The Rev’d Lucy Nguyen

Lent 2 Year A, 1 March 2026

Readings: Genesis 12:1-4a; Ps 84; Romans 4:1-5,13-17; John 3:1-17

Who among us has ever applied for a job?
How many of us either had to prepare a resume or at least have a letter or two of recommendation to make that application?
Why?
This is how we prove ourselves.
We often keep these letters and documents, perhaps reading them over to remind ourselves of what we’ve done.

Imagine you are now standing at the proverbial pearly gates of Heaven and are asked for our “credentials”

“Many of us may start reaching for our ‘Spiritual Resumes and Letters’—how many committees we’ve served on, how well we kept the Ten Commandments, how ‘good’ we’ve been receipts for the charities we’ve supported.
We have proof of our righteousness!

Yet, in our Epistle reading this morning for the second Sunday in Lent, Paul writes to tiny a sect known as Christians that they should in essence tear up that resume. He tells them and us that Abraham wasn’t right with God because he worked hard, but because he trusted God. As Eugene Peterseon puts it –

4 1-3 … If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we’re given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, “Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to be right on his own.” 4-5 If you’re a hard worker and do a good job, you deserve your pay; we don’t call your wages a gift. But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it’s something only God can do, and you trust him to do it—you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked—well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God. Sheer gift.” (1) “Romans 4:1-5 The Message

And we do well to remember that Paul was sharing this teaching, this theology of God, with a small sect, they were flourishing, but they were not huge in numbers. And while their political context – was one of living in the seat of one of the greatest empires ever known, under the mighty emperors Caligula, Claudius and the Nero. These emperors are not known for their humanity and true care of the people. Politics were not necessarily in favour of the Jesus followers.

Yet those who followed Jesus persevered. And this morning our readings clearly remind us that salvation comes through faith, not adherence to a law. Abraham was justified because he trusted God’s promise to make him a blessing, not because he followed a set of laws.

Paul emphasises that inheriting God’s promise comes through faith, not works, making us righteous before God.

Jesus tells Nicodemus that spiritual rebirth is essential to “see the kingdom of God”. This is not a physical re-birth, but a transformation initiated by the Holy Spirit.
And this transformation is not limited to one select group of any race or geography.

Abraham is not the father of one nation, but of all who share his faith in the life-giver, ‘The father of us all’ (Rom 4:16) (2)

Our role is not to single ourselves out but to get active with our lives of faith, to keep it fresh and engaging with God, with others. In Lent we are all invited again either into a radical “rebirth” seen in baptism or a refreshment of it.

We, as was Abraham, are called to trust God’s promise over our own works.
We, like those to whom Paul wrote – live in challenging times.
We, like Nicodemus, must be reborn by water and Spirit to fully experience God’s gift of life. Baptism symbolises this “born again” experience—a washing away of the old life and a start of a new life in Christ. Lent allows us to reacquaint ourselves with our baptismal and confirmation understandings, see “A Catechism” pg 927 ANZPB. (3) and reassess, our affirmation of this faith, our conscious steps to live by faith in God’s promises rather than legalistic requirements.

In Lent, we move beyond checking boxes of religious duty [let go of that weight] and instead re-embrace or perhaps truly for the first time – embrace a new life founded on trust that you are already loved by God as is the person on either of side of you here and all the world.

Baptismal identity defines us as being, dare I say it, “woke”. Awake to the “fact” that you are one of God’s children, empowered by the Spirit, trusting in grace, and walking by faith. For all of us and in particular for our Candidates coming for baptism at Easter, may the God of Abraham give you, give us, the courage to step out of the familiar, outs of fear and into the promise.

May the Spirit that baffled Nicodemus blow through all our lives, refreshing our souls and stripping away the need to be perfect and inspiring us in loving others. As we prepare for Baptism or the refreshment of it, may we stop looking at our own hands to see if they are clean enough, and start looking at God’s hands, which are already holding you. You are loved, just as you are, and in that love you, we will find our way forward.

(1)The Message Bible written and translated by Eugene H. Peterson. 2002.
(2) Twelve Months of Sundays Year A © 2001NT Wright
(3) ANZBP A New Zealand Prayer Book He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa © 1989