Sunday Worship
Welcome to our Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the second Sunday of Lent. Our Church services are at the usual times of 9.15 am at St Agnes' and 11 am at St Thomas'. If you're not able to be with us in person, you can find resources below to enable you to worship at home.
Our first hymn this morning is "The God of Abraham Praise"
Today's Gospel
John 3: 1-17 Jesus teaches Nicodemus
There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
“Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
“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.
“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”
Reflection
Today’s passage contains one of the most quoted texts from the Bible; “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." [John 3:16]. But it also contains elements that many people struggle with.
That’s not surprising for as we see, Nicodemus also struggled with what Jesus was saying. Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin court, a group of senior Pharisees respected in the community, well-known, and of the upper echelons of society. He was deeply intellectual, and an expert in the scriptures and religious law. Someone who lived by them, prayed by them, and even believed that they gave life. But as we see, for all of his understanding of the prophesies of the Old Testament, he repeatedly failed to grasp what Jesus was explaining and indeed that Jesus was the son of God.
Jesus was challenging the way Nicodemus living his life; and how he let his vast theological knowledge get in the way of seeing the living and true God.
Nicodemus was really struggling, because like many of us we try to relate everything to our human understanding of the world and how we experience life. So talking about being born again he is confused with being physically reborn from the womb.
In an attempt to enlighten him Jesus makes reference to Ezekiel [36:25-27], when He says “I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit". In other words, He is trying to explain that to be born from above meant that “one must be born of water and the Spirit.” It is a spiritual re-birth and not a physical one. Being a scholar in the Old Testament, Jesus would have expected Nicodemus to grasp the connection.
But still the penny hasn’t dropped for this religious scholar, so Jesus tries to help him understand the offering of the gift of eternal life. Again, he reaches into the scriptures hoping that Nicodemus will grasp it. He talks of the time when the Israelites were moaning to Moses about being in the wilderness and how fed up they were, [Numbers 21-19] and how God had punished them by sending a plague of poisonous snakes upon them, killing them.
The scripture then tells of how, when they repented, God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and placed it on a pole so that all who had been bitten and looked on the serpent would be healed and receive life. Jesus clearly tells Nicodemus that in the same way when the son of man has been lifted on the cross for everyone to see, then all who believe in Him will have eternal life.
“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.”
Perhaps it is a little easier for us to understand, because we have the benefit of hindsight and the Gospels, whereas for Nicodemus the events of Easter had yet to happen. Jesus was prophesying what was still to come. But even for us, having faith still requires us to have the capacity accept concepts that are beyond our reality and ability to explain logically.
To accept Christ as our Saviour we have to believe in the divinity of Christ as well as His human incarnation. We can do that if we are willing to ask to be filled with the gift of the Holy Spirit - to be able to understand heavenly things and come into to the light. When we do that we will be born again of God’s Holy Spirit.
For God so loved the whole world. For God so loved Nicodemus. For God so loves me. For so God loves you…that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in, trusts, and follows Him, should not perish, but may have eternal life. Paul
Our Prayers
