This
story of Nicodemus coming to see Jesus seems to happen soon after Jesus clears
the temple area, which explains why Nicodemus shows up at night, he’s not sure
yet if he wants to be seen around Jesus and wants to get to know who Jesus is
and what Jesus is all about. Nicodemus is an important person, a Pharisee and member
of the Jewish ruling council, meaning he’s a success, and yet there’s still something
missing in his life, and Jesus might have an answer for that. Is Nicodemus
looking for meaning beyond the success and the rituals of his faith?
Nicodemus
starts off by praising Jesus, “Rabbi, we know
that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the
signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Nicodemus acknowledges
that Jesus is no ordinary rabbi and that the things he is doing can only happen
because they’re blessed by God. He may be thinking that Jesus is a prophet from
God, but he wants to make sure before he commits to Jesus. Now Jesus takes the
conversation in an unusual and likely unexpected direction, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God
unless he is born again.” Nicodemus comes back with a smart aleck
remark, “How can a man be born again when he is old?
Surely, he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”
This conversation is getting sharp.
Jesus
comes back at Nicodemus as rabbi does, with images and examples pointing to a
greater reality beyond what’s right in front of them. Jesus goes deep since
Nicodemus is a Pharisee, trained to think deeply about faith and God, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God
unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but
the Spirit gives birth to spirit.” Jesus wants Nicodemus to start
listening as a man of faith, as a man taught about who God is, a man who has
committed himself to following God. Jesus is talking heart stuff here.
Jesus
is a master at using what’s around him to explain faith and spiritual things.
They’re likely sitting on a roof top around a small fire pit, and a breeze
comes up and stirs the embers in the fire pit into flames. Jesus, looking at
this tells Nicodemus, “You should not be surprised at
my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You
hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.
So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” Jesus uses word play
here, another thing rabbis often did, the word for spirit and wind is exactly
the same, so just as a breeze can get an ember burning, in the same way the
Spirit can re-ignite our hearts and faith. It’s not something we do, it’s
something God does in us, we simply need to be open to the Spirit’s moving.
Nicodemus
doesn’t seem to understand what Jesus is getting at, even though he’s a
scholar and has spent his life studying and living the scriptures out in his
day-to-day life. He asks, “How can this be?” Now
Jesus pushes back at Nicodemus, asking him how he can’t understand what Jesus
is saying since he’s supposed to be a teacher to Israel, he’s obviously been
listening to Jesus, and has seen or at least heard of some of Jesus’ miracles.
Jesus answers him sarcastically, “Very truly I tell you,
we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you
people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and
you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No
one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of
Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of
Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in
him.”
Jesus
is challenging Nicodemus to listen to what he’s teaching, how he’s calling
the people of Israel to be God’s people, to come back to God in repentance and
belief, his main message. Jesus turns to the prophet Daniel, referring to
himself as the Son of Man who comes down from heaven as the Messiah. Nicodemus
knows what Jesus is referring to here, that he’s claiming to be the Messiah.
Jesus goes on and uses another image from the time when Israel was wandering in
the wilderness and grumbling against God again, so God sends venomous snakes
into the camp who bit people and many Israelites died. The people come to Moses
and confess they’ve sinned, “The Lord said to Moses,
“Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and
live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone
was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.” Jesus
points to himself as the one who will be lifted up to bring life, new life to
the people.
It’s
with this image of life in mind that John writes the most beloved verses
in all of Scripture, “For God so loved the world that
he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but
have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the
world, but to save the world through him.” This is not just good
news, this is the greatest news in the world, in history and today. The
laws, the rituals, and the sacrifices don’t save us, going to church doesn’t
save us; believing in Jesus who saves us brings us eternal life with God and Jesus
does. John writes in 1 John 4:9–10, “This is how God
showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we
might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved
us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” God’s love
for humanity drives his plan of redemption, the plan to save his people from
sin and brokenness, a love that moves God to call us his children. God’s love
leads to action.
Nicodemus
comes in the darkness of the night, Jesus calls him into his light, “Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness
instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates
the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be
exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be
seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”
We hear the echoes back to the beginning of John, “In
him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind… The
true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world… Yet to all
who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to
become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human
decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
We
live in a time and place where there is much wealth and success. There
will always be those who struggle with poverty and failure, but we live in one
of the wealthiest times and places in history, and yet so many people are
unhappy and dissatisfied. Many young people are wondering about what life is
going to hold for them, hoping that there is more; more meaning and a greater
purpose or reason in life. Henry Nouwen writes, “I am what I have. I am what
I do. I am what others say about me.” When we embrace this way of seeing
ourselves, it leads to unhappiness and even depression. It leads many into
escapist living and brokenness. Nicodemus has it all and still he seeks out
Jesus, hoping there’s more. Jesus calls Nicodemus into truth that what we have,
our accomplishments do not bring meaning into our lives, that even in our
success we are missing something, someone. Jesus has come to give us a full
life, showing us who we are: children of God, and that we find our worth as
children of God rather than in our work or accomplishments, that our purpose is
to be children of God shaped by the Holy Spirit who are disciple-makers inviting
others to meet Jesus. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we receive
a fresh start in life, a new identity and purpose centered in Jesus.
Jesus
brings light into the darkness, pointing to the injustice and evil prevalent
in our world, but it also points to the unhappiness, fear, anxiety, or brokenness
that so many people live with today. We are not our own saviour; our sin
reveals just how hopeless we are without Jesus. He is the one who brings hope,
healing, value, meaning, identity and purpose into our lives; Jesus offers us
new life, a life rooted in him, given a fresh start by the Holy Spirit.
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