Encountering Theology

 

Text: John 3:9-15

Emphasis: Theological Week

 

Introduction

From me and my family, greetings from Stellenbosch, South Africa! In Afrikaans “Groete uit Stellenbosch Suid-Afrika!” In Xhosa, “Molweni, ninjani ndibulisa ndiseStellenbosch, South Africa! I praise God for the opportunity to speak to you despite I am halfway around the globe. Thank you to our beloved Dean, Rev. Dr. Jeaneth Harris-Faller for inviting me to preach to you today. Despite the physical distance it is indeed amazing to share to you God’s message in this online platform.

We are celebrating theological week and let me direct you to our biblical text found in John 3:9-15. It is the biblical account of a meeting of Nicodemus and Jesus. I chose this text because this encounter illustrate how theological knowledge are shared between a well-trained religious leader and a common lay person. Now the twist is Nicodemus is the so called academician and Jesus is the laity. What I would like to highlight is the attitude of both persons in the story. While we might be uncomfortable in dealing with the story as we at the Divinity School can easily be associated with Nicodemus. We cannot escape the similarities with the Pharisee as the religious teacher of the people and the DS as the theological institution in training UCCP pastors. We can easily claim to be Jesus, as we have the academic knowledge of Christology, systematic theology and all kinds of theologies Yet, in the story let me focus on the encounter of theology happening between Nicodemus and Jesus. Theology happened because one, Nicodemus is a seeker of truth. And two, Jesus revealed the truth of God’s activity in him. By having a meeting with him, Nicodemus is trying to verify the validity of Jesus’ claims. Jesus in turn shared to him God’s plan of redemption. From this biblical text let me share to you this message: Continuous reflection of God’s mission is the core of theology. There are three things we need to learn for us to internalize the message. 1) The importance of God’s mission. 2) Seeking God’s mission. 3) Participating in God’s mission.

I.                    Importance of God’s mission

Now why would I say the encounter of Nicodemus and Jesus shows the importance of God’s mission? Well after our chosen biblical text, is perhaps the most memorized biblical verse in all of Christianity: John 3:16. It is through this encounter that we know, love and put into memory this verse because it summarizes the entire gospel. Just before this famous verse, Jesus said in verse 15, “So that everyone who believes will have eternal life.” In verse 14 Jesus explained to Nicodemus by using a story found in Numbers 21:6-9. The story was during the time of the Israelites’ wilderness wanderings when they were dying because of snake bites. God instructed Moses to make an image of a serpent on a pole lifting it up and everyone who looks up and sees it, shall live. Nicodemus an expert of the Mosaic Law was familiar with the story and Jesus used it to illustrate how God will redeem the world through his eventual crucifixion and resurrection. Despite the Pharisee struggling to understand Jesus is trying to say relay an important message. Verse 14 and 15 shows how Christ was reaching out to the religious leader by sharing God’s plan of redemption. While Nicodemus was trying to determine what is the purpose of Jesus’ ministry, Jesus is sharing to him God’s plan of salvation. Redemption is the motivation of God’s plan.

Nowadays, theological ideas are being discussed and debated as the church tries to be relevant to our world today. Personally I am amazed of how there are many ideas floating around in theological circles as I am earning my PhD. Looking at the vast literature even in the field of theology alone, are various ideas being debated upon. Yet, all of theology must be closely tied to the purpose and motivation of God to the world. While Nicodemus’ intention for the meeting was to verify the truth of this Nazarene, Jesus used the encounter to reveal God’s plan of redemption. In our world today, we easily get lost of the various theological debates today but we are to never lose focus on God’s activity and mission today. For if our theological thinking and expression strays away from the understanding of God’s work of redemption in our times, we initiate the march of irrelevance for theology and even the existence of the church. As Emil Brunner famously said “The church exists by mission just as fire exists by burning.” In Jesus God’s purpose is to save all of creation. As followers of Christ, we are to continue what he started. Seeking God’s mission in our world today.

II.                 Seeking God’s mission

Now we know the importance of God’s mission in doing theology, the next thing to do is seeking God’s mission. Again our biblical text shows us the right attitude as exhibited by Nicodemus. Verse 9 and the first verse of our biblical text shows the willingness of the religious leader to understand. “How can these things be?” This question was asked because of Jesus’ statement that one cannot enter into God’s kingdom without being born again. Nicodemus’ frustration is understandable as he was operating based from his academic background while Jesus was trying to explain a revelation using the metaphor of child birth. Trained in the Jewish understanding of Israel as the chosen people of God, yet couldn’t comprehend the need to be born again to enter the kingdom of God. What is the purpose then of following diligently the Mosaic Law when even they, as the covenant people, could not enter it? His knowledge at that time could not comprehend Jesus’ identity as the author of life in the form of an ordinary commoner. Yet, he wanted to understand and his question of “How can these be?” displays the curiosity of one who is constantly seeking the truth. If theology is to have an impact to society today, it needs to reorient itself as all our theologies could never put completely God into a box. This pushes us to constantly pursue seeking the truth and discerning what God is doing today. God’s activity continues on whether we are aware of it or not. It is the openness and the realization of our limitation that gives space for faith in God and making sense of the world.

