From the Pulpit: ‘Experience the wonder of a God who loves you’

When I was 11, I wanted to be a detective. I was fascinated by mystery stories, returning to the library once a week. The librarians knew me by name and helped me in my research to become the next Nancy Drew.

As a budding expert in mysteries, I was curious and the characters in these mystery books taught me that the world was full of mysteries and I was not satisfied with easy answers.

As you can imagine, or may have experienced yourselves, curiosity is not always welcomed by others. Asking too many questions brings a response of “it’s none of your business” or “curiosity killed the cat”. 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 we are called into the story of Nicodemus in the Gospel of John.

Nicodemus comes to Jesus with questions. And to the things that he thinks he knows Jesus gives responses that only provoke more questions, undoing any certainty that Nicodemus might have been holding onto. 

So often, we are embarrassed to ask too many questions about faith, God, and Scripture. We make the mistake of thinking that faith rests in knowledge and so we try to push down questions. 

The story of Nicodemus comes together with those most famous verses: John 3:16-17. 

“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.”

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

God’s intention for the dark, confused world is not condemnation – even when it lifts up the Son on a cross. On the contrary, that is the moment when the Son is the Savior of the very world that is bound by darkness.

We might come to faith with expectations of answers. But when we become too sure that we know exactly who Jesus is and what God demands, that is when we can expect to be unraveled like Nicodemus. 

My prayer for each of us who are coming to Jesus in darkness is that you experience the wonder of a God who loves you so very much.