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A Sermon Delivered at First Christian
Church Stockton Michael Malone John
3:1-17 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. I
have a great deal of respect for Nicodemus, the devoutly religious man who
comes to Jesus late at night, searching for the answers his soul was
longing for. Nicodemus was a
man of wealth and prestige, most likely well educated and intelligent.
He was a religious leader, a strict follower of the law, whose life
was presumably lacking something that he perceived Jesus could help him
with. We
can only speculate what was troubling Nicodemus to the point that he was
risking his own reputation to go out and see Jesus, the ragamuffin rabbi
and his twelve misfits. I
suspect that Nicodemus was in the minority of his friends, believing that
Jesus was truly a great teacher, like one of the ancient prophets.
Nicodemus and others like him were good men who lived their lives
radically for God, always striving to do what is right.
Yet something inside of him was percolating, an empty cavern
waiting to burst, a yearning that needed to be filled.
Have
you ever been like that? Something
that gnaws in your mind, eats at your soul, burning inside, yet unable to
fully grasp and articulate what it is that keeps you awake, ruminating
over and over in your mind? If
this has never happened to you then you are lucky, and probably somewhat
dim witted. I don't mean that
in a bad way or as an insult. Please
hear it as a compliment as it was intended.
Some people are just blessed in life to be simple minded and
clueless. God bless them. But I suspect that most of you know what I am talking about.
Nothing is more powerful than a soul in distress, and that is, I
think, what has driven Nicodemus out into the cold of night, humbling
himself in the presence of this young rabbi. Some
people think that the reason Nicodemus has come to Jesus during the dark
of night was because he didn't want his fellow Pharisees to see him,
subjecting him to ridicule. I
suppose that makes sense. He
was a proud man who knew it wouldn't look good to be seen with the likes
of Jesus. But I wonder if
maybe the reason Nicodemus seeks Jesus out at night just might be because
that is when the depths of the soul howl the loudest.
Late at night, after your work is done, after everyone has gone to
bed, the dark and scary voices in the soul come alive like the haunting
sound of coyotes in the desert. That
is when depression and melancholy thoughts hit the hardest: At night, when
you are tired and worn down, alone. The
voices in your head ask the most troubling questions that eat at your
soul, and you helplessly hang on, trying hard to fall asleep so the voices
will quiet down. Like I said,
the dim witted ones are truly blessed.
Sometimes the cursed turn to alcohol or drugs or other addictions
to silence the cries of the soul. If
you have ever struggled with depression you know what I mean. Jesus
looks straight into the soul of Nicodemus.
He can see the problems in his face, in his posture, in his tone.
"Nicodemus, you need to be born again".
Born again? Born
again. Born again?
Born again?! That's what he said, born again. You
need to understand that Nicodemus is a bright man, but he didn't have the
benefit of high school biology where they teach you where babies come
from. But the word that Jesus
uses for "again" has another meaning that has escaped the mind
of Nicodemus. The word
"again" also means "from above".
What Jesus is saying is "Nicodemus, if you want to find true
happiness and the meaning of your life, you need to be born again from
above." But all poor
Nicodemus can think of is "how the heck can an old guy like me
reenter his mother's womb?" So
Jesus, being the astute teacher he is, yet not wanting to offer the answer
in pithy rhetoric, says to Nicodemus, "If you want to be in the
presence of God and find meaningful happiness, you need to be born from
water and the spirit." Water
and the spirit? "Let's
see", Nicodemus thinks, "When someone is born from their
mother's womb, the water breaks and the baby comes out from the womb.
OK, I've got that; but born of the spirit?
I dunno." Again
seeing the perplexed face of Nicodemus, Jesus takes an ancient Hebrew
story that Nicodemus might remember.
"Once upon a time" Jesus says, "the Hebrew people
wandered in the wilderness under the leadership of Moses and God.
The people began to grumble about their lives, and they wished that
God and Moses would just send them back to be slaves in Egypt.
So God sent poisonous snakes that bit many of the complainers, who
died. Some of the Hebrew people went back to Moses and said,
'Moses, we have offended God and you.
Please ask God to get rid of the snakes.
We are truly sorry'. So
Moses prayed to God, and God answered, 'Take a snake, put it on a pole,
and lift it up. When the
people are bit by a snake, they can look up on the pole and they will not
die.' Now do you get it
Nicodemus?" Still
nothing. There
is something you need to know about poor old Nicodemus.
He really is a good man. He
is quite religious, very sincere, and has spent his entire life trying to
please God. I challenge any
of you to be half as pure and holy as Nicodemus.
Nicodemus just wants to know what does he need to do to be right
with God. He has lived a pure
and pious life, yet something is lacking and it gnaws at his soul night
and day. So Jesus pushes
Nicodemus deeper than he has ever been pushed before, outside of his
comfort level, to dwell on the incomprehensible, immeasurable love of God. "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". Now
don't be too hard on Nicodemus for not getting it. Most Christian's I know don't get it today with the benefit
of being on this side of the cross and the resurrection. Most of us think we know what it is that we need to do to be
happy and to be right with God. What
we lack is Nicodemus' honesty to say to God, "I don't have a clue.
I have tried everything I know of.
I just don't get it." Too
many of us Christians think we know what it means to be born again.
To be born again is to know it all and to be a goody goody
Christian who doesn't dance, cuss, smoke, drink, have a good time, and
goes to church three times per week to be told everything they already
know. If that is what it
means to be born again, then for God's sake, I want to go back into my
mother's womb! Nicodemus
had been trying his whole life to do what was right in order for him to
win God's affection. What he
missed is that there isn't one darn thing he could do to make God love him
any more, and there was not one thing he could do to make God love him any
less. God loved Nicodemus
from the moment he was born into this world and nothing would ever change
God's heart toward Nicodemus. That
kind of love is incomprehensible and immeasurable, and when we start to
grasp it, then we can truly be born from above.
There
is not one thing you can do to find the kind of life Jesus is inviting
Nicodemus to. Belief in Jesus changes one's life so that one can, indeed,
speak of being "born again," not because of an intrinsic change
in human nature, but because of the new beginning that comes with a
recognition of the full character of God that is revealed in Jesus. To
believe in Jesus is to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that God
loved the world so much that God gave the Son as a gift. The God revealed
in Jesus is a God whose love knows no bounds and who asks only that one
receive the gift. If one receives the gift, one receives eternal life,
because one's life is reshaped and redefined by the love of God in Jesus. It
was impossible for Nicodemus to understand what Jesus was saying on the
other side of the cross from which we stand.
For us, the words should be perfectly clear: In the darkness of
night, when all hope is lost, when we feel exiled from the world, alone
with no hope, God comes to us, seeking us out, offering us indescribable
love that has no end. The
love of God is willing to even go to the cross to show us that no matter
how dark life appears, God is willing and able to reach out to us in our
despair. This is Good News! Do you get it? Michael Malone
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