Inherit the Wind

Inherit the Wind

 

John 3:1-17

The mission of Christ: saving the world 

 

3:1 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.

 

3:2 He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person."

 

3:3 Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."

 

3:4 Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?"

 

3:5 Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.

 

3:6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

 

3:7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.'

 

3:8 The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

 

3:9 Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?"

 

3:10 Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

 

3:11 "Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen, yet you do not receive our testimony.

 

3:12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

 

3:13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

 

3:14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

 

3:15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

 

3:16 "For God so loved the world that God gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

 

3:17 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.”

 

 

I stole the title of this message from the 1960 film by the same name, starring Spencer Tracy and a truly all star cast. “Inherit the Wind” is based on the real-life “Scopes Monkey Trial,” over a Tennessee school teacher who taught Darwin’s theory of evolution, which ran afoul of the biblical “creation story” popular in the Bible belt. The sermon title has nothing to do with the Scopes Monkey Trial, other than the idea that new discoveries often conflict with long-accepted beliefs.

 

Every pastor loves to preach on this text, mostly because it contains the most “famous street address” from the pages of scripture: John 3:16. You simply can’t preach this text without winding up eventually at verse 16, but something else caught my attention this time around the John 3 “horn.” The text tells us that the exchange recorded is between Jesus and Nicodemus, a Pharisee. The whole “born again” (or “from above”) thing comes from this passage, something that got Jimmy Carter into all kinds of controversy during his presidential campaign because he claimed to be a “born again Christian.” Playboy Magazine and other more legitimate journalism of the day weren’t familiar with the term, and because Carter paired it with his confession that he “lusted after women,” it went “viral,” as we would say today. His dilemma was quite a LONG distance from what our own President today has confessed in the “Access Hollywood” video. 

 

No, what caught my attention this time through the John 3 passage was what Jesus reportedly said in verse 8 about the wind that “blows where it chooses.” Since “wind” or “breath” is the Bible’s metaphor for the Holy Spirit, this gives an interesting random quality to the course and work of the Spirit of God. If we take Jesus at his word, here—and isn’t this the whole point of the controversies ranging from “biblical authority” to the scholars of the “Jesus Seminar”—he is telling us that at least one of the “persons” of the Holy Trinity is not bound by too many constraints. There are whole branches of the Christian tradition that believe in things like “election” and “predestination,” both of which tend to “lock God in” to certain outcomes in God’s dealing with humanity, based solely on the idea that God’s eternal existence and life “outside” of time means that God already “knows” how everything is going to turn out in the end, and therefore has preordained it to be. If that sounds confusing to you, join the club. On the other hand, other traditions within Christianity advance the idea of “free will,” wherein humanity was granted the ability to choose by God, and this includes our own spiritual destiny. I’m sure God is amused by all of the kerfuffle over this question, which may be the reason Jesus tried to set the record straight with “For God so loved the world that God sent the Son so that whosoever believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life.” Remember the old “KISS” thing? Keep It Simple, Stupid? Here you go. 

 

During a brief “social media” break while writing this message, I ran across a posting from an “anonymous participant” on a page called “United Methodist Church Members.” The author castigates the “idea” of “gay Christians,” suggesting that, according to scripture, there is no such thing. This kind of judgmental spirit comes from circling the wagon around a few “clobber” verses and then using them to “cancel” other people who LOVE God and who are LOVED BY God, as clearly stated in this passage by Jesus Christ. The “whosoever” in John 3:16 is the key. How sad that some feel they must elevate their own spiritual status by queuing over others. To quote the late Rodney King, “Why can’t we just all get along?” Playing God and judging others is beyond my paygrade. It’s really beyond all of our paygrades, friends. 

 

Back to the meandering Spirit. Indeed, God’s Holy Wind DOES wander the earth, looking to touch the lives of the people whom God loves. And those of us who have signed on to faith in the Son of God are gifted with the Holy Wind, meaning we are empowered and led by the Spirit. Hearing from this text that that same Spirit isn’t necessarily “working a program” beyond loving and embracing the people of God, “as the wind blows,” means that God may well call us to do things both beyond our comfort zone and even beyond our skill set. This is why we learn later that the Spirit also imparts “gifts” to God’s people, as needed, and “as the Spirit wills.” Why are we so quick to “pigeonhole” people into roles when God reserves the right to call them beyond their acquired abilities? Our pastor mentioned recently how we in church leadership should not expect that every school teacher wants to teach Sunday school, nor does every accountant feel called to be on the finance committee. They may come to us caught up in the Holy Wind, feeling a call to serve God on a different plane than what they do for a living. Serendipity is a “thing” of the Spirit, as I read this text, and for why? Only God ultimately knows, but one guess is that when opening our lives to God’s leading, being challenged beyond our comfort zone might “feel” like something God would legitimately do (i.e. Moses, King David, Esther, Ruth, and virtually any of the twelve called by Jesus). Following the proverbial “other road” as God leads also opens us to more passion about our calling. Passion is good!

 

I live with a nonconformist. If you know Dara, and how proper she always seems, you might find that interesting, even unexpected. However, throughout her childhood, she regularly chose to swim upstream from her peers. She chose her own fashions based on what SHE liked and felt comfortable in, balked at popular trends in music or activities, and kept her cache of friends to a minimum, so as not to be influenced by “the crowd.” Thanks to this “against the current” style, she has demonstrated an acute ability to discern the leading of the Holy Spirit. Maybe verse 8 is the reason? Believe me, “the wind blows where it chooses,” summarizes my loving wife! My label for her has often been “The Statue of Liberty.”

 

As you read this, if you are one of those folks who prefer to have a planned, neat agenda, the Good News is that God loves you, too. However, don’t always resist the divine “randomness” of the Spirit who may call you to at least temporarily leave your comfort zone to go “on mission.” For those of you who, like myself, thrive in the world of randomness (at least of thought), work at being able to more clearly discern whether your “inspirations” are your own or of the Spirit. There’s nothing wrong with doing good works because you like to engage in them, but just don’t miss the “Kairos” movements of the Spirit, who will take you to where and when they are most needed. One final caution: never sit still and wait for the Spirit to move you, for the Spirit moves too fast for that. Besides, each of us has already been given spiritual gifts for service, as the Bible tells us, and we should be about using these gifts, even when we are experiencing a lull in the “wind.” It is my conviction that the Holy Spirit finds it easier to lead someone who is already moving than an “object at rest.” To quote an African American preacher friend of years ago: “This is THAT which the Spirit has promised, and if this ISN’T that, I’m gonna’ do THIS until THAT comes along!”

 

So, this is the “Wind” we inherit as followers of the Christ. It will do us well to remember that “the wind blows where it chooses,” and if the wind of the Holy Spirit blows in our direction, we will be blessed—and mightily used of God—if we perk up and catch the breeze. Our “inheritance” in this regard goes well beyond just simple ministry tasks. God IS on the move in the world, desiring us to be heralds of the Good News of “great tidings for all people.” This is not the time for telling people they DON’T QUALIFY for redemption because of some characteristic of their personhood. In Christ, we are called to embrace, not partition, love, not judge, and welcome, not screen those whom the Holy Wind blows our way, or we to them. Remember the story from Acts about Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch wherein the Spirit LITERALLY “blew him” to the eunuch so the latter could find God’s redeeming love. I could happen to you, if you open yourself to inheriting the wind. Amen.