Counting Chickens

Cows/Chickens Joke

I was told a joke this week that explains the beginning of today’s gospel reading perfectly.

30 Cows were on a hill; twenty ate chickens. How many didn’t?

The answer… is ten. I know, it’s a horrible joke and one that doesn’t even deserve a good laugh. But what I loved about the joke is that it works because we can’t wrap our minds around something that we know is not possible.

Cows do not eat chickens. And because we know that cows do not eat chickens, our brains hear that there were 28 chickens… not that twenty cows ate chickens.

Nicodemus

And the joke works so beautifully with today’s gospel lesson because Nicodemus can’t wrap his mind around what Jesus has been teaching.

Nicodemus, this wizened pharisee who we learn later sits on the Sanhedrin (basically the supreme court of Israel), decided to go out into the night to speak with Jesus alone. We don’t really know why he initially wanted to see Jesus. Jesus was, after all, an upstart in the religious circles. He was only 30 years old or so and in his first year of ministry… Nicodemus was well known and well respected within the community.

Was he looking for wisdom from Jesus? Perhaps. Was he trying to see if Jesus was a threat? Maybe. We don’t know. But what we do know is that he goes out to Jesus and he does something dangerous, heroic even… he listens and he questions… and he listens some more. And what becomes the crux of his concern?

Eternal life.

We know something about Nicodemus going into this discussion… we know he’s a pharisee. That means that he is part of a newer group of Jews… a group of Jews that believed God could grant a person life after death. That there could be resurrection through strict obedience to the laws of the prophets. And Nicodemus likely believed that through his own obedience to the law… that God would have a place for him in heaven.

But here’s where that all gets thrown upside down for Nicodemus. Directly after he greets Jesus with a proclamation that Jesus must indeed have been sent by God but before he can even ask his first question, he hears something that shook him to his core. “No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”

Nicodemus has just heard that there are 30 cows on that hill and 28 chickens… what he hears is not what Jesus is saying.

He had been working so hard for years, decades even, to follow the Law of the Torah and the Prophets so that he could indeed be seen as a good and righteous man in God’s eyes.

But then here Jesus starts the conversation by saying that the only way that he or anyone else will be able to see the Kingdom of God is if they are born from above.

And I can almost hear the gears breaking in Nicodemus’s mind as everything that he had been working toward seems to all be for naught. His response would be comical if he weren’t so serious, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”

Again… 28 chickens… all he can hear is the number. He can only hear it the way that he has learned over the years.

Road Crossing

But that’s how we humans work. We train our brains to think in a particular way.

When ever I am getting ready to cross the street I instinctively look to my left and then to my right and then to my left again before stepping off. Why? Because I learned in kindergarten that the first threat from traffic when crossing the street comes from the left… and so you look left not just once but twice to make sure that nothing is coming.

Now… I brought a picture with me here that I want to show you real quick… any idea where it is from? Why do you think they have “look right” painted on the street there?

(Show picture)

Right, because the law of look left holds very true… unless you go to England. In areas of London where they expect high tourist traffic you will find instructions on the ground about which way to look because we have trained our minds to look a certain direction.

So our good friends in England realized that in order to help save the lives of absent minded tourists, they needed to paint an extra reminder. I’ll also add that I think it’s interesting that rather than having a posted sign they paint it right where folks will be looking… at their feet. It’s placed where people can see it.

Jesus and the Cross

Nicodemus got so wrapped up in looking toward the law that he had a hard time shifting perspective to this new thing that Jesus was talking about. And so Jesus breaks it down for Nicodemus… Old Testament style.

Jesus says, “14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

He goes all the way back to the Book of Numbers, recounting the story of the Israelites journey out of Egypt and toward the promised land. During the journey, the people started speaking out against God and against Moses saying, “Why have you led us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!” In others, we don’t have any food and it tastes bad too.

The book records that venomous snakes were then sent by God to be amongst the people… and many people were bitten and died. In essence, they were dying for their sin of speaking out against God. But then upon hearing the cries for mercy, God directs Moses to put a bronze snake on a pole for people to look at if they are bitten… and they will be healed. The serpent on the pole was a reminder of death and their sinfulness, but it far more importantly it was a sign of God’s grace for those who strayed.

Flash back to the Gospel of John… Jesus says that the Son of Man must be lifted up just like that bronze serpent. So that whoever believes in him might have eternal life.

My guess is that Nicodemus started to understand at this point… but just to make sure Jesus adds a couple more sentences;

16 "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. 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.”

Conclusion

As much as Nicodemus had been trying to live up to the law… as much as he had been running around trying to count chickens on a hill… I think he finally gets it. All he has to do is… see what God has put in front of him and hear the grace God is speaking into his life.

I wonder how many times in life we get caught up trying to count the chickens and we miss the point of it all together. This Sunday, in the midst of everything going on in the world… and there is certainly a lot of things going on in the world… remember that the joke is not about counting chickens… but rather it’s about signs of God’s grace.

Hear the good news.

See the good news.

Live into God’s grace.

And proclaim that message of Christ crucified and lifted up for all the world to hear, because the story of Christ does change people… it does transform perspectives… and, Lord knows, that message of God’s love and grace is a message that needs to be heard by so many people hurting in our world today.

Peace be with you. Amen.