Jesus and the Night Visitor
A sermon by Brent J. Eelman
Abington Presbyterian Church
June 11, 2006

John 3: 1-17
    Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ² 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.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” ⁴ 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?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶ What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ ⁸ 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.” ⁹ Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
    ¹¹ “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. ¹² If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
    ¹⁶ “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.
    ¹⁷ “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.*

This is the time of year when we attend graduations. They are important events and there is a very special one that I remember. My older brother, Bruce, went to college for a year, found out that he wasn’t ready and then served in the Navy. He was married, became a father, and then made the decision to return to college. But this time there would not be fraternities and parties, football games and dormitories. The second time around he went to night school. It took him almost eight years but he finished his degree. I have always admired his tenacity and willingness to work hard for that degree. Night school was a different experience. The students were older and had more life experience. Their outlooks were matured by age.

The story of Jesus and Nicodemus is an account of a night school. Nicodemus was older; indeed he was a teacher or rabbi. He came to Jesus at night, after all his work was done and there he reflected on his own life’s experience and learned from the master teacher, Jesus. The dialogue in this account of Nicodemus and Jesus contains some of the most quoted passages of the bible. If you watch any football game during the field goal or extra point, you will see someone in the end zone holding up a sign that says: “John 3:16” The verse of course says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that who ever believes in him should not perish by have eternal life.” The other oft’ quoted passage is the third verse, “You must be born again.” Today I will examine three parts of this text: First, Nicodemus. Who was he? Can we identify with him? Second. The wonderful yet troubling teaching of Jesus about rebirth. And finally, the hope of this passage and the hope of the world.

I

The text tells us that Nicodemus was both a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin (the Jewish governing council). As a Pharisee, he was a teacher of the law. He knew in detail the Torah, (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible). He was familiar with the prophets and their demands. He would spend his days with colleagues, other Pharisees arguing, debating and explaining the finer points of Hebrew law. He knew his scriptures and was devout. He was also a member of the Sanhedrin. He had political power and the authority that went with it. We can assume that he was well known and would be recognized by others. That is why he came at night. He didn’t want to be seen. He was sneaky. Did he have something to hide? Was he experiencing shame? Perhaps it was a risk for him to be seen asking Jesus for further explanations rather than debating him. So he came at night.

Night, with its secrecy and darkness, played a dynamic part in this account. John emphasized that it was night, because Nicodemus, for all his knowledge and authority, was still in the dark spiritually. He was still in the dark about the claim of God upon his life. He was truly a “night visitor,” arriving in darkness, but also living in spiritual darkness.

II

Nicodemus’ spiritual darkness was revealed in his dialogue with Jesus. First, he acknowledged that Jesus was a great teacher, and then the lesson began. Jesus said: “no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” John used language very carefully at this point. There is some tricky word play in this text. The word that he used to describe rebirth refers both to time and place. Time: born again. Place: born from above. Nicodemus didn’t get it. we often do not get it. He saw rebirth only in terms of time. How can a person be born a second time? It was all about Nicodemus, wasn’t it? “How can I do this?” He was stuck at this level of human action and agency, which was where a good Pharisee would be stuck. The law told you how to do things. It was a handbook for behavior. Nicodemus could not get beyond the human realm.

We often get stuck there with Nicodemus. We are often clueless and in the dark, and limit our thinking to the here and now. We don’t hear the nuance, the double edge to Jesus’ message. Rebirth is not merely to be born again as a human, but to be born from above. It is dependent upon God’s grace. The Greek word that is often translated again also carries the nuance of “from above.” Both are part of the translation and alas, biblical translators can choose but one. And so we too, with Nicodemus get stuck in our own thoughts, limited by our own darkness. It is all about us and how we do it. “How can I be born again?”

“Born from above” is a reference to the spiritual nature of rebirth, and it is something over which we have no control, just like we cannot control the wind. Jesus moved toward more clarity when he stated that just as Moses raised the serpent on a pole in the wilderness, so that the people could be healed from the venom of the snakes, so the Son of Man; so Jesus himself must be raised up… raised up on cross. This is the primary reason for our rebirth! Yes there is a subjective realm to it. It occurs in our lives, but it occurs in our lives as it occurred on the cross. We are born from above. The cross is the place where we are born again. When and where are we born again? When Christ died on the cross for us.

III

Nicodemus was there at night, seeking something; something that all of us seek. This something is as important to our life as air and water. It is hope. There was no hope in Nicodemus’ world. He knew all the rules. He had all the power and authority and prestige that a man could have… but he lacked that intangible that all human beings need. He had no hope. That is what he sought in the dark stillness of the evening. Then he heard the words from Jesus: “God so loved the world….God does not want to condemn the world, but to save it.” This is hope for the individual and for the world and the two are inseparable.

A lot of us were raised to not be “worldly” and often that was extended to a rejection of the world. Historically, my family was Mennonite and some branches of that belief do reject much of the world. The most famous example of the rejection of the world was Tolstoy, who later in life lived in utter poverty, disassociating himself from anything that he would consider worldly. Human beings may reject the world, indeed we often do, but God does not. God loves this world and God acts to save this world. Ironically God saves because we reject and crucified the son. God loves this world and as you and I are a part of this world, God loves us. That is the hope of the world, and the challenge for us is can we learn to love the world the way that God loves it. Can we love other people, different people, and the way that God loves them?

Nicodemus, the teacher of the law, attended night school and received the lesson of his life. The darkness of that evening contrasted with the message of hope that Nicodemus heard: the promise of hope, of rebirth and God’s love, for him and for the world. You don’t have to attend night school. You heard it here. This is the good news. Amen.

 
*The New Revised Standard Version Bible, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989.

Abington Presbyterian Church, Abington, Pennsylvania,  www.apcusa.org