Infinite
Lent 2
Fr. Tim Nunez
May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
We learn almost everything in two ways. Our senses tell us about the world around us and we think about what our senses tell us. Now we can extend our senses with technology, sensing things we cannot see or hear, and we can extend our thinking using computers. But the harder we look, and the better we get at analyzing and thinking, the questions grow faster than the answers.
For example, we can look into a night sky and see far too many stars to count. We can see more in the winter, when there is less humidity. We can see more when there is no light pollution. We can see even more from a high mountain out west, where it is really dry and clear. The stronger the telescope, the more stars we see. The best telescopes are in space. They have no atmosphere, no light pollution.
And we have telescopes that can see even more because they “see” beyond the visible light spectrum. There is no end to it. Do you know how many stars there are in our Milky Way galaxy? Of course you don’t. No one does because we don’t know what we cannot yet see. We know that if we look harder and better, we will find more. The best estimates are somewhere between 100 billion and 400 billion.
And that’s just our galaxy. Astronomers estimate there are between 200 billion and 2 trillion galaxies. So the best estimate is that there are between 20 sextillion and 1 septillion stars in the observable universe. Twenty sextillion is a 2 with 22 zeroes after it. That’s the low end. A septillion is 1 with 24 zeros after it, or a trillion times a trillion, or a trillion trillions. That’s a lot. My mind cannot grasp it.
With that in mind, we join Jesus and Nicodemus. Nicodemus is a Pharisee. We are most familiar with Pharisees as those very strict and rather rigid religious leaders who question and challenge Jesus a lot. Nicodemus is different. He has come at night Maybe he doesn’t want to be seen. More likely, he wants to comes when it’s quiet and he can have an actual conversation with Jesus rather than a public debate.
He’s heard what Jesus is teaching. He has seen what Jesus can do. His signs are wondrous. Nicodemus is having trouble processing what his ears are hearing and what his eyes are showing him. Nicodemus wants to sort it out for himself, and maybe explain it to his colleagues. But this isn’t a puzzle to be worked out. It’s a revelation to be received.
Jesus is right there and Nicodemus cannot see him for who he truly is - yet. He will get there, as we find later in John’s Gospel when he advocates for a fair hearing of Jesus in chapter seven and provides the spices for Jesus’s burial in chapter nineteen.
It’s more like he needs goggles that will enable him to see infrared. Or it’s like he needs to have his rabbit ears adjusted, maybe put some tin foil on them and hold them in exactly the right spot. (Young people won’t get that, but they can Google it.) Or it’s like he needs a telescope that isn’t blocked by clouds.
He must be born anew. He must be born from above. He must let go of his prior assumptions and expectations, and let God remove the veil from his eyes. He must make that leap of faith to see Jesus. He’s a Jew from Nazareth, the Son of Man who descended from above. Very few, maybe no one yet, is seeing this yet, but they will.
To clarify the point for Nicodemus, Jesus reminds him of a story from the Exodus. We find it in Numbers, Chapter 21. In short, the people of Israel are grumbling and complaining against God and against Moses, saying they were better off in Egypt. In other words, they are not willing to endure the hardships and sacrifices necessary to reach the Promised Land and be prepared to manage it.
God sends “fiery serpents” to bite them. They cry out to Moses, repenting and asking for him to pray that God would take the serpents away. Moses does. God instructs him to make a bronze replica of a fiery serpent and set it on a pole. When the people look upon the bronze serpent, they are healed.
In other words, the act of looking at the bronze serpent is an act of faith that overcomes the venom and they live. They overcome the bitter poison caused by their resentment by fixing their attention on God’s provision for them. Despite their grumbling and complaining, God’s love is constant and healing.
Nicodemus knows that story very well. And it brings us to the most beloved verse in all of scripture. It may not be your personal favorite, but you love it.
“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.”
It’s not just that he came. Jesus will be lifted up. He will be lifted up on the cross. He will be raised from the dead. He will be exalted to the right hand of God. Seeing him for who he is gives us the clearest view of God that we can have; the clearest view of his truth, the clearest view of his character, the clearest view of his strength, and most importantly, the clearest view of his love.
William Temple, the Archbishop of Canterbury for much of World War II said, “This is the heart of the Gospel. Not ‘God is love’ – a precious truth, but affirming no divine act for our redemption. God so loved that he gave; of course the words indicate the cost to the Father’s heart. He gave; it was an act, not only of a continuing mood of generosity; it was an act of a particular time and place.”
In my confirmation class today, I have to teach about God, literally that is on the syllabus for today. How can I possibly teach a class about God in 40 minutes? He is far too expansive and complex for any of us to grasp or even imagine. He created up to septillion stars across billions of galaxies, after all. He’s before, above and beyond all of that and everything else. And it seems like just about everyone who has ever lived has an opinion on the subject, whether they believe in God or not.
But what I can do is help to set some clear markers on the path, sharing some essential aspects about God and our relationship with him, and ultimately help them to see Jesus for themselves, to know Jesus for themselves. This isn’t happening in a vacuum. The youth have been raised in their families and in this church to know him. The adults are generally further up that path.
We all must at the core of our being grasp the presence of God, whom we cannot see but whom we can know through the Spirit and the person of his son, Jesus Christ.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life.”
This is the gift God has given us not because we had been so good, but because God so loves the world that he wants to rescue us from the consequences of our sins, speaking and acting against God. Instead of another sign he sent His only Son. And if you are not sure, if you are still seeking an answer, go to Him by night, in the quiet of your home, and ask him to make himself known to you. Believe. For the God who made septillion stars has made Himself known to us in Jesus Christ.
AMEN!