Encounter: Nicodemus
You Must Be Born Again
John 3:1-17
Rev. Tim Callow
Preached Sun. March 5th, 2023
Nicodemus was not a dumb man. He was a member of the Pharisee party, and a leader of the Jews. His whole life up to this point would have been devoted to an intensive study of scripture. His life would have been formed by the prayers and rituals of his people. He would have spent his days disputing with others over how to apply the Law in even the most outrageous of circumstances. And he was also charged to care for the Jewish people under his stead, giving them loving guidance according to the teachings of scripture and precepts of the Law.
The man who goes to visit Jesus in the cover of night is no fool. Rather, he is one of the best and brightest of Israel. A leader of his people. Perhaps one of the most gifted men of his day. And, moreover, it is due to his mastery of scripture and knowledge of the Law that he comes to visit this strange itinerant rabbi who is causing a storm. He tells Jesus, “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.” He sees the things Jesus is doing, and knows he must be from God.
But mastery isn’t enough. Seeking mastery, or putting our trust in mastery, can be a great temptation. Especially mastery in matters of religion. By mastery I mean a comprehensive and complete knowledge of some subject matter, or skill in some discipline. In this case, Nicodemus exhibits mastery in the Scriptures and Law. But that mastery isn’t enough. As we will see, that mastery still leaves him blind to what matters.
Jesus exposes his blindness when he says, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Here Jesus does something that will become characteristic in the Gospel of John. Something that we will see again and again through out Lent. He uses a double entendre that we can’t hear in english. But is very plain in greek. When he says “born from above” the same phrase can also be rendered “born again.” Same words, two very different meanings. And Jesus says this to fish out how Nicodemus might receive the phrase. Will he hear the phrase in a spiritual sense? Or will he hear the phrase in a fleshly sense?
Nicodemus hears the phrase in a fleshly sense. “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?” What Nicodemus hears Jesus saying is that we must be born again, climb into the womb and come out a second time.
But that is not what Jesus means. He means we must be born again but from above. “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.’” Jesus is saying that the knowledge Nicodemus has come to master is not enough. It is not enough to master the things of this world. To have a comprehensive knowledge of earthly things, of facts and figures and propositions. It is not enough to be skilled in argument, or skilled in jurisprudence. Because what is important is that we may enter the Kingdom of God by being born through water and the Spirit. By knowing that new birth that is given in baptism. By being transformed through the grace of God, given to a new life.
One may be skilled in knowledge of the things of this world, but if we are to be skilled in the matters of the Kingdom of God we can only receive that from above. We need to be born again into God’s new creation, God’s new reign.
This encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus is characteristic of the encounters that we will continue to see throughout Lent. Jesus meets someone who is somehow blinded to who he is, or what he is doing, or the things of God. Jesus begins to speak in a double entendre, that is then misunderstood. It is misunderstood because the person he’s talking to is too focused on the earthly and not on the heavenly. Having exposed that, Jesus begins to clarify, and he clarifies in such a way that exposes what rendered his conversation partner blind.
"Are you a teacher of Israel,” Jesus asks “and yet you do not understand these things?” What is it that Nicodemus does not understand? He does not understand that the Spirit moves where it wills. He does not understand that the Son of God must come and die. He does not understand that through Jesus there is eternal life. That he must abide in him, trust in him. “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.”
I can easily identify with Nicodemus. I can easily be the person who seeks mastery of earthly knowledge and facts of the Bible. I can easily imagine that by knowing things about the Bible, and knowing things about theology, that it somehow means that I have a relationship with God. But that is not the case. Knowing things about the Bible means dip without the New Birth. Somehow reading all the theologians of the world means little without trusting and believing in him.
Jesus doesn’t call us to mastery, he calls us to trust. He doesn’t call us to master the things of this world, but to be born again, through him, in him. And being born again means being an infant again. It means humbling oneself again. It means entrusting others to care for you again. It means being transformed again. And in here is new life. And in here is good news.