D.L.

Third FRIDAY 8th/ MARCH OF LENT

“Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.””
(John 3,1-2 ESV)

The theologian and the Origen of theology met up during an evening to talk about the meaning of life, the purpose of life and the destiny of life. I heard one preacher say that Jesus is perfect theology, and I think that is right. Nicodemus, a respected teacher of theology, had a chat with the author and giver of life. With the one who is the Alpha and the Omega. Jesus is able to challenge Nicodemus’ beliefs profoundly and lovingly. Jesus says to him: “You’ve got to start over! You’ve got to be reborn. You’ve got to be born again. You’ve got to be born from above. You’ve got to become as vulnerable and innocent and dependent as a little child. You’ve got to forego your social position, your achievements, your wealth, your reputation. You’ve got to let go of all the things that make you self-sufficient and that alienate you from the wonder of the gift of God. Start over in vulnerability, in innocence, and in dependence, for the way you are living now keeps you cut off—in your arrogant security—from all the gifts of life for which you so much yearn.”¹

In this season of Lent, O God, unsettle us. Increase in us that sense of gnawing that arises from the incongruity between our lives and the life to which you call us and transform us in newness. Amen.²

1. Walter Brueggemann, A Way Other Than Our Own, Accordance electronic ed. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2017), 34-35. ↩︎
2. Walter Brueggemann, A Way Other Than Our Own, Accordance electronic ed. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2017), 35. ↩︎