Lectionary Reflection: Second Sunday in Lent

John 3:1-17
3:1 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.

3:2 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."

3:3 Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."

3:4 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?"

3:5 Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.

3:6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

3:7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.'

3:8 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."

3:9 Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?"

3:10 Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

3:11 "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.

3:12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

3:13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

3:14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

3:15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

3:16 "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.

3:17 "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.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

As I meditated on the lectionary texts selected for this week, it seemed odd that John 3:16 falls in the Lent cycle. This is the time of year that we confess our sins and recall our mortality.  I expect to read more texts such as Psalm 51, which we read on Ash Wednesday. 

But as I listened to today's sermon, it occurred to me how appropriate it is to read this text at this point in the lectionary cycle.  Lent is also a time for the preparation of our hearts for Easter.  Both the cross and resurrection are still yet to come in this narrative of biblical texts.  Once Lent ends, we will celebrate the risen Lord, who signals our own future resurrection.  We will be born again into spiritual, glorified bodies. 

In the meantime, we wait with anticipation the final resurrection by living as transformed persons.  Christ calls us to be born again in the here and now.  What a radical call!  The literalist Nicodemus asks what many of us wondered upon hearing those words for the first time:  how can one be born again? It is not a physical rebirth that happens in our journey to the cross, but a spiritual adoption into God's kingdom.  We are asked to die to self, and live as Spirit filled persons.  Rather than live according to our own needs, we are asked to live selflessly in service to our neighbors. We have been gathered into the community of Christ as His Church. If we want to be born again as new creations in Christ, we must be willing to be crucified with Him.