Wingham United Church

March 1, 2026

2nd Sunday of Lent

Getting Right with God

Genesis 12:1-4a

Psalm 121

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

John 3:1-17

     I asked you last week to think about your favourite scripture or Bible story, and you shared some excellent examples. Personally, I had a tough time narrowing it down to one favourite, and each time one of you named your favourite, in my mind I was saying, “Oh, yeah. That’s a good one. I like that one too.” No one mentioned today’s gospel reading, but it is definitely one of my favourites. I think it resonates with me so much because I see Nicodemus everywhere, even when I look in the mirror. Let me explain.

          Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a religious leader in his community. The Pharisees thought they had life all figured out. Life was about following the rules. To be right with God, all you had to do was obey the Law. Now, we’ve read some pretty negative things about the Pharisees. Jesus accuses them of burdening the people with demands and expectations no one could uphold, and of abusing their power and influence for their own benefit. More than once, he calls them hypocrites, and once he even calls them a brood of snakes. The Pharisees didn’t like Jesus, and Jesus didn’t think very highly of the Pharisees.

          We have the tendency to stereotype, to paint everyone in a certain demographic with the same brush. It makes life easy if we can comfortably fit everyone into tidy boxes based on our assumptions instead of taking the time and making the effort to get to know everyone individually. That’s just one of the lessons we learn from Nicodemus. Here was a Pharisee who heard the message Jesus was sharing and, instead of getting angry that he was upsetting the status quo, wanted to learn more, to gain a better understanding of what Jesus was talking about.

          He’s a Pharisee, though, and it wouldn’t do for his peers, or the people who respected him as a religious leader, to see him coming to Jesus, looking for answers. That, too, is something I see reflected in many people. Our status in society, among friends and family, is important to us, so we want to appear to be doing the things and thinking the things that society says are normal, so we tend to keep our faith and our curiosity about what we believe under cover. We don’t want people to think we’re weird or that we don’t fit into their comfort zone.

          Nicodemus deals with this by coming to Jesus in the middle of the night, when all of his respectable friends are in bed. He’s in a tough place, mentally. The things Jesus teaches oppose the things he has been taught since childhood. They are also difficult to fit into his view of how things work in the world. It would be easy for him to do as many of his fellow Pharisees and dismiss Jesus as some sort of crackpot or fraud, but he has seen too many things he can’t explain with his world view. No one could do the things Jesus does without divine power. In fact, he suggests that they can all recognize this about Jesus, but most prefer to dismiss or ignore the inconvenient truth. Nicodemus, however, wants to know more.

          But, right off the bat, Jesus says something that only confuses him even more. You must be born again. Nicodemus thinks of it in earthly terms. He is a practical and reasonable man and what Jesus is telling him doesn’t seem possible. How can anyone re-enter the womb and be born again, and why would anyone want to? At this point, I envision Jesus shaking his head in a playful show of disbelief. How can this respected teacher of religion not understand such a basic concept?

          Nicodemus knows all about God, but he does not yet know God. It’s about relationship. Where the Pharisees are all about outward obedience, Jesus is telling him he needs to internalize his faith. It comes from the heart and mind, not hands and feet. It isn’t about power and control. It’s about love. A love so great that God gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him can have eternal life.

          That’s what righteousness is. Righteousness is being right with God, being in a personal relationship with God. It always has been. Paul points that out to the faithful in Rome. Abraham is the founder of the Jewish nation, the father of their faith. The ancient scripture tell us that Abraham, or Abram as he was called at the time, was considered righteous because of his faith in God, even when God’s message to him made no earthly sense.

          God told him to pack up and leave behind everything he had ever known – his home and his family and go to some unknown place without a clue as to what he would do there, and in exchange, God would bless him and he would become the father of a great nation, in fact, of many nations. Remember now, that Abram and Sarai were both quite old and without children, yet there is the promise of a great family that would bring blessing to the whole world. So Abraham packed up and went where God led him to go and was considered righteous because of this.

          The Pharisees are all consumed with obedience to the Law, but Abram was considered righteous long before the Law existed, just as we heard last week that sin existed long before the Law came to be. The Pharisees were convinced that if they did all the right things, they could earn God’s love and approval. Jesus explains to them that God already loved them. God’s grace is a free gift. All they had to do was accept it in the spirit in which it was given.

          The rebirth into which Jesus invites Nicodemus isn’t about starting life over again as a baby. It’s about setting aside all our preconceptions about how the world works and learning to see with new eyes the possibilities that exist for us when we listen to God. Again, that’s what Lent offers us. It encourages us to seek out that relationship with God, to examine the things that make listening to God’s voice and following where it leads so difficult.

          Our scriptures this morning also tell us what we can expect when we finally do. Psalm 121 is just one example. When we a looking for help, God will provide it. When we need protection, God will shield us. Joy, peace, contentment can be ours when we place our faith in God’s promise.

          I’ve spoken to many people in recent months who tell me they can’t watch the news anymore without becoming anxious or angry. Some have stopped watching it altogether.  Every conversation these days includes two prerequisites: the weather and Trump. There is nothing I can do to change either of them, but I have learned not to become anxious or angry about either. Whatever happens will happen, and I will go on living my life until I don’t anymore. I have learned to be at peace and find joy in life despite all the craziness that goes on around me. They may affect my material existence. The rising cost of everything certainly impacts how I live my life, but that does not affect my inner being. It is well with my soul.

          That’s not to say that I don’t get frustrated from time to time, but those times are short-lived. They are set aside when I stop and remember that I live in the embrace of God’s grace and protection. I begin every morning with prayer, and that helps ground me as I begin my work each day. When I feel things mounting up during the day, I stop and pray, and things settle down. When I begin feeling overwhelmed, I remember a favourite scripture verse, Philippians 4:13, which says, “For I can do all things, through Christ, who gives me strength.” My mind is calmed, then I can focus on the task at hand instead of worrying about how I am going to get it all done. Peace, focus, inspiration are all right there. All I have to do is ask.

          I’m not perfect at it, but I am getting better. I’m a work in progress. Maybe a bit of a slow learner. God promises, though, that as long as I keep asking for help, the Spirit will be there to guide me. God promises to do the same for you.

Let’s ask. Let’s pray…

Rev. Colin Snyder, MDiv