Our gospel reading today for many is
the most important passage in all of scripture. The scripture shows Jesus in
the beginning of his ministry laying out from the get-go the reason he is here.
Jesus in this passage gives us the heart of the matter.
Early into my interim ministry here, I
preached a sermon on John 3:16 and we discussed how that verse has been called
the gospel in a nutshell. Well, the nutshell comes from a tree. John 3:16 comes
from a passage of scripture. The whole of such a passage of scripture gives us
the tree from which the gospel in a nutshell came. As we will see, the full
tree is really a wonderful one.
Maybe you already know this, but you
know how in the Bible we have a the book name, the chapter of that book, and
the verse or verses? The book of John, chapter 3, verses one through sixteen.
Well, this sectioning into chapter and verse makes it easier to reference
things in a consistent way. So, I can say go to John chapter 3 verse 16 and
you’d know where to go. And I could have said this 200 years ago, and people
would do the same thing.
Well, the sectioning for easy
reference is not original to the Bible itself. The dividing things into
chapters and verses was added hundreds of years after the original writing was
complete. Even punctuation and paragraphing was added.
Anyway, when it comes to our passage
from John, the full tree really begins at the end of chapter 2. At the end of
chapter 2, we read that it is Passover and Jesus is in Jerusalem. It is the
first Passover of 3 in his 3-year ministry. The third Passover we will remember
during Holy Week.
So, the context is Jerusalem at
Passover. John 2:23 tells us that Jesus is performing signs and miracles and
people are, as the verse says, “believing in his name,” while they see him
doing these amazing things. But it is not a deep kind of thing. It is sort of
like seeing a magician and saying, wow, he is really good… I am a fan. But
Jesus wants more than this kind of fandom. He wants more than citywide fame. He
wants more than belief in the popularity of his name. Jesus wants people’s full
trust and he wants them to follow him. Jesus wants disciples of God’s love to
join him and follow him in realizing God’s kingdom.
We see this call to full trust as
Jesus teaches Nicodemus. The point of
the passage is full trust.
There is an important subtext. Jesus
in his ministry will encounter continual tension and conflict with the
religious hierarchy of his day. In our passage, however, we have the rare
occasion of Jesus and a member of that religious hierarchy, an important member
named Nicodemus, having a private discussion. The private discussion shows
Jesus teaching this powerful teacher of religion the way of God.
It’s important to note that Nicodemus
doesn’t meet Jesus in public or in the daytime. He comes to Jesus in private
and at night. Is he too proud? Is he ashamed of being seen with this country
preacher from Nazareth? Is he not humble enough to publicly be seen as learning
from someone deemed lower than he?
Jesus knows the answer to these questions.
John 2:24-25 talks about Jesus knowing how men think, knowing what makes them
tick, knowing their hearts. He knows Nicodemus is battling between pride which
comes with his high position and the desire to know God and know more. Jesus
knows that the only way to face this internal battle and overcome his pride is
to be internally transformed. Nicodemus needs heart-transformation,
And what transforms the heart – being
born of the Spirit of God and a trusting of the one born of the Spirit from the
very beginning, the Son of God.
In verse 3, Jesus makes the central
claim, “no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above,” or as
some translations put it, born again.
Nicodemus doesn’t get what Jesus is
getting at. So he asks well, how can someone born some years ago be born as an
adult.
Jesus in effect says, you were born of
water when you were born as a baby. But there is a need for another kind of
birth, spiritual birth.
Then Jesus uses the metaphor of wind.
We know wind is real. We feel it ruffle our clothing and hair, we see it rustle
through trees, we hear it whistle through windows. But we can’t really know
where it comes from or how it is born. Knowing it all and experiencing God’s
reality do not need to go together. If we knew it all, there would be no need
for faith or trust, and no need for the vulnerability that comes with taking a
leap of faith or with placing our trust in someone. Faith and trust requires a
letting go of self and security and a letting God into our hearts to transform
us. This letting go and letting God is difficult work, but necessary for the
heart to be transformed.
I ought to mention that our passage
shows Jesus using really creative, even playful language. Jesus often does
this. He used parables for the same effect. To get us out of our head and into
our hearts. So, in some translations we read born from above and in others,
born again. Well, the word in Greek is ‘anothen.” It can mean either from above
or again. Sort of like pretty can have different means as in that is pretty
cool as in rather cool or pretty cool as in nice-looking and cool. Jesus is
playing with his words in speaking with Nicodemus.
Then there is the word spirit. The
Greek word is pneuma. It can mean spirit, or breath, or wind. So if I said my
spirit was lifted when he took his first breath in August when the wind was
warm in August, I would say my pneuma was lifted when he took his first pneuma
in August when the pneuma was warm.
Jesus is saying to be born again and
from above means taking into our breath, our life, the Spirit of God. The wind
through the trees is a beautiful image for this. We take into our spirit the
Spirit of God like the tree takes in the wind. We are touched, we are
enlivened, we are moved, we are made to dance. That is what the being born from
above means. The wind again and again moves in the trees, enlivening them each
time. That is what it means to be born of the Spirit, of the wind, of the
breath of God.
Lastly, what about believing in him? A
better word for the Greek word pisteuo sometimes translated belief is the word
trust or even entrust. Jesus is asking Nicodemus to trust him. More than this,
he is asking Nicodemus to entrust himself to Jesus and the new way he is
teaching. Jesus wants commitment not just a visit. Jesus wants the same from
us. Why? Because the true life is a life connected to goodness, a life
connected to God. And whatever life is connected to God, whatever life becomes
wrapped up in and embraced by God’s life, becomes eternal with God. An
everlasting, true life is life enveloped by God who by nature is truth and
everlasting.
We’re not told how the story ends.
What did Nicodemus do with this important moment with Jesus? We don’t know. Things
are left open-ended.
So I close with a question, an
open-ended one. What will you do with your important moment with Jesus?
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