The Dawning of Nicodemus

 

As seems to be the case now every weekend, our government at the direction of the president does something monumental and catastrophic to shake up the world. This time it was a coordinated bombing of Tehran igniting a war with Iran. They're calling it "Operation Epic Fury." I'm calling it "Operation Distraction from the Epstein Files." 

Many priests were posting on Facebook that they were scrambling to re-write their sermons...again. I did not re-write mine but did include "war" in my discussion points about the "dark side" of human nature.

Meanwhile...I hope that what I was inspired to say in my sermon not only gave pause for reflection, but also gave reason to hope for a better future. 

See what you think.

Text: John 3:1-17

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 I remember many years ago having a discussion with my mentor about this passage we heard this morning from the Gospel of John.

I was interested in Nicodemus and what I quickly realized as we talked that there wasn’t much love for this Pharisee…largely because Nicodemus didn’t “get” what Jesus was talking about.

Come to find out…there are a lot of Christians who look down their noses at Nicodemus...for any number of reasons.

But chiefly…it seems…they don’t like his questions of Jesus and his failure to understand the importance of being “born from above”…which is where we get the idea of being “born again.”

For some…that phrase “born again” raises the spirit.

For others…it raises eyebrows.

And for too many…it is the only thing they see in this exchange with Nicodemus…and since he doesn’t “get it”…he’s not a true believer and therefore “boo hiss” on him.

But I think if we rush to such quick judgment…we’re not “getting” it either.

And I think it’s a way for us to avoid the truth about ourselves when it comes to what it means to journey with Jesus.

Because…if we were honest…we’d acknowledge that we are a lot more like Nicodemus than we’d like to think.

So let’s think through what’s happening here and the way John uses Nicodemus to illustrate what the journey of faith…and possible conversion looks like...and why Nicodemus is an important player in this story.

First…we need context for this scene…which means we need to know what happens right before this exchange Jesus has with Nicodemus…and I’m also going to get to the rest of Jesus’s words to him because those matter too.

In the chapter before our reading from this morning…two big things happen.

One: Jesus has performed his first miracle of turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana.

And then two: He then heads to Jerusalem…goes to the Temple…where he makes a whip of cords and flips over the tables of the moneychangers.

Mark…Matthew and Luke have that incident happening later. But in John’s Gospel…we meet the provocative Jesus here. The chapter ends with Jesus in Jerusalem at the time of Passover…with many people believing in him because of the signs he was doing.

But…even though they were interested in him…and were wowed by that water turned into wine…Jesus knew better than to get caught up in their excitement.

John tells us that Jesus didn’t “trust himself to them…because he knew human nature too well.”(see the CEB translation).

Yeah…their impressed with him…but are they prepared to do what it takes to follow him?

Did they understand that despite that disruption in the Temple…Jesus is a Prince of Peace?

So that’s the set up for today’s Gospel reading where we meet Nicodemus…a Pharisee…a respected member of the Sanhedrin…the Jewish Council…who comes out to see Jesus at night.

In the dark.

Undercover as it were.

This makes sense…given that scene in the Temple right before a major Jewish festival.

The Pharisees wouldn’t have been too keen on all of that.

There was all that buzz about the wedding at Cana.

So who is this guy?

Nicodemus…a learned man of the law…decides he wants to find out.

But he doesn’t want others to know that he’s going to talk to this troublemaker.

So he goes at night.

This is also significant because John uses the imagery of darkness and light as an analogy for moving from unbelief to belief.

And if we read all the way through the Gospel of John…we will see Nicodemus making that journey from darkness to light.

He’ll show up again in the middle of the Gospel…seeming to raise a defense to the Jewish Council to hear Jesus out…rather than arrest him for his teachings and talking in his “I am” statements.

And then he appears at the end…with Joseph of Arimathea…to help bury Jesus.

Did he come to believe in Jesus as the Son of God?

That’s not clear.

But he’s willing to take the risk of being seen as caring for the one killed by Rome who had become a problem for those religious authorities who were happy to keep the status quo.

And it all began with his desire to talk with Jesus one night in Jerusalem.

We might imagine what it was like for him to engage with Jesus…thinking he was going to have a typical rabbi-to-rabbi exchange…and then Jesus hits him with talk of being “born from above.”

“Born from above?

But how is this possible if I’m already here in the flesh?”

Now I know they didn’t have things like the Myers-Briggs test back in the days of Jesus…but if they did…my guess is that Nicodemus would have been one of those very logical…rational types…the ISTJ or ESTJ…that knows how to keep the hours and follow the rules.

And while one might read Jesus as scolding Nicodemus for not understanding him…we can also make room to think of this as Jesus teasing him in a humorous way,

“Aw c’mon man…you’re a teacher of Israel!”

We might see Jesus smiling wryly, as he pushes his conversation partner.

 “Think of this like the wind. You’ve heard the things I have done and you’ve come out here looking for me.

Now I’m challenging you to get out of your head…your intellect…and realize that I’m about changing hearts.

I’m here to help you and the people see that you can free yourself  from the rules of the oppressor by tapping into the deep well of the One who sent me here.

Listen to what I’m saying and live in Love.

I’m not here to condemn the world but I am here to save it from its own condemnation.”

Now…unfortunately…the diviners of our lectionary decided not to let you hear the conclusion of this conversation.

I don’t know why they chose to stop here…because Jesus had some more to say. The next few verses…were important for Nicodemus to take in as he wrestled to understand and journey with Jesus.

They are also vital to our own need to ponder what it means to follow Jesus in our time of conflict and war.

So here is the rest of this section from John’s Gospel.

Jesus has said he’s not condemning the world…but he is passing judgment. Hear what he says:

“…the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. 

For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light…so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light…so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” (John 3:19-21).

That had to be hard for Nicodemus to hear…given that he chose to approach Jesus in the dark.

I am not saying he approached Jesus at night because he was evil.

But because of the culture and circumstances…a corrupt Roman Empire…he had to wait until it was dark to seek out the light.

And in this darkness…he was given some food for thought as he left that conversation.

And his journey toward enlightenment could now begin…as he contemplated the words of Jesus against the backdrop of his world.

We too are now given these sobering words of truth to consider in our own circumstances.

We live in a world where there are so many things that get swept under the proverbial rug…hidden from the public by our leaders and a corporate media that no longer serves as the watchdogs of democracy.

Lawmakers in state legislatures keep passing bills to stop children from learning the hard and sometimes ugly truths about our past…which only compounds the anger and divisions in our present and jeopardizes our future.

We have secret police grabbing people at work sites and in court houses…and disappearing them into a maze of private for-profit prisons.

There are decades old crimes against girls and boys buried to protect the wealthy perpetrators of such evils as sex slavery and human trafficking.

And we start wars based on half-truths or falsehoods…putting both civilian and military lives at risk.

These are the dark things in human nature that made Jesus leery of trusting those who claimed to be interested in his miracles and ministry.

The people who speak a good game about God…yet their actions don’t follow a path of mercy…justice…and walking humbly with God.

We have an opportunity at Lent to recognize our own tendencies to run back into the dark…hiding our true selves…seeking power over others.

This is our time to consider how we prefer comfort and acceptance instead of realizing that to follow Christ means to not stay silent while others suffer…but to speak up for the vulnerable at the risk of not being popular.

Now is the time to follow the lead of a Nicodemus…and do that work of transformation…chiseling away at those stony parts of our hearts…so that the light of Christ might shine through us in bigger and brighter ways.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.