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.” (John 3:1-8)
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I never really understood the sheer grandeur of the Great Wall of China until I saw it. I knew what it looked like. Over the years I had seen a lot of pictures. I knew why it existed - basically to prevent the warlike people north of the Chinese Empire from invading China. I knew when it was built. It was started several hundred years before Jesus was even born, although it took many centuries to get into its present form. Anyway, the point is that I knew a fair bit about the Great Wall of China. And then, a few years ago, I actually saw it. I was there Seeing it made a big difference to being able to really appreciate it. Suddenly I was able to climb its steps, and I walked along a bit of it, and I poked my head into the ancient watchtowers that were part of it. The Great Wall of China is pretty tall. When you think of how long ago it was built, you marvel at the fact that it was built at all. And as you stand on the top of it you can look off into the distance (because you can see a long way when you’ve climbed to the top) and you can watch it snaking among hills and fields far off into the distance until it hits the horizon itself, and it’s still going! You can’t see it from space (that’s a myth) because although it’s long, it’s way too thin - but I wasn’t in space. I was standing on top of the thing. All of a sudden the things that I knew about the Great Wall of China were matched by an experience of the Great Wall of China. When you match knowledge with experience, all of a sudden you gain understanding.
In today’s story from the life of Jesus, Jesus encounters a man named Nicodemus. One of the biggest and most important things on Nicodemus’ mind apparently (for whatever reason) was the Kingdom of God, or you might call it the reality of God or the presence of God. As a Pharisee, Nicodemus probably spent a lot of his time talking about God and arguing about God, studying the Scriptures to learn about God - but one thing that seems abundantly clear is that while Nicodemus over the course of his life had gained a lot of knowledge about God, he was still struggling with understanding God. He knew a lot about God, but he really didn’t know God. And then, he heard about Jesus.
Jesus’ life had been pretty interesting already. I don’t know if Nicodemus had heard anything about things like the unusual circumstances of Jesus’ birth - but as a Pharisee, he may have heard the stories of Jesus’ debating the religious scholars in the temple when he was only 12. That would probably be the sort of event that would make the rounds among religious scholars. We know from John’s Gospel (and John doesn’t make mention of Jesus’ birth or the incident in the temple) that Jesus has done a couple of things already that might have brought him to the attention of the religious folk. One was the miracle at Cana, which we talked about last week. It’s hard to believe that stories wouldn’t have been told after that, although they might have sounded a bit like stories that get told today about Bigfoot - you know, “great story, but, really?” More interesting for Nicodemus, though, would have been an incident that happened in Jerusalem. John records it as happening right before this encounter. Let me share that passage, because I think it’s important in understanding this one:
Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts He found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So He made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves He said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning My Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then responded to Him, “What sign can You show us to prove Your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
I don’t think you can understand Nicodemus and both his curiosity and confusion without hearing that passage. Nicodemus, as a Pharisee, would have heard about this. Someone trashing the temple would have made even the religious scholars who weren’t there when it happened stand up and take notice. The leaders of the temple (who are probably “the Jews” that John speaks of) respond to Jesus actions and get into an argument with him - which some of the people probably enjoyed watching - and then later on we’re told that “while He was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival, many people saw the signs He was performing and believed in His name.” So, Jesus made a splash in Jerusalem, Nicodemus heard about it and was intrigued enough that he approached Jesus under the cover of darkness (probably because he doesn’t want his fellow Pharisees to know that he’s going to have a chat with this disrespectful young whipper-snapper!) and what results is the conversation John describes between Jesus and Nicodemus.
When this passage gets preached about or talked about or taught about, usually it’s in the context of Nicodemus misunderstanding Jesus’ words about being “born from above.” Today, we often use the phrase “born again” of course. Same thing. “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” You can point out from this the dangers involved in taking things too literally - to really understand the Bible, you have to be aware not just of the words, but of the spirit behind the word. Some people say you should just take the “clear meaning of the text” (whatever that means) but my experience is that often the Bible isn’t that clear. Nor should it be. It’s intended to make us think, to challenge us to deeper understanding. So Nicodemus blew it by thinking Jesus was talking literally about being “born again.” Then, when Christians take that