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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