Lent 2A - 2026

Sermon for The Second Sunday in Lent, Year A
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
The Rev. Andrew McLarty

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Too often, when a tragedy befalls someone and it gets a lot of attention, there all all these social media posts wherein people offer their "thoughts and prayers." I've absolutely done it. I be you've done it. It is a way to show your support, empathy, and caring for a situation when you are not close enough to it to do something about it. So, there is good and practical time and a place for that kind of "best wishes" response, but I often conflicted about times when I could do something, either through my own actions, or my support of similar systems that can effect similar change at a local level.

That is how I feel today about our lectionary selections with regard to faith versus actions.

Paul tells us in Romans that the promise to Abraham did not come through the law but through the righteousness of his faith. If inheritance were about rule-keeping alone, Paul says, then faith would be empty of meaning and the promise would be void. Abraham trusted God before he understood the details. Before there was a system. Before there was certainty.

The Epistle of James, which we did not hear today, brings a necessary counterpoint to Paul. Suppose someone is cold and hungry, and we say, “Go in peace, keep warm and well fed,” but we do nothing. What good is that? Faith without works is dead.

Dr. James Kennedy point out that James is dealing with people who profess to be Christians, and yet they don't evidence the reality of their faith by their works deeds. Over, and over again... people will say they have faith and they don't have works, and James is saying that real faith always produces works as a result... The question is, 'A man may say that he has faith, but will that faith justify him?' If it is just a 'said' faith—no, it won't!"

At first glance, Paul and James seem to be arguing. But they are not. Paul is speaking against the illusion that we can earn God’s love. James is speaking against the illusion that we can receive God’s love and remain unchanged. Paul insists we cannot manufacture righteousness. James insists that when righteousness takes root, it bears fruit.

And that bring us to today's Gospel... And for those of us that grew up repeating John 3:16 as children, “For God so loved the world…” I want to draw your attention to the next line... “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.” [[John 3:17]]

What does it mean, then, to call ourselves Christian?

We often feel the need to qualify it. Progressive Christian. Evangelical Christian. Orthodox Christian. Nationalist Christian. As if the adjective might protect us from the weight of the noun.

But the word Christian means belonging to Christ. It means walking the Way of Jesus.

What does it mean to believe in Jesus?

To proclaim good news to the poor. To work for peace. To announce hope in the face of crucifixion. To stand with the oppressed. To love God with our whole heart. To love our neighbor as ourselves. To walk toward the cross, not away from it.

• It is to believe that he is the divine incarnate who bled and died for our sins?
• Or is it to believe that the Way of Jesus- living the Gospel of Love in word and deed to God and neighbor - is the path to salvation?

Shouting John 3:16 by itself presupposes that faith in Jesus is alone is the solution. It is to trust that grace precedes us and carries us, but without 3:17, we miss the point that our job is not to punish others, but to direct them toward the Way of Jesus in word and deed.

We do not earn God’s love. That has already been given.

Let us trust the Divine promise, Abraham did and John asserts. And let us live in such a way that if James were to ask, “Show me your faith,” we could answer not only with words, but with our lives.

Amen.