The Magic School Bus was an animated series that originally aired from 1994 through 1997. The program featured Ms. Frizzle who regularly took her class on field trips with a Magic School Bus that was able to shape shift giving the kids close up views of whatever they happened to be studying. Through the magic of the school bus, the kids were able to, as Ms. Frizzle would often say: “Take chances, make mistakes, get messy”.
There is a risk and vulnerability associated with learning. We need to be prepared to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy even though society can look down on those who are perceived as failing. There is the potential to learn from our failures. There is potential to learn from taking chances, making mistakes, and getting messy!
Nicodemus was a Pharisee. That means he would have been viewed as educated, and intelligent. This would have garnered him a level of respect. Anything that would call into question his education and intelligence would undermine that respect. This would naturally discourage taking chances, making mistakes, and getting messy! Is it any wonder, then, that Nicodemus first chose to visit Jesus at night, under the cover of darkness.
Clearly, Nicodemus was curious about this itinerant preacher and the message he conveyed. He wanted to learn but was not prepared for the scrutiny that such a risk would incite. Still, Nicodemus chose to take a chance, make mistakes, and get messy. He chose to engage with Jesus, asking questions, showing he was struggling to understand, bearing witness to Jesus’ hints that he was missing the point: Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
Nicodemus chose to take a chance, make mistakes, and get messy. He carried the encounter with him beyond that night and continued to struggle with what Jesus had said, allowing it to transform him. When we next hear about Nicodemus, there is conversation among the Pharisees asking why the temple police hadn’t arrested Jesus (see Jn 7:50). Nicodemus slyly tries to change the conversation, suggesting the need for a trial. The encounter with Jesus had an impact on Nicodemus bringing him to take more risks as he sought to learn and grow.
In the end, Nicodemus was so transformed by his encounter that he is recorded as bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds to anoint Jesus’ body following his death (see Jn 19:39). He is no longer ashamed of what he knows, what he has learned from Jesus. He is ready to acknowledge that he has been transformed, made new by the journey that started with a willingness to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy.
As illustrated in the Magic School Bus, learning happens when we take chances, make mistakes, and get messy. Nicodemus shows that transformation can also happen with a willingness to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy. How are the Lenten disciplines we have chosen reflective of our willingness to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy? To what extent are we creating spaces to allow ourselves to learn, grow, and be transformed by this journey?
On Ash Wednesday we were challenged to observe a holy Lent by self-examination, penitence, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, and by reading and meditating on the word of God. We don’t have to do this perfectly to learn, grow, and be transformed. We can simply choose to be open to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy. This humility, this vulnerability, creates space through which God, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. It certainly happened with Nicodemus.
So, how are we doing this Lent? Are we taking chances, making mistakes, and getting messy? Are we preparing ourselves to be transformed again? What more can we do to continue to be open to God’s message to us this season? What more can we do to recognise God working in us?
May we continually seek to observe a holy Lent by being willing to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy. This we pray as we sing: (VT) 519 God, Give Me Faith like a Child