Lectionary

If the Transfiguration was celebrated at the end of Epiphany, John’s Gospel may be used on this Sunday.

“Born again” in Greek wording, is literally “from above,” as in “from the top!” John’s gospel uses this play on words to describe baptism. This “second birth” is in fact receiving God’s own life from him: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Only by receiving this new life can we see our way clear to God’s will.

Nicodemus, a Pharisee and “ruler of the Jews” represents the very best Judaism had to offer, and yet cannot see past the earthly valence of these words: “Born twice” instead of “from above.” His nocturnal visit indicates that he is emerging from darkness into the light of the truth (and later in the Gospel we see Jesus gets through to him). In the same way, we in our spiritual walks are emerging from the darkness of our own understanding and into the light of truth by holding to Christ in his Word and Sacraments.

Beginning on this Sunday, the three Gospels leading up to Holy Week center on elemental themes: Water, Light, and Life. The “living water” promised to the Samaritan woman at the well is nothing less than the Holy Spirit delivered by means of the grace of baptism. That the woman is reported to have been living in sin is not accidental. Baptism is for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). If candidates are preparing for baptism at the Easter Vigil, the preacher will have strong catechetical material.

For the baptized, the Old Testament passage may be highlighted. The Israelites enjoyed the same sacramental signs of God’s presence and faithfulness ( even enjoying the greater grace of baptism frequently backslide into the same behavior in our own lives (and under much milder circumstances). And yet, even in this, God meets grumbling with grace: Water from the rock.

Just as he did for the woman at the well, Christ reaches out to us today even while we are in sin, renewing his offer of living water of the Holy Spirit. The proper exhortation is for the congregation to renew their baptismal vows through earnest prayer and fasting, and accept the grace that God continually offers to us.

The Fathers’ term for baptism was “illumination” suggesting much more than the expiation of guilt or entrance into a covenant community. The eyes of the soul are opened, and begins to apprehend the divinity of Christ, perceiving life on earth by a light from above.

The preacher should draw attention to the details of Jesus’ activity in order to tie the miracle to its proper context of baptism and then draw out the catechetical value of them, especially for those who are preparing to receive it.

Blindness means more than a simple disability. Especially in John’s Gospel, it represents the darkness of the fallen state of humanity and its ignorance of God. Jesus heals the man’s blindness to indicate his greater purpose of healing humanity’s darkness apart from God. He does this by spitting in the dust to make clay, recalling the mixture of dew and dust from which God formed Adam (Gen. 2:6-7). This is a clear indication that Jesus is God himself, and that this healing is not a temporary solution to a local problem, but that he is working a new creation. From there, Jesus tells him to wash, indicating baptism.

After the man’s sight is restored there is a contrast between him and his interrogators. The Pharisees are the ones who think they know all about God through the Law, and yet they do not know the source of God’s power to heal (Jesus himself). The healed man does not pretend to know anything, only going so far as to report what happened to him. The two parties take opposite trajectories. The man once blind enters deeper into the Light of his Lord, and the men once illuminated by the Law, descend into the darkness of willful ignorance of the Lord.

The preacher should connect these two reactions to the congregation. Those of us who have once been illuminated in baptism ought to respond by coming before the Lord as the healed man does (v. 38). In this we continue to see more and more clearly. Otherwise, we will be darkened, and even what we know (“we know God spoke to Moses” v. 29) will avail us nothing.

Before going to the Cross, Jesus displays his power over death by raising Lazarus from the dead. The miracle is a “raising” not a “resurrection” in its full sense. Lazarus will die again, but Jesus, having been raised from the dead will never die again (Rom. 6:9). The hope, then is glimpsed before entering Holy Week. This death will end in victory, no matter how heavy the stone or how long the body has laid there.

The key to preaching the passage is found in Jesus’ response to Martha’s confession: “I am the resurrection and the life.” This places Jesus’ power over death in the present, not only in the future at our own deaths, or the final judgment, and not left behind in the past as a one-time miracle. Wherever Jesus is, life is there also. Abiding in him every moment is the key idea, not postponing his help for future trials nor leaving him behind as a pleasant memory. “Now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). It turns out that encountering God in the present is the only time to do it.