Sunday, January 28, 2018

The Spiritual is Literal (Or Why God So Loves the World)

John 3:1-21

Holy cow. John 3. One week to talk about Nicodemus and Jesus, this banter back and forth. One week to talk about John 3:16, “For God so loved the world…” One chance to talk about Moses lifting up the serpent as Christ is lifted up on a cross. Holy cow. This is the week I need to talk fast and slow—get a lot in and a lot understood—and do it while you’re smelling potluck. Talk about an impossible task.
Might as well start with Nicodemus. Here’s a guy after Jesus’ own heart. He comes to him secretly by night. Nicodemus, the Pharisee, appears three times in John’s Gospel. He shows up first in this story to set the stage for Jesus’ giant theological announcement (so people have something to put on their signs at football games); then he appears once again in the middle of John’s Gospel to remind the Sanhedrin—that is, the Jewish high court—that they are to follow due process (so we know he was a good lawyer); and then he appears finally after Jesus’ death to help prepare his body for burial. What a strange mix of appearances for this guy.
In this first appearance, Nicodemus gets off to an inauspicious start. He doesn’t seem to get it. At least he misunderstands the central most important words Jesus uses. Let’s run through the encounter one more time:
Nicodemus says, "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 answers, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born anothen (Gk. from above, again, or anew)."
Nicodemus responds, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?"
Here is the essence of the misunderstanding: Jesus is speaking spiritual language that Nicodemus is taking physically. The same thing happened in last week’s reading where Jesus starts talking about the temple, how if they destroy it he will raise it in three days, and he’s really talking about himself but the temple leaders assume he’s talking about the building. In this case, Jesus is talking about being born a heavenly birth, while Nicodemus is imagining re-entering the birth canal. Again, Nicodemus says, “Jesus, how can a person be born again?” But this is simply not what Jesus was saying.
Jesus answers him once, "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 anothen.' 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 continues his line of questioning: "How can these things be?"
We don’t know Nicodemus’ motivation in this discussion. Is he seeking clarification as a person who wanted to follow Jesus? Was he trying to catch Jesus in a trap? Perhaps he was even looking to build a case against him? But whatever his reasons he becomes a magnificent foil for the kind of arguments we have today within the Christian faith. I’d hazard to guess that more than half of the arguments Christians have today consist of misunderstandings of terms. One person is using spiritual language; another is hearing it physically. Some might say that Nicodemus is taking Jesus “literally,” but I think this is not an accurate word, because Jesus is talking literally, too. A person is born anew in baptism—of water and the Spirit. They are drowned in the waters of baptism. Their old sinful self is killed. Jesus means this literally. This is one problem with our dualism of body and spirit: We assume that body is literal and spiritual is figurative, but this is simply incorrect. Sometimes what is spiritual is simply true. When Jesus uses spiritual language it is not some metaphor for the thing; it is the thing.
It is so hard to have debates regarding our faith, because, honestly, you are either in a place to think abstractly or you are not, and Nicodemus, in this case, is simply not able to understand what Jesus is talking about. Nicodemus was like a Confirmation student because, frankly, most Confirmation students are not able to understand a thing their teachers are saying. Developmental psychologists will tell you that most people develop the ability to think abstractly sometime between age 11 and 16. Until that time you are unable to even begin to understand language of spirituality; everything is physical. Again, the temptation is to say that it is “literal,” but that’s not quite right because, prior to the development of abstract thought, everything is literal. There is no figurative. But even if you have developed an ability to think abstractly it doesn’t appear overnight. For most people it takes not months or years, but a lifetime to sort through abstract and concrete thoughts, to sort through the place that faith has in their lives.
This should tell us a few things: First, since kids in junior high are in the midst of developing abstract thought (and some haven’t even started), it is the worst possible time to teach them about the faith. So, confirmation that is about teaching people the faith is going to be flawed. But, more importantly, it should tell us that most of us are like Nicodemus, trying to guess what is spiritual and what is physical and, generally, just making a mess of things.
But wait, there’s hope! The great thing about this exchange is that Jesus never writes him off. Sure, Nicodemus hears “born again” when Jesus is saying “born from above,” but that doesn’t mean that Nicodemus is wrong; just that he’s a faith journey that hasn’t arrived yet. After all, out of this exchange comes that famous phrase, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” which is astounding, because in spite of the all this talk of heavenly things over against the physical world Jesus is clear that his coming to live and die and rise again is for the world. For God so loved the world—not abstractly but intimately, physically.
There are a ton of lessons to be gleaned from this exchange. There’s the smart aleck lesson that “Born again Christians” are using a phrase that Jesus himself said was simply wrong; we should be “Born from above Christians” perhaps. There’s also the lesson that if Nicodemus wasn’t ready to think abstractly then perhaps it’s OK if we aren’t there yet either. There’s the lesson that God loves the world, even when the world is so busy thinking it’s so important and worrying about how a person can be born again. There’s probably a dozen more lessons here or more.
But the biggest lesson I take away from this exchange, the one thing that sticks with me, is that this isn’t the last we hear from Nicodemus, which means he stuck with it! He was there in Jesus’ life in spite of Jesus telling him he was wrong. He used his position on the Sanhedrin to do what was right in the middle of Jesus’ ministry. Then, most tellingly, he was there after Jesus died when even his disciples went into hiding out of fear. Nicodemus ended up being better at following Jesus through his death than his disciples.
In a way, that moment, at the foot of the cross, was Nicodemus’ born from above moment. At some point he got it. I like to think that means there’s hope for us all; no matter our age. Faith comes when it comes… however it comes.
Most of our guidelines for passing on the faith are just guesses. We do what we think is best but, honestly, we don’t know. Sometimes we even look on, forlorn, as numbers of Christians dwindle, as churches get emptier, as the world seems to get more and more terrible, but if we look at this exchange between Jesus and Nicodemus we should realize a couple of things. 1. To be a follower of Jesus you must be willing to meet Jesus, even when you don’t understand what he’s saying. 2. To be a follower of Jesus you must go back to Jesus, even when he tells you that you are wrong (because you are). 3. Since we don’t understand what Jesus is saying, therefore our point of view on the status of the world out there is probably also flawed. And 4. (and last of all) God so loved the world—the exact thing we look at so forlornly, wondering how it got so bad. This same world was the thing God created and called “good.” God loves it—all of it. So, nothing is outside of God’s love.
So “born again” or “born from above?” Whatever you’d like. Understand spiritual language or consider yourself just a “literal person.” No biggie. Whoever you are, wherever you’ve been, God loves the world and you are most definitely part of that. Just keep coming back when you don’t understand. That’s what I tell the confirmands anyway. Sometimes they even believe me… sometimes we even believe Jesus. Thankfully, he believes in us and loves us just the same.

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