Sermon John 3:12-21 March 1, 2021 Fourth Sunday in Lent yr B
Take Up Your Cross and Believe
Take up your cross and
believe.
Take up your cross is
our theme this Lenten season.
Take up your cross and
believe is for this Sunday the fourth Sunday of Lent.
In this message from the gospel of John-Jesus calls on the disciples and those around him to look to him lifted up on the cross and believe. Jesus will be lifted high on a cross and in that moment, all will look to him will see that God has truly loved them and has given them life abundant.
The disciples didn’t really understand that Jesus was talking about his own death. But, they did remember the story about Moses they were all taught growing up.
Jesus tells of the time when
the Israelites were wandering in the desert and grumbling. Numbers 21:4-9. They
were angry at God. They were miserable with the boring same old food and drink.
They were frustrated with their way of living in the desert for so long. And
they took their anger and frustrations out on God and Moses. So, God sent
snakes to bite them. Then the people begged Moses to pray to God for them.
Moses prayed and God told Moses to get his staff and put a bronze snake on it.
All those who were bit needed to look up at Moses and look at the snake lifted
high on the staff. When they looked up they would live and have life.
God has always provided for
those who had turned away from God to find a way back.
God offered life to
those who would look up and would hold their eyes upon the staff that held
their sin.
As they looked at the
snake, the symbol of their rebellion, high in the air, ascended above them, they
experienced God removing their pain, their sentence of death, their sin.
In this act they lived.
And so it is as Jesus
describes for us in this scripture.
If we look to the cross
where Jesus was lifted high,
it holds all of our sorrow,
our pain,
our sins.
It is all there upon
Jesus on the cross.
It is not a moment of humiliation for Jesus but a moment of exaltation.
Where there is death and
sorrow, God promises us life and hope. God loves us so much that the whole world benefits from this love. It
is not just for one group. It is not just for one corner of the world. It is
not just for one gender, or one animal classification. It is for arthropods, vertebrates,
humans, donkeys and snails. It’s all of creation!
The verse we all memorize
as one of our first verses is John 3:16. We see it everywhere. We see it at
baseball stadiums. We see it on invitation to church literature. We know this verse
and we hang on to this promise; even though we know we are not living in a
perfect world. God so loved the world he gave his only son that whosoever believes
in him will not perish but have everlasting life! It’s a new life for us
now , not only the future. It is a promise meant for us to be fulfilled now in
this present time. Eternal life=That’s life in the present that carries
us into eternity. Real life that through all circumstances
keeps us together and holds us through the hard times, the crazy times, and
through the blessing filled times.
Today marks one year! “This
is only temporary”, I had said. I was certain and hopeful that we would be
in a situation that would last only a few weeks or a month at the most. We were
all willing to risk whatever it took to make things right for just a few weeks.
We were willing to show love and care as we could. Until it started to last
too long and we, like the Israelites, began to grumble. It has been too
long. There has been too much death. There has been too much separation which
has been too painful. There has been frustration and behaviors that make no
sense. There has been a lot of darkness. And yet, even in the darkness
there has been much light-we’ve just needed to look up to it.
To what lengths are we willing
to be drawn to the light of Jesus and risk being loved by him?
How can this love from God draw us from our dark places and
enter us into the strong blinding light of love?
We are constantly carried by God in the very ways scripture
describes for us. God is like a mother hen who draws her chicks under her
wings. God is like an eagle who carries us high above the fray. God holds us in
the palm of his hand. God takes our burdens and makes them light. God offers us
love and life through his cross for all who believe.
Photo credit Joe Valentine
I’ve shared this story before and I believe it deserves to be
told many times. It is a story that reminds us that we are not the judge of who
deserves God’s love, grace and eternal, abundant life. Because God did not come
into the world to condemn it but to offer life to all. Anyone who lives in the
light is already living in the love of God. Because God is light.
Working as a nurse in ICU’s, burn units, pediatrics, and
dialysis, we served everyone without consideration of who, where, or how they
came into our care. One Christmas I was dialyzing a man who had had another
overdose and was impaired with alcohol. I remember being mad at him because he
wouldn’t listen to any of us who cared deeply for him. He was determined to
continue his self-abusive behavior. With every appeal to him he wasn’t
deterred. We were all crazy about this man-we really loved him. And he was
grateful that he could count on coming to dialysis. Yet, his reasons were
different than ours. He knew he could count on the treatments which would
straighten him up so he could go out and get high again. I sat with him at
Christmas mad at him. I was really angry. I begged him to change. I needed him
to meet my expectations of who and how he should be. Yet, he looked at me and
said. I know I need to change. I know I should do better. But, I also know that
no matter what, you all really care about me.
The cross of Christ is not something to shy away from but the
realization that God’s love was so great that it was lifted high in exaltation.
God is not afraid to draw us out into the light from the dark shadows of our
ways. We do not need to be afraid of the light. It might be blinding at first
and hard to see where were going, but it will guide us as we trust and believe.
Take up your cross and believe.
Friends believe this good news of the gospel: God so loved us now and forever.
Amen.
Resources: NIB Gospel of John-Gayle O’Day; Working Preacher Matt Skinner 2021
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