Year A Passion Sunday 2026 There & Then and Here & Now

 Year A Passion Sunday, 29 March 2026

St George’s Episcopal, Fredericksburg, VA
“There & Then and Here & Now”

Collect: Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The very lengthy Gospel Reading can be found here:

https://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/HolyWk/APalmSun_RCL.html

We all tend to think we are the heroes of our own stories. Every single character today, to some extent, thinks this is their story. Peter. Judas. Pilate. Pilate’s Wife. The High Priest. The Centurion. All of them, and all of us, too. 

We hear of the Last Supper with friends, the Passover Seder, where the righteous remembered God’s deliverance from slavery.

We hear of the Garden, and the unknowing innocence that led to betrayal with the sleepy eyes and foggy brains of friends.

We see the betrayal of a trusted friend and disciple, with the most awful of weapons, a lecherous kiss.

We see political intrigue, and authoritative ennui.  We see illegal trials, and an Innocent condemned.

We see a murderer chosen over a healer who preached love, an insurgent over a man of peace.

We see a scourging, one blow less than what was considered lethal.

We see mockery and scorn.  We watch the way of the Cross, to the place of the Skull.  We see it all played out before us.

We see the crowd who had waved the palms in praise, morph into the crowd who cried out, “Crucify!  Crucify.”

We see it all.  We see Jesus hung high.  We see Jesus suffer.  We see Jesus die.

We see it all, but do we?  When we tell this tale, is it a long time ago in an empire far, far away?

Or do we see ourselves in the story?

Are we the ones invited to break bread with Jesus?

Are we the ones trying to stay awake?

Are we the betrayers for silver in our palms?

Are we the ones who flog and mock?

Are we the ones who do not intervene when we have the power to stop this atrocity?

Are we forced to carry a shameful cross, imposed by brutes, for a perfect stranger?

Are we the executioners, worried more for our winnings than the souls we are dismissing?

Are we the fellows condemned with him, mocking still with our last breaths?

Are we there?

Is this then, or is it now?  Has the story ceased?  Or do we live it out still to this day?

When we come to Christ’s table to RE-connect and to RE-member, is it then, so far away and so long ago?  Or is it still horrifying and brutal, and real, more real than anything we know?

What is it that happened then?  What is it that happens here, every Sunday, week in, week out?

If our rituals are enactments of this life-changing story, then obviously we are trying to make the There-and-Then our Here-and-Now.  

How do you practice the Last Supper in your life?  How do you practice the Garden?  

How do you embrace being scorned and scourged?  How do you practice taking up a cross?  

How do you practice crucifixion?  How do you witness the injustice?  How do you experience the awe?  How do you make this story your own?  

What do you do with the rest of your story?  Do you see Christ’s story as a part of your own? Who is the hero of your story? Yourself or Jesus?

However you see it, my prayer for all of us this week, this Holy Week, is that we echo the words of that Roman centurion from our reading today.  May this story, and its enactment at this table and more importantly IN OUR LIVES, always drive us to say, "Truly this man was God's Son!"  Amen.

Year A 5 Lent 2026 Celtic Service: A God Who Weeps

 Year A 5th Sunday in Lent, 22 March 2026

St George’s Episcopal, Fredericksburg, VA

Celtic Service: “A God Who Weeps”

Collect: Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

John 11:1-45

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

This sermon will be shorter than our Gospel reading. Please hold your applause. It is not because this is a bad passage, but it is one of the most moving accounts in the Gospels. It is only recorded here in John. And it shows us the nature of who Jesus is. And through Jesus, it shows us the nature of who God is.

So often when I hear someone say they do not believe in God, and it is not said in an adversarial or confrontational way and we are having a pleasant conversation of mutual respect, I will ask the person to describe the God they do not believe in. To a person, it is a God of Wrath and Judgment. They will remember reading Jonathan Edwards in their high school English class. American Literature was my Junior Year. And many are forced to read Edward’s sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. The imagery and rhetoric are amazing. For me, the theology? Not so much. Or they may have experienced a fire and brimstone pastor in their youth. Wherever they got it, it stuck and they want none of it. They often are shocked when I admit, I would have a hard time believing in that God, too.

The miracle of the Incarnation is that we are shown that God is like Jesus, not Jesus is like God. Jesus even said as much, “When you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” (John 14:9) We project so much of our parent issues heavenward, good or bad.

Friends, so what do we see of Jesus here? The obvious huge thing is the resurrection of a smelly corpse, his friend, Lazarus. (By the way, the King James Version of the Bible has his sister say, “he stinketh.”) But we expect Jesus to work miracles after hearing all those stories about him. We expect him to be comforting and consoling to the sisters, Mary and Martha. And he was. But the shortest verse in the Bible, John 11:35, is here. Two words.

I was raised in a denomination where we were trained to memorize verses. The straight verse, with the reference. And while we learned the words, there was no unpacking of the meaning. It was rote memorization. And like most children in such a situation, I went for the easiest and most low-hanging of the fruit. John 11:35, the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept.”

