John 3:1-12
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." Nicodemus said to him, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?"
Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?" Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
This story is the first time Nocodemus is mentioned in John’s gospel – the only gospel which mentions him at all, by the way. He turns up two more times further along in John – first, when the Sanhedrin is looking for ways to charge Jesus, Nicodemus reminds his fellow Pharisees that the Law says a man must be given the right to speak before he is condemned - not a reminder that made him popular with them. His last scriptural appearance comes after the crucifixion when Joseph of Arimathea has claimed Jesus’ body from the cross and Nicodemus arrives to help, bringing the herbs and salves needed to properly prepare the body for burial.
Nicodemus is not only a Pharisee but a member of the Sanhedrin, the rabbinic court that was somewhat like our Supreme Court today – the high court that could overrule lower court decisions. As such, it is clear that Nicodemus was an important man. He was educated in the Law and respected in the Jewish community. As Christians, we are predisposed by the gospels to see the Pharisees as the enemy. I suspect, as in many things, our judgment of them depends on where we stand in the story. The gospels almost always portray them as acting against Jesus, so we are against them, but for those standing in another part of the story they would have been the defenders of tradition and Jewish values. The presence of Nicodemus and Joseph in the gospel certainly makes it clear that not all pharisees feared or hated this new teacher or his emerging Jesus-followers.
Still, it is entirely unusual when a pharisee comes to seek out Jesus in order to speak with him “up close and personal,’ instead of trying to catch him in some blasphemy, and that’s why Nicodemus visits at nighttime. He doesn’t want others to know that he is meeting Jesus, and so he comes under cover of darkness – but darkness is not, in John’s gospel, just the opposite of day – it also represents ignorance and lack of understanding. In this story, it is Nicodemus - the learned, the scholar – who comes in ignorance. He has heard of or seen some of Jesus’ “signs and marvels” and wants to see more for himself. This does not sit particularly well with Jesus – it never does – he often rails against those who don’t pay any attention to what he actually says and just come out instead to see his miracles – come for the “raree show” as the old carnival barkers used to say.
Nicodemus begins humbly enough (for a Pharisee) by acknowledging that no one can do the things Jesus does unless he is connected to God, and when Jesus makes a reply about people needing to be born again, Nicodemus makes it clear he doesn’t get it - but he is willing to pursue the question with Jesus, resulting in what has been one of the more puzzling and misunderstood teachings in the gospels.
Christianity today is full of people who will tell you exactly what being born again means and how it must come about – the words you have to say and the actions that must follow, and for many of these if you didn’t say the exact words or perform the exact acts dictated by them, then rebirth never happened – you ‘failed’ somehow to be reborn. It becomes just one more thing they can use to close themselves inside the circle of Jesus’ favorites and to shut others out as unacceptable.
The original word Jesus is recorded as saying can be translated as either “again” or “anew,” implying more than a simple repetition, but movement into a whole new realm. Listen again to Jesus’ response as it is given in The Message translation:
Nicodemus is not only a Pharisee but a member of the Sanhedrin, the rabbinic court that was somewhat like our Supreme Court today – the high court that could overrule lower court decisions. As such, it is clear that Nicodemus was an important man. He was educated in the Law and respected in the Jewish community. As Christians, we are predisposed by the gospels to see the Pharisees as the enemy. I suspect, as in many things, our judgment of them depends on where we stand in the story. The gospels almost always portray them as acting against Jesus, so we are against them, but for those standing in another part of the story they would have been the defenders of tradition and Jewish values. The presence of Nicodemus and Joseph in the gospel certainly makes it clear that not all pharisees feared or hated this new teacher or his emerging Jesus-followers.
Still, it is entirely unusual when a pharisee comes to seek out Jesus in order to speak with him “up close and personal,’ instead of trying to catch him in some blasphemy, and that’s why Nicodemus visits at nighttime. He doesn’t want others to know that he is meeting Jesus, and so he comes under cover of darkness – but darkness is not, in John’s gospel, just the opposite of day – it also represents ignorance and lack of understanding. In this story, it is Nicodemus - the learned, the scholar – who comes in ignorance. He has heard of or seen some of Jesus’ “signs and marvels” and wants to see more for himself. This does not sit particularly well with Jesus – it never does – he often rails against those who don’t pay any attention to what he actually says and just come out instead to see his miracles – come for the “raree show” as the old carnival barkers used to say.
Nicodemus begins humbly enough (for a Pharisee) by acknowledging that no one can do the things Jesus does unless he is connected to God, and when Jesus makes a reply about people needing to be born again, Nicodemus makes it clear he doesn’t get it - but he is willing to pursue the question with Jesus, resulting in what has been one of the more puzzling and misunderstood teachings in the gospels.
Christianity today is full of people who will tell you exactly what being born again means and how it must come about – the words you have to say and the actions that must follow, and for many of these if you didn’t say the exact words or perform the exact acts dictated by them, then rebirth never happened – you ‘failed’ somehow to be reborn. It becomes just one more thing they can use to close themselves inside the circle of Jesus’ favorites and to shut others out as unacceptable.
The original word Jesus is recorded as saying can be translated as either “again” or “anew,” implying more than a simple repetition, but movement into a whole new realm. Listen again to Jesus’ response as it is given in The Message translation:
Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom.....So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.
This is not about being “born again” – this is about returning to a state and time of original innocence – to a state which is just as God created us to be, before it all went wrong. There is nothing here about saying the “right” words or having the “right” experience – nothing about “asking Jesus to be your personal Lord and Savior” – nothing about the rules so many people want to place on this “born again” experience. This is about the wind of the Holy Spirit – the wind we talked about last week on Pentecost – that wind that was present at the beginning of everything – it’s about allowing that wind to cleanse you back to God’s original intention for you.
This is about being willing to set aside your status, and your good opinion of yourself and your importance, and all your education that has always ranked you higher than others around you, and your assurance that you know how to do it “right” and your conviction that you are “in” even though others are “out.” It’s also about allowing God to take all the time God wants to work in you.
The gospels give us very little to go with about Nicodemus’ life but John implies that his coming to follow Jesus was a gradual thing, and that it was only at the end that the Spirit had worked enough in him that he was willing to take a public stance as one who followed this teacher, this miracle man who taught and lived and personified God’s Spirit among us.
Be born anew,” Jesus tells us, and the ever-inviting Jesus knows we will all receive the invitation in our own time and in our own way, not by one set of rules set out by the Sanhedrin or by some TV evangelist.
The wind of the Spirit blows where the Spirit wills – oh, thank God.
Amen.
This is about being willing to set aside your status, and your good opinion of yourself and your importance, and all your education that has always ranked you higher than others around you, and your assurance that you know how to do it “right” and your conviction that you are “in” even though others are “out.” It’s also about allowing God to take all the time God wants to work in you.
The gospels give us very little to go with about Nicodemus’ life but John implies that his coming to follow Jesus was a gradual thing, and that it was only at the end that the Spirit had worked enough in him that he was willing to take a public stance as one who followed this teacher, this miracle man who taught and lived and personified God’s Spirit among us.
Be born anew,” Jesus tells us, and the ever-inviting Jesus knows we will all receive the invitation in our own time and in our own way, not by one set of rules set out by the Sanhedrin or by some TV evangelist.
The wind of the Spirit blows where the Spirit wills – oh, thank God.
Amen.
RSS Feed