Family
Grace to you and peace from
God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
For too many people, communion in God is communion only with
an idea. They get wrapped up in the idea of some mystical force. Like Bette
Midler, they believe that “God is
watching us from a distance.” And so they worship only the concept and its
majesty. The truth is, we are those people. Whenever we live as if God doesn’t
matter; whenever we fudge the truth or sneak to do evil; whenever our prayers
are nothing more than a list of complaints and demands; whenever we do not
define our existence by what God says and gives to us through His Son, in His
Spirit—then God is just an idea, a good luck charm. When you’re wrapped up only
in the idea of God, then the focus is on nothing but signs and wonders. “God” is simply a way to explain why
things happen the way they do, something to make you feel more comfortable when
you feel insecure.
It’s that idea of God—the almighty Being who produces spectacular
signs—that Nicodemus has in mind when he comes to Jesus by night. Nicodemus
wants to know how Jesus got this idea of God working so well for Him.
Jesus is turning water to wine and healing the sick. He has such presence and
speaks with unprecedented authority. And you know that “no one can do these signs that Jesus does unless God is with him.”
The answer Jesus gives, though, has nothing to do with God
the concept, and everything to do with the Persons of God. Jesus talks about
birth—not to point to another miracle and wonder in life, but to express a
relationship with the Father, relationship through the Son, relationship in the
Holy Spirit. To have God as your God is not to have some correct idea or to
stand up for some pious thoughts. To have God as your God is to have God as
your Father, His Son as your brother, and His Spirit as your breath and
heartbeat. To have God as your God is to be in the Family.
So Jesus talks about a second birth. It’s not just
another spectacular event that makes us part of some other worldliness. It’s
not the way we finally get caught up in a mystical divineness. It’s a concrete
reality: Holy Baptism is the way in which we are born into God’s family. In
those waters, the Father becomes our heavenly Father. In those waters, God
becomes no longer an idea and concept; He adopts us. That is the point Jesus is
making to Nicodemus. God is no longer just “God;” He is now “Our Father who art in heaven.” We have union
with a loving Family. So do not marvel when our Lord says, “You must be born again.” He is not demanding that you go through
some religious experience or work yourself up to some emotional high. In
Baptism, you are joined to your God and Father; your God lives and moves and
breathes in you and through you and for your good.
You cannot pull yourself up to heaven. You cannot reach the
loftiness of the Holy Trinity. But your heavenly Father has sent His Son. He
came to be your Brother. And as the true and righteous brother that He is, our
Lord Jesus endures your suffering, carries your cross, dies your death, and
restores and renews your life. In this way, Christ Jesus unites you to His
Father. You now have the right to call God your Father. Our Lord Jesus more
tightly and intimately binds and unites you to your God. That happens in the
Holy Supper, for in partaking of Christ’s body and blood, you commune with God;
you abide in Him just as He abides in you.
This is the love the Father has for you. He is not interested
in being some abstract God, keeping you at arms length. Instead, God the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ brings you into His family and unites you to Himself;
He gives you all the rights and benefits of being a son of God and an heir of
the heavenly kingdom. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the
Holy Spirit. Amen.
The
peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus always. Amen.
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