Homily for the 2nd Sunday of Lent A, 2011

March 20, 2011

My brothers and sisters, let us put renewed faith in God!

In our first lesson today we have the very brief story of God calling Abram, who God will later rename Abraham, to pick up his life and go. We need to understand the context of the story. Abram and his people were semi-nomadic - before God called to him. About 4,000 years ago, Abram his father and nephew Lot traveled with their families from Ur, near the delta of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to Haran. This is where our scripture passage picks up the story. The point of the story is that Abram puts great trust or faith in God’s promises to bless him for his loyalty.

The reading from Romans Paul makes the point that one can attain a right relationship with God through faith, without living by Mosaic law. He takes Abraham as an example and asks: what can we conclude about faith vs. obedience? Pharisaic Judaism claimed that Abraham kept the Law before God gave it, i.e., he was justified because his “works” were in accord with the Law. Paul rejects this claim; it was, as Genesis shows, Abraham’s faith that counted for him as godliness. So a right relationship with God “depends on faith.” It is based first on God’s promise of grace and later our deeds empowered by God’s grace.

The gospel story of Nicodemus is one of my favorites. He has understood from Jesus' miracles that Jesus is “from God.” However, Jesus throws him a curve, saying that he has not yet understood the main point: to see the kingdom of God one must have a spiritual rebirth. Nicodemus misunderstands, he thinks that Jesus is speaking of a biological rebirth. This sets up the story so that Jesus can make an analogy for the workings of the Holy Spirit. We can see many things only in the effect they cause, like the blowing of the wind. The same is true of birth in the Spirit.
First, let us remind our selves about the difference between belief and faith. Belief is accepting the truth of something that you cannot prove/experience for yourself. For example, I believe in the existence of the country of China, though I have never been there. Faith, is trusting in someone; I have faith in my wife and the loyalty we share for each other.

∙ Abraham shows faith in his dramatic trust in God; picking up and moving to a strange place.
∙ Paul contrasts this example of faith with adherence to Divine Law. The law has its benefits as a guide through life’s confusion but obedience cannot earn what is freely given when one puts faith in God.
∙ Nicodemus struggles to embrace belief and faith in Jesus. By the end of John’s gospel he is a loyal follower of Jesus.


These lessons are a call to deeper faith, which is a deeper trust in God. Trust that God will be with us, guide us, support us, and protect us from those things that are beyond us.

Faith/Trust is a growing thing. We start trusting God in little ways: to answer our prayers as children, to bless us and the ones we love, to guide us in ruff times. Nevertheless, we can also learn to trust God in deeper things that influence the whole direction of our lives: discerning a calling to a professional ministry, the calling to married/family life, the pursuit of justice and the building of a better world.

Remember that old joke about the guy who was hiking at night and falls off a cliff. He scrambles for something to save him self and his hands land on some scrub brush. Hanging there, he calls out to God for help and a voice from heaven tells him to “let go.” The man thinks for a second, looks down at the darkness of the night, unable to see if the bottom is close or far and says: “is there anyone els out there?”

Our lives are often like this, we know we need God’s help, but we are afraid to trust what we cannot see. Though we would all accept that God surly sees reality more clearly and than we do. Now I do not mean foolish or ignorant trust. God is not asking us to be fools. I mean thoughtful, wise and prayerful trust in God.

My brothers and sisters, let us always seek divine guidance in our prayers. Let us put trust in God in little everyday ways so that we can learn to trust God in bigger things as well.