As a child, I thought nothing of it. I cried, sometimes a lot. Skinned knees. Hurt feelings. So hearing someone cried was not a big deal. Until I was socialized that “Real men don’t cry.” or “Crying is for sissies.” and other LIES along that line of thinking.

That Jesus stopped and cried over the suffering of Mary and Martha and over the death of his friend Lazarus made an impression on them then, and on me now.

We worship someone who weeps for us, who weeps with us. Ponder that.

We are not alone in our suffering. We are not alone in our worries and fears. Emmanuel, God is with us. Friends, what a thought!

Jesus still weeps. When I watch the news, looking at the state of the world, the needless suffering and fear-baiting of the weakest amongst us, I think Jesus still weeps.

Tucked away in a gut-wrenching story is a simple truth. That Angry God who wants to smite us is a boogey-man perpetuated to keep people in line. A lot of churches still preach and teach that version of their God.

But here in the text, simply and plainly, we see that Jesus was moved to tears over his friend, someone he loved.

And how many times have we said “Jesus loves you.”? He weeps for me. He weeps with me. Jesus loves me. And when we have seen Jesus, we have seen God the Father. God weeps for me, too. God loves me, too. And, you, too!

We are sinners in the hands of a loving God who would go to hell and back again, and did by the way, for us to help us find our way home.

That is a lot wrapped up in those two little words in John 11:35. Thanks be to God. Amen

Year A :Lent 4 Wednesday 2026, St Joseph Observed

 Year A Lent 4, WEDNESDAY, 18 March 2026

St George’s Episcopal, Fredericksburg, VA

St Joseph, Observed

Collect: O God, who from the family of your servant David raised up Joseph to be the guardian of your incarnate Son and the spouse of his virgin mother: Give us grace to imitate his uprightness of life and his obedience to your commands; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Luke 2:41-52

Every year Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day's journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, "Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety." He said to them, "Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.

Today we are going to pause and think about one of the great heroes of our faith, one who was asked to step aside, swallow his pride, and maybe take 2nd fiddle. This is a rare ask in Scripture to not be a leader, but rather a faithful follower. He is one that we should not skip over lightly.

Tomorrow (Thursday the 19th), is the feast day of St Joseph, Jesus’ earthly adopted father. St Joseph is the patron saint of the Universal Church, workers, fathers, families, and a happy death. As the foster father of Jesus and husband of Mary, he is revered as a protector, guardian of virgins, and patron of various professions, including carpenters and travelers. Being patron of the Universal Church makes sense because he was the protector of Jesus, and his mother Mary. Hard to have the Church Universal without either of them. And the Church is Christ’s body now, we are taught. Being patron of carpenters and workers makes sense, because he was one. I had to look up why he is the patron of a happy death. According to Catholic tradition, he died in the arms of Jesus and Mary, so was able to pass peacefully to his eternal reward. I really liked that imagery.

Joseph is the definition of a stand-up guy. He did the right thing, and even went above and beyond to protect Mary when her reputation was in doubt. His fiancee is pregnant, and what did he do? Matthew chapter 1 tells us his story, as he follows the patriarchal line that led from Abraham, to David, to Joseph. Jesus was seen in that lineage, and Joseph was seen in that royal lineage and was also seen as righteous. 

18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ 22 All this took place to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

23 ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

    and they shall name him Emmanuel’,

which means, ‘God is with us.’ 24 When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25 but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

He was a righteous man, and despite the male ego, he was unwilling to expose her to public disgrace and planned to quietly divorce her, or dismiss her. Even in his disappointment, he tried to do the right thing. And then came the dream. The dream that would change the course of his life. Take Mary as your wife. Raise the child whom you will name Emmanuel, “God with us.” Or maybe Jesus? He was told both. Mary in Luke was told to name him Jesus, which means God (or YHWH) saves. 

We jump in what we know to the flight into Egypt when Joseph was warned in a dream to escape Herod to save Jesus and Mary. Starting to see a pattern here?

Joseph was a man of discernment. He knew when he was hearing from God, and when he was not. Has God ever spoken to you in a dream? Could you tell the difference from your subconscious and from God? We often do not speak of the mystical like this, but Joseph certainly did.

We next catch sight of him in our reading for the day, when they took Jesus up to the Temple, and accidentally left him there. And I wonder how it struck his ears when he heard this boy he was raising as his own say, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?” It goes on to say they did not understand what he said to them. But again, was there a sting after how he cared for him and raised him as his own?

That is the last we hear of Joseph in our Scripture. Some time between age 12 of Jesus and thirty, Joseph leaves the story. It is mostly assumed that he dies. We do not know how. We do not know when. As I shared, in Catholic tradition, he does die in Jesus’ and Mary’s arms, content. I find that beautiful. 

So Joseph. What’s the big deal? I think we have to fill in the cracks with the scant things we do know:

1. He was chosen by God for a role unlike any other. God chose Joseph, and Joseph was asked to step out on faith. Thanks be to God he did!

 

2. Joseph listened to God. He was open to promptings of the Holy Spirit, even in dreams. He listened, and he obeyed. Maybe God chose him because of that? I think that may be the case.

