From the Pulpit: ‘Are you going to love your neighbor?’

When I was 11, I wanted to be a detective. I was fascinated by mystery stories, returning to the library once a week to search for books that I hadn’t read. The librarians knew me by name and helped me in my research to become the next Nancy Drew or Agatha Christie. 

As a budding expert in mysteries, my interest did not just stop at reading. I would look for clues in my neighborhood and watch for anything suspicious. 

I was curious. As Agatha Christie and Nancy Drew taught: things aren’t always what they seem and that the world was full of wonderful mysteries.

As you can imagine, or may have experienced yourselves, curiosity is not always welcomed by others. Soon we get the message that it’s rude to be inquiring and our curiosity is replaced with a resignation to the way life is. 

But it is with curiosity that Nicodemus comes to Jesus with questions in the Gospel of John, chapter three. Jesus then gives responses that only provoke more questions, undoing any certainty that Nicodemus might have been holding onto.

So often, we are too embarrassed to ask questions about faith, God or Scripture. We make the mistake in thinking that faith rests in knowledge and we try to ignore the mystery and questions that surround us. Maybe you’ve suppressed those questions for so long, that you can’t even remember the last question you asked of God. 

Rather than being ashamed of the questions – or dangerously filled with certainty, the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus gives us opportunity to bring our curiosity to God and remember that we are deeply loved by our Creator.

“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. 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.” (John 3:16-17)

This world, which can be so dark and demanding or sure of the right answers- this is the world that Jesus came to save.

And, as one of my favorite internet memes reminds us, if God didn’t send Jesus into the world to judge- God certainly didn’t send you to judge, either. God created you to love. The only mystery is how are YOU going to love your neighbor?