In the process of attaining my PhD degree, the more I realize there is so much to learn of our world and even how God acts in it. I cannot escape the feeling that the more I know, the less I know of reality. This is where faith comes in. Beliefs and our understanding of God’s love and goodness allows us to hope. Because we know God’s mission and revelation through Jesus is the redemption of the created order, it gives us more reasons to continue seeking out the truth and seek out God’s activity in the world. This assures us of a meaningful and purposeful life as we discover God’s will, we are also invited to participate in God’s mission.

III.              Participating in God’s mission

In the encounter of Nicodemus and Jesus, you could also sense the exasperation of Jesus in teaching the Pharisee. You could see it in verse 10 “You are the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?”  Verse 11 is critical as he continued saying, “Truly, truly, truly I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you people do not accept our testimony.” What is blocking the understanding of Nicodemus is lack of faith of and belief on what Jesus’ is doing. The Pharisees and the religious leaders in Jesus’ time lack the awareness and reality happening to ordinary people. They were not able to discern God’s activity. By ministering to the ordinary folk and opening the kingdom of God for those who believe, not only made Jesus’ popular but more importantly fulfilling God’s mission of redemption. It is not the lack of knowledge that Nicodemus failed to understand. It is the lack of faith and believing the testimony from ordinary folk like Jesus. Yet, Nicodemus did became one of influential people who became believers in the end. It takes faith, knowledge and experience to move us into participating in God’s mission of redemption.

Faith, knowledge and experience is critical in doing theology. We cannot speak of God’s love if we lack trust in it. We cannot speak of God’s love if we are ignorant about it. We cannot speak of God’s love when we haven’t experience it. For us who are theologically trained at the Divinity School, participating in God’s activity is critical. This is true especially with ordinary people who are in the ground, in our local churches. There might be times it may challenge our own theological positions. Yet whether we acknowledge it or not, God will continue to work into the people whether it fits to our theological understanding. Without our action and participation, no matter how good our theology is, it will fall into irrelevancy. This is the challenge of theology today. How to enable the church not only thinking about theology but doing theology. In doing theology it has to be connected to God’s mission of redemption of the whole created order. This is the missio Dei of God as revealed to us in Jesus. Like Nicodemus we are challenged to believe the testimony of people by listening to their voices and experience, even overcoming our own biases if we are to participate in God’s mission.

Conclusion

            To illustrate my point, let me share to you what I have understood in the experience of apartheid in South Africa. Don’t you know this unjust system of discrimination was developed and grounded by theologians produced by the Faculty of Theology at Stellenbosch University? This is the same educational institution where I am currently studying. Apartheid came out of the experience of European settlers in the South African continent who are trying to establish their own identity in the “dark” continent of Africa with their indigenous culture and diverse spirituality. It is out of the need to survive and preserve their Christian identity that produced a theology to separate themselves from the black communities in Africa. Yet, it is also theology that helped broke down this system of discrimination as the black churches, initiated by white missionaries, were instrumental of ending apartheid. It is not far from the development of Pharisaic Judaism in preserving the identity of Israel and the birth of Christianity through the establishment of the early church.

            Let us be like Nicodemus who are seekers of truth and willing to ask tough questions. Let us be like Jesus who is able to translate truth and make it meaningful in order to have an impact in people’s lives. As we celebrate theological week, remember the message: Continuous reflection of God’s mission is the core of theology. For theology to be relevant and have an impact in society take note of three things: 1) The importance of God’s mission. 2) The passion of seeking God’s mission. 3) The need to participation in God’s mission.

Let me end with some questions for reflections: For the UCCP and the Divinity School what are the theological challenges that faces us today? How can the voices and experience of the Filipino people be integrated into our theology? Has our theology in line with God’s mission of redemption of the whole created order? Are we more than willing to expand our theological beliefs to include God’s activity to the people today? May God in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit continue to move us as we encounter and do theology. Amen.

(Delivered during the DS Online Chapel Hour, November 10, 2021 from Stellenbosch, South Africa)