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Sunday, February 17, 2008

Second Sunday in Lent 2/17/08 Text: John 3:1-7 Title: Born Again From Above

2nd Sunday in Lent
2/17/2008
Text: John 3:1-17
Title: Born Again From Above.
This morning we leave the Gospel of Matthew for a look at the Gospel of John. Since in the three year series the main focus is either on Matthew, Mark, or Luke depending on which year we are in, parts of the Gospel of John are inserted into the readings now and then so that after three years we have studied the Gospel of John too.
Today’s text is the story of Nicodemus, or as some like to say the story of Nick at night. It is easy to focus on Nicodemus in this reading instead of Jesus and his work. So I hope that in the short time I have this morning, that by the time I am through, you will have a better understanding of what God wants to teach us through Saint John.
As a devout and well-taught Jew, Nicodemus anticipated the arrival of the kingdom at the end of history. The uniqueness of Jesus’ message and mission, which took Jews like Nicodemus completely by surprise, was the fact that with the arrival of the Messiah, the kingdom that is eternal life was started but was not completed.
You see, they; the God fearing Jews expected a Messiah that was going to make everything wonderful. Life was going to be good once again. They did not realize that Jesus in his incarnation, that is his birth had created an unexpected period between, when the kingdom was established; eternal life is truly received by Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, and yet the full realization of the kingdom; the full possession of eternal life which is still to come when Jesus returns.
This period between covers the lifetime of John’s first-century readers and of those who read his gospel today and until the end of time as we know it. John in his Gospel is still doing the work of an evangelist by revealing the glory of Jesus so that he can get a faith response that will allow his readers entry to the kingdom of God, that is receiving eternal life.
We can tell by Nicodemus’ question that he is what we call today a “seeker”. He evidently was not alone in his seeking Jesus, for we see in the previous chapter that many had come to believe in Jesus because of the signs he had done.
That is exactly why Jesus responded to Nicodemus the way he did. He wanted Nicodemus to think in a new way, a radical way. He needed to shock Nicodemus, for since he was a Pharisee he thought that he could keep God’s law perfectly and thus win the favor of God.
As I was reading Josephus the Jewish historian that lived during the time of Jesus I came across some interesting examples of the Jewish laws that Nicodemus would have kept. On the Sabbath you could only carry the equivalent of a mouthful of food. Any more would be considered working. As silly as that sounds to us today, the one I liked the best was the one about tying a rope into a knot. To tie a knot was considered work, so it was real problem when you had to have water and had to have a means to get the bucket down and back up again. A real problem if it were not for another law; the law that said it was alright for a woman to knot her scarf. You can probably see where I am going with this story. The law abiding Jew just used a woman’s scarf to let the bucket down and back up again; viola, problem solved and no law broken. That is the way a Pharisee would live their lives. We shake our heads at such absurdity, but I think we are not much different in how we treat the law, both God’s and civil. We too look for wiggle room.
Anyway back to the story. As a devout orthodox Jew Nicodemus would have presumed that his place in the coming kingdom was assured, by virtue of his race and circumcision. Besides that, he was a leading religious professional, and moreover, a Pharisee and a member of the ruling council. There were probably not many Jews, if any, in the entire city that night whose credentials were more impressive as far as acceptance with God was concerned. Yet, Jesus tells him he needs to be born again.
Now in being born again we need to make sure that we know that in the original language that the word means “born again from above”. It is an image that suggests that we have no choice in the matter. It is ironic that many Christians treat the question, “Are you born again?” as if it involves making a decision for God. Yet if we look at an earthly example of a baby being born we know that babies do not decide to be born. So why is it that we have put ourselves in being born again?
Indeed, the central teaching of Jesus is to preclude our having anything to do in the process. It is really very clear, that is unless you shut your mind to it, that God is the primary player in the spiritual birthing talked about in this passage. With this in mind, Jesus knowing that Nicodemus just does not get it, proceeds to tell him that even as well educated as he is, he still cannot tell where the wind comes from or goes, something we still do not know today. We cannot see the wind anymore than the people of Jesus’ day could see the wind. Oh we can see the effects of the wind, but not the wind itself.
Logically Nicodemus could not, anymore than we can, can figure out spiritual things. We cannot do it because we can only deal with physical, things of the flesh and God’s great love story is of faith, faith given by the Holy Spirit. Faith, we cannot see it, but we can just like the wind see the effects of it.
Sometimes the wind blows strong and you see dramatic results, other times its presence cannot be seen except in the long term. You will see a tree leaning toward a certain direction and even though you do not see the wind bend the tree, over time it will.
It is not part of our reading, but that is what appears happened to Nicodemus. He did not even know it, but wind of the Holy Spirit was bending him. We see that bending in our story for today, as he comes to Jesus, even if it was under the cover of darkness. We see that the Holy Spirit had been birthing him in John chapter 8, verse 30 where Nicodemus is defending Jesus before the Sanhedrin. And we see in John chapter 19, verse 39 more of the birthing process where Nicodemus is helping to put Jesus’ body in the grave.
Clearly, something has happened in the life of this Pharisee, and heeding Jesus’ comments about the Spirit, we must conclude that the once skeptical Nicodemus has provided us with an example of what it means to be born again from above.
This text is usually read on Trinity Sunday, for it shows us the work of the Trinity. First we see the Holy Spirit birthing God’s children; the Father begetting and sending the Son; and the Son testifying to the Father and the Spirit. In this text the actions of the triune God are focused on God’s desire to bring us to him, as he engages us and shapes us to be a holy people.
This brings us to verse 16, a verse that Martin Luther called “The Gospel in Brief.” The thrust behind God’s desire to see us born of the Spirit is love. God’s love is portrayed by Jesus in a sweeping manner, for God loves with a sacrificial love all of creation, the entire cosmos. Out of this wonderful never ending love, God sent the Son into the world to bring eternal life and salvation for all.

Listen to verse 16 as I break it down into its deeply meaningful parts. “For God”, the greatest lover; “so loved” to the greatest degree; “the world”, the greatest of his creation; “that he gave”; the greatest act of love, “his one and only Son”; the greatest gift that can be given, “that whoever”; the greatest opportunity ever given to people, “believes”; the simplest of acts for it is a gift, “in him”; the greatest attraction, “shall not perish”; the greatest promise ever given. “but” the greatest difference between life and death, “have”; the greatest certainty, “eternal life”; the greatest possession, “in him”; the only way, truth and life in which we can have everlasting life.
What a story, but for some people to think of eternal life is something they cannot even grasp, or even desire. It is just to abstract and to far away. They forget that this life eternal is not something in the future, but something they are living now, for when they were born again from above they entered eternal life.
Living for eternity is living now. Some time ago I read an interesting book by Gordon R Lewis titled “Testing Christianity’s Truth Claims”. In his book he wrote this concerning faith, “Christian faith displaces irrationality with meaning, anxiety with courage, hate with love, guilt with forgiveness, alienation with fellowship, impotence with dynamic, despair with hope, and pride with humility. If truth about reality includes truth about man’s psychological well-being, then Christianity is true.” That is the life you live after being born again from above. It is the reality of Christianity. Amen