3. And probably most importantly, Joseph was a righteous man. Of all the men in this world, God chose Joseph to be the one who would raise, protect, and teach this one given into his care, the most precious one in the history of the world. Wow! More than Ferris Bueller, Joseph was a righteous dude.

So think on that, as we listen to God. God calls us to something, I truly believe. Every single one of us. We are asked to listen, and then to obey. God will speak to us in a way that we will hear. And we are called to righteousness, to be upright in what we do and who we are inside where only God can see. Joseph loved God enough for God to call him to this singular role.

Tomorrow, on his feast day, think on the miracle that was St Joseph. Amen

Year A Lent 3 2026 Celtic Service "Photini"

 Year A Lent 3, 8 March 2026

St George’s Episcopal, Fredericksburg, VA

Celtic Service: “Photini”

Collect: Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

John 4:5-42

Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” They left the city and were on their way to him.

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

Church tradition names her Photini. This is the name applied to this woman at the well, and she is the patron saint of those seeking repentance, victims of slander, and individuals suffering from physical or spiritual blindness. Photini comes from the same root at Photon. This is appropriate seeing that her name means “enlightened one” or “luminous one.”

People project a lot on Photini, this saint of God.

Loose morals. Victim of gender politics. So many things are put on this blank slate.

She came for water from this ancient and historic well at noon, the heat of the day. Most women did not do that. Any reason we give is once again, our projection and assumption. Whatever the reason, she was there at an unexpected time, and Jesus was there in an unexpected situation.

A man would not reach out to an unfamiliar woman, it just was not proper. But he did, and she reminded him of that. And the cultural separation made it worse. Jesus, a Jew, was reaching out to this woman, a Samaritan. Centuries of animosity usually kept them apart. But over the conversation, she was shown that this one was something more, and he even names to her that he is the long-awaited Messiah. And she is the one who receives the gift of this knowledge.

Jesus had a habit of choosing the ones intentionally for his team even though they were so often, if not always, last on everyone else’s list.

The one rejected or shamed or whatever became an evangelist for those who did not give her the time of day.

I love the acknowledgement later of people saying, “You were right.” Or close to it. 

They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

Still sounds harsh to our modern ears, but for that day and time it was pretty far for them to go.

I love this story. I always have. Jesus wants water. This woman longs for living water. They both can minister to each other. And they do.

When Jesus’ disciples come back with food and try to get Jesus to eat, he tells them “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” Jesus got filled up by changing this woman’s life, and the ones she told about this Jewish messiah.

Jesus still meets us where we today. Often Jesus meets us when we are serving others. That has not changed at all. When we have done something for those considered the Least, we have done it for the One we see as the Most, Jesus himself.

Photini. Enlightened One. Luminous one. May we be enlightened, too.

Friends, be ready. May you encounter Jesus some way this week, maybe when you least expect it. Amen.

Year A 2nd Lent 2026 Celtic: "Don't Forget 17"

 Year A 2nd Sunday in Lent, 1 March 2026

St George’s Episcopal, Fredericksburg, VA

Celtic Service: “Don’t Forget 17”

Collect

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

John 3:1-17

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.”

We are still learning and figuring out how to follow this simple preacher from Nazareth after 2,000 years. 

When Jesus speaks metaphorically we take him literally. “If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.” :”If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.” “No one can see the Kingdom of God without being born from above.” And that phrase could also be translated “born again” which is how Nicodemus heard it, listening literally when Jesus speaks metaphorically. 

The opposite is also too often true.When Jesus speaks literally we take him metaphorically. “Love your enemy.” “Feed the hungry.” “Bless those who curse you.” 

And Jesus loved us enough to not continually shake his head.

Tonight we see a leader coming to speak to Jesus at night. Was he sneaking in to avoid being seen? We don’t know. But Jesus does bring up how he was an esteemed leader but had missed some basic concepts along the way. “If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”

And then we get to a verse that in the last century or so has become the be-all, end-all Bible verse for so many people. John 3:16.

People hold signs up at Football games. That one verse becoming so much. And it is so much.

“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.”

And wrapped up in our quoting of that verse is such a wonderful and positive thing, but standing by itself, there is an assumption of the negative that is alluded to in it. For me, I have made a promise to quote the next verse if I ever quote John 3:16. The two necessarily must come together or this statement of God’s love can so easily become an assumption of God’s Judgment. JESUS said this. Not me. JESUS.

“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.”

So many see the faith of Jesus’ way of loving and connecting with God as based on judgment and derision, when Jesus repeatedly pointed toward life and giving mercy. We have a lot of explaining to do when Jesus comes back. Two of my favorite thinkers wrote a book about how church’s have messed up so much Jesus’ way of loving God. The title: Adventures in Missing the Point. May we not fall into that boat. 

Jesus brought salvation, not condemnation. Jesus brought eternal life, not death forever. Jesus came to save the world. Without judgment, asterisks, or conditions.

Friends, the word for that is Grace. A gift with no strings. One of my favorite hymns has this line:

If you tarry till you’re better, you will never come at all.

We are here in the evening, and darkness is coming. Jesus is here, meeting us where we are and how we are. He hears our questions and heals our wounds. He loves us. HE LOVES US, just the way we are. Amen