law” could no longer satisfy his hunger, so he sought out Jesus,
who was offering new and abundant life, and Nicodemus said “feed me”,
and Jesus said, “first you must change,” “first you must be reborn, and
transformed.”
“Born again?” Nicodemus argues – “Oh, I’m too old, too old and set in my
ways.”
And Jesus tells him that the old ways must be put behind.
The old notion that if you just observe the Law carefully enough then
God will reward you must die, so that you might see that God loves you,
and God’s love is a free gift.
“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.
God loves the world – loves us – not because we are good, but because we
are beloved.
Nicodemus needed to be “born again,” that he might see with new eyes,
and hear with new ears, and feel with a new heart:
That he might know that God is love and not Law.
This Trinity Sunday, we are invited into Nicodemus’ shoes, we are
invited to ask ourselves what stands in the way of our relationship with
God in 3 persons: Father, Son & Holy Spirit.
For Nicodemus it was power and position, status, and placing the law
above love.
For us, it might be that, or something else.
But all of us are called to be “born again,” transformed, changed – to
leave old, lifeless ways behind and to turn and embrace the life and
love that IS God.
God invited us into this relationship of love called the trinity, may we
leave lifeless ways behind and embrace the offer of new life that comes
from God.