St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
March 1, 2026
Year A: The Second Sunday in Lent
Genesis 12:1-4a
Psalm 121
Romans 4:1-5, 13-17
John 3:1-17
Works in Progress
So, I don’t know when this thought first occurred to me, but at some point, during my youth, I realized that none of us have ever been as old as we are now.
Seems obvious, I know, but as a kid, on some level I just thought that my parents and grandparents had always sort of been the age they were at that time.
That’s all that I had ever known, ever seen.
And I also just assumed that my parents had it all figured out: of course, they knew how to be, I don’t know, thirty-ish and raising two young children.
And I guess I assumed that my grandparents had it all figured out too: of course, they knew how to be older, how to deal with retirement, aging, medical challenges, and all the rest of it.
I don’t know when it dawned on me that, no, my parents and grandparents had never before been the age they were right then – that, just like I was figuring out how to be a boy, a teenager, they were figuring it out, too.
I realized that we are all – no matter our age and experience, all of us, whether we admit or not – we are all works in progress.
We are all works in progress.
I think we realize this – or maybe just admit this – when we live in “interesting times,” when we face a crisis, when we’re presented with a new situation and we’re not sure how to proceed.
I often think back to the pandemic, when we all had to scramble to figure out how to keep going when so much that we had taken for granted was suddenly paused or gone.
We had never been down that particular road before.
It’s funny what you remember.
I’m not sure about here, but back in Jersey City, we had to line up outside the supermarket because only a certain number of people could be inside at any time. And when we got inside, I remember how challenging it was to open those plastic produce bags while wearing plastic gloves – never had to do that before.
In times of crisis, many people turn to the church, but in that time, the church had to figure out how to go forward.
“Being nimble,” “pivoting,” those were the words of the day.
And in just a couple of days, we all learned online worship.
In Jersey City, during weekdays we offered “Church by Phone,” three conference call services every weekday, morning, noon, and evening. I don’t think I had ever hosted a conference call, but it turned out to be a simple and beautiful way to keep people connected.
The pandemic was a time of figuring it out, not always knowing what we were doing, making lots of mistakes, admitting that we were works in progress.
And the same is true during today’s “interesting times.”
When I was a high school history teacher, I used to remind my students that, while we know how historical events turned out, the people who were living through them did not know what would happen next.
We are living through challenging, confusing, unsettling times – and we’ve just added war with Iran to our long list of worries and uncertainties.
We’re living in “interesting times.” We’re all trying our best to figure it out. We have no idea what happens next.
We’re all a work in progress.
In today’s lesson from the Gospel of John, we meet one of my favorite Bible characters: Nicodemus.
Nicodemus is a religious person, a Pharisee.
He’s educated and respected.
He’s achieved a position of authority and responsibility.
But, Nicodemus, he is very much a work in progress.
He comes to see Jesus at night, which is a significant detail. He’s trying to keep this secret. Nicodemus probably doesn’t want his colleagues and friends to know that he is visiting the powerful and puzzling teacher and healer from Nazareth, this Jesus who is making the powers that be very uncomfortable.
Nicodemus is a work in progress. He calls Jesus “rabbi,” - teacher. And that’s true enough, but that title only begins to describe who Jesus is.
Nicodemus is a work in progress. He recognizes that Jesus has come from God because he has seen or heard about the signs that Jesus has been performing.
Now, if you were following the conversation, it seems like Nicodemus was sort of stalling, kind of clearing his throat, working his way up to asking Jesus whatever it is that’s on his mind, whatever it is he wants to ask or say.
But Jesus cuts to the chase. He tells Nicodemus, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born from above,” which is another way of saying, “born anew” or “born again.”
And then we have this apparent misunderstanding, this funny exchange about what it means to born anew. When Nicodemus asks if Jesus means we somehow have to return to our mother’s womb and start over, it could be that this highly educated man doesn’t really get it.
Or more likely, Nicodemus understands only too well that new birth is going to cost him. Being born anew is likely to cost Nicodemus his friends and his position and his prestige – and he is just not ready to take that step.
And then, if you were following along carefully, you may have noticed that Nicodemus seems to just quietly vanish from the scene.
A work in progress.
And we continue with some familiar and most important words.
There’s the famous verse, John 3:16 -
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.”
And the somewhat less known but just as important, John 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.”
God knows us better than we know ourselves.
God knows that we have never quite been here and now before.
God knows that we are works in progress.
And, especially during this holy season of Lent, God encourages us to admit our mistakes and uncertainty and keep going, trusting that God will not let go of us.
God gives us Jesus and invites us to new life, to start anew.
So, about Nicodemus.
After his nighttime visit with Jesus, Nicodemus makes two other brief appearances in the gospel.
In the first, the chief priests and the Pharisees are trying to convince the police to arrest Jesus, which they are reluctant to do. Nicodemus is there among the other leaders and he speaks up for Jesus, saying that they should give Jesus a chance to speak for himself.
That doesn’t sound like a radical suggestion, but the other leaders reject it and, maybe, grow a little suspicious of Nicodemus.
And then, finally, at the end – or at what seemed like the end – after Jesus’ death on the cross, Joseph of Arimathea received permission to take away and bury Jesus’ body.
And Nicodemus was with Joseph. He brought an abundance of myrrh and aloes – about 75 pounds – and together they prepared Jesus’ body and placed him in the tomb.
And that’s the last we hear of Nicodemus.
We don’t know what happened to him next.
Just like we don’t know what will happen next for us.
Nicodemus and you and me, no matter our age, no matter our “interesting times,” we are all works in progress.
Loved by God.
Amen.
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