| 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? No one has ascended
into heaven except the one who descended from heaven,
the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 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. 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 3:1-17 |
| It’s what always seems to happen when you ask Jesus
a question! You are seeking some clarity, some added understanding
to what you already know, and Jesus responds to something other
than what you ask. His answer isn’t necessarily bad,
but it doesn’t answer your particular question. |
| Nicodemus is a pilgrim. He comes to Jesus with a serious
statement and devout faith in hand. “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." No
one is quite sure who the “we” is in his statement.
Possibly other priests or Pharisees who are not as bold as
Nicodemus. Nicodemus believes that the presence of God is at
work in Jesus—but if he believes that, what will it lead
to? Nicodemus, a man of faith in God, cannot do the things
he sees Jesus doing. Something is going on between God and
Jesus that is different. Jesus replies that to see the kingdom
of God, to know God’s presence within oneself, one has
to be born from above. How can one be born again protests a
confused Nicodemus? We are too big to enter back in our mother’s
wombs! |
| Jesus responds that those who believe in God are to be born
in a totally different way; by water and Spirit. The wind blows
where it chooses he says—and you never know where it
comes from or goes. “How can these things be?” Nicodemus
asks. The presence of God is supposed to be definable! Everyone
knew God resided in the Holy of Holies in the temple. Yet,
Nicodemus believes God is also present with Jesus. |
| We know all too well how Nicodemus feels about the notion
of God on the loose at work in us in mysterious ways. It is
unnerving. Nicodemus has taken all the basic life courses that
we have, like “Counting 101”. Like you and me,
he probably started his training for this course on his mother,
father or other caretaker’s lap. One, two, three. Remember,
on page one of the big book there was one orange. On page two,
two bananas. On page three, lo and behold, three apples! When
mom pointed to one dog on the street and we gleefully said “Three
doggies” she replied, “No honey, that is ONE dog.” And
she held up one finger. When there were three pieces of candy
and we guessed two, we were told, “Let’s count
them together.” “One, two, three…pieces
of candy!” We were rewarded with one for a good job,
for adhering to the reality in front of us. In Counting 101,
logic and rationalism are encouraged. |
| But Jesus’ testimony discounted all such logic! It
always hinged on something else. Nicodemus, like any good monotheist,
had questions about Jesus’ claim of God being spread
all over the place—including indwelling in humanity!
One minister writes, “Jesus invites Nicodemus into a
new realm of insight…he pushes him far beyond his comfort
zone…. Like most of us, Nicodemus the Seeker is limited
by the familiar ‘word world,’ the world he knows
best. He responds in his best left-brain, legal-scholar, word-parsing
mode. He sees tricks, deadends and practical impossibilities.
It is all he knows how to see. Yet Jesus persists from his
right-brain, heart vocabulary, with fertile images of wind,
spirit and expansive love.” (1) |
| God, through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, calls Nicodemus to
a faith that will force him to forget how to count sometimes!
To put away logic and order so his eyes can see the new thing
that God is doing in Jesus. Jesus teaches Nicodemus it is sometimes
necessary to put aside all that a Pharisee, schooled in the
law of God, would have learned from Counting 101 through his
graduate degree! He tells Nicodemus, I am not simply a teacher
from God, but the one who descended from heaven, the Son of
Man, God, who will ascend again! Then he leaves behind all
rational speech by offering Nicodemus salvation and eternal
life, stating that God has chosen to save the world through
him. He even claims that just as the Spirit is present in him,
Nicodemus can know God’s presence always. |
| But to know and see God’s presence Nicodemus would
have to be born of water and Spirit. He would have to receive
the love of an uncontainable God who comes and goes as the
wind blows. |
| Nicodemus faces the same wonder Isaiah recounted in his vision
and call. “Holy, Holy, Holy…” Only the Holy
One now stood before him, dwelling in humanity. With the possibility
of being born of the Spirit Jesus offers Nicodemus a life unlimited
by the frailties of the flesh. The kingdom of God alive here
and now in Nicodemus? |
| It is too much for a faith based on Counting 101 and its
ensuing logic to take in. Believing in God as blessed Trinity
is a promise of continual transformation! The Word of God frolics
all over the pages we’ve been given as the New Testament
as Jesus throws logic to the wind and makes sweeping claims
of God’s love for an undeserving world, now revealed
in him and the promise of the Spirit with us. |
| Jesus calls Nicodemus to place his trust in him, his words
and God’s promise. Preacher Will Willamon comments, “Insight
occurs (for us), not from burning the proverbial midnight oil,
not from buckling down and working hard to get it, but as gift,
from above. Grace. …As modern folk we are under the
delusion that we posses, already within us, sufficiency to
grasp the world, to understand, to know. All knowledge is readily
available to all if everyone will just think hard. Jesus speaks
of knowing what he’s about as birth, breeze, boon. ‘How
can this be?’ Oh, Nicodemus, even for a well educated,
self-assured, confident intellect like you, the wind blows
where it will. Even for you, there is possibility not of answers,
but of enlightenment, light.” (2) |
| What happened to Nicodemus after his conversation with Jesus?
Did he receive Jesus’ call to a new way of belief in
the God he already knew or did he simply walk away, unchanged?
It is lucky for us, the author of John’s Gospel reports
a bit more of his story. A little further into the gospel,
the chief priests and Pharisees have sent the temple police
to arrest Jesus. Nicodemus decides to question the other Pharisees
and the chief priests saying, "Our law does not judge
people without first giving them a hearing to find out what
they are doing, does it?" Although he is on to the notion
that you must hear first to determine truth, the council asks
him if he is from Galilee, Jesus’ birthplace—meaning
are you with him or us? He is silent in response. Nicodemus’ question
lingers as does the question of what he believes. At the end
of John’s Gospel Nicodemus emerges again. This time in
silence. He goes with Joseph of Arimathea to recover Jesus’ body
from the cross. “Nicodemus, who had at first come to
Jesus by night, …came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and
aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body
of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according
to the burial custom of the Jews.” They laid him in the
tomb in the garden and went to keep the Sabbath. |
| Henry David Thoreau once said, “It takes two to speak
the truth…one to speak and another to hear.” |
| Nicodemus, the seeker who came to Jesus full of questions,
heard and received the truth of Jesus’ teachings and
was transformed by the wind that blows where it chooses. |
| Being born of the Spirit means being regenerated, sanctified
or continually renewed, given new life throughout our life.
God, blessed Trinity, is here even now, ready to transform
our lives as we give up our notions of God that are limited
to Counting 101 and open ourselves to belief which entails
trust beyond what we can understand. God desires all who have
questions to ask and seek as Nicodemus did. What we find may
shock us as we wonder together over the wideness of God’s
mercy to us and gawk at God’s non-conforming answers
to our questions! |
| What we learned in Counting 101 and our best and brightest
logic since then cannot contain or regulate the gift of God’s
love and grace! Instead we are invited to receive all that
our Triune God has done for us as an unmerited gift. All praise
be to God for this good news! |
| Amen |
| Beth E. Godfrey - June 11, 2006 |
| Central Presbyterian Church, Geneseo, New
York |
| (1) "Late-Night Seminar," Patricia Farris, The
Christian Century, 2002. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1058/is_3_119/ai_83143841 |
| (2) “How Can This Be?” Dean William Willimon
http://www.chapel.duke.edu/worship/sunday/viewsermon.aspx?id=60 |
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