Works of Love

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, March 10, 2024
John 3:14-21

    “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,” Jesus says in our gospel for this morning, right before that famous verse most of us know by heart, John 3:16.  As Jesus explains it today, his cross is an instrument of healing similar to when Moses holds up the bronze serpent on a pole so that when the people of Israel look at that pole, they might be saved from poisonous snake bites.  As we continue to explore different faith practices during Lent, something you might consider trying is to simply look at/gaze/meditate on the cross of Christ and think about all that the cross means for us so that we might know complete healing and eternal life. Here at church, we have this golden cross to meditate on, or at home you may have a cross hanging on a wall; you may know that I have a wall of crosses of different sizes and colors that I’ve collected from all over the world in my office at church.  The cross, like the bronze serpent in the wilderness, is a visual reminder of the salvation we have in Christ.
    I remember one time I was worshipping at another church and was meditating on that particular cross behind the altar when I noticed that the wall behind the cross was slightly cracked.  It was an older church, so it didn’t surprise me that there were a few cracks that had occurred as the building aged and settled.  As I continued to look at that cross, those cracks made me think about the cracks in our world and the cracks in my own life that need restoration, that need Christ’s redemption.  In our gospel for this morning, Jesus talks about people loving darkness rather than the light and doing evil deeds.  Our second reading from Ephesians talks about following the desires of the flesh, being dead to through our trespasses and sins.  Despite our good intentions, we don’t always do what is right.  We are not perfect people, none of us.  The cross, particularly with image of the cracks behind it, can be a reminder of our human brokenness.  The world right now in this moment reveals huge cracks in our society in so many ways; political divisions in this election season, war in the Holy Land and of course elsewhere in places we rarely think about or even know about. Twenty-five percent of children living in New York City are living below the poverty line, there’s a huge rise in mental illness and addiction; the list is pretty long of all the ways we KNOW we need Christ’s healing and salvation.  Despite our best efforts, we cannot save the world on our own.
    In chapter 3 of John, Jesus is speaking to a particular person – Nicodemus, a leader of the Pharisees, who sees the cracks in society and sees that Jesus might be the Messiah, the One whom God has sent to save humanity and repair the cracks.  Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night because he is afraid of the consequences of acknowledging Jesus as Lord, but by the end of John’s gospel, we learn that he along with Joseph of Arimathea will care for Jesus’ body after he dies on the cross, preparing his body for burial and placing it in the tomb.  Nicodemus learns, like many of us in our walk with Christ, that it’s God’s grace, not our own power and will in striving to be good, that saves us.  As Ephesians 2 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God.”
    Beyond meditating on the cross as a faith practice of Lent, the bigger picture spiritual practice I want to touch on today is “works of love.” Jesus’ famous words of John 3:16 remind us that before we focus on what we can do to show God’ s love, we need to start with God so loving us and the world when no one else could.  We love imperfectly, God loves us perfectly.  God loves in people and in situations we find it very difficult to love.  But then Ephesians encourages us that in Christ, we become a new creation, “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”  We may still love imperfectly, but because of our faith in Christ Jesus, we can share God’s love with others in all kinds of ways, despite the cracks within and around us.  Lent can be a time where we more intentionally think about how we might be able to visit an elderly person living alone, or volunteer at a food bank or soup kitchen, or mentor a struggling student – I’m sure you can think of other ways to share God’s love through serving.  It’s a simple message, but such an important one, that God loves you, God loves the world, and this is why Jesus came; to restore our broken humanity.  Our words and deeds to share God’s love in Christ can have a life-changing impact on someone else.
    As I was thinking about those cracks in the wall behind that cross, a friend shared with me the art of Japanese pottery called kintsugi, translated roughly “golden repair” in English.  The artist uses lacquer mixed with gold dust to repair or restore broken ceramic, making the piece whole again.  Of course, you can still see the cracks; they are highlighted in fact in glistening gold.  The philosophy behind this particular art is that life is imperfect, yet everything is useful, including broken things.  Broken things can be repaired, even if we still see the cracks.
    In our striving to share God’s love with others through simple acts of love, I think this could be a powerful image of who we are in Christ.  The cross of Christ has restored our broken humanity, for God so loved the world.  Our faith in Christ, by the grace of God, allows people who once were addicts to be free, people who live with self-doubt to find confidence, people who struggle in broken relationships to forgive and be forgiven.  We still have cracks – we have wounds that are still healing, we have areas of our lives we know are not perfect, but Christ has filled in those cracks with gold because we are still useful; we are still absolutely lovable and precious to God.  The loving deeds we strive to do for others are useful – they are a powerful witness to what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.  Through us, by the power of the Holy Spirit, others might come to know the gracious, everlasting love of God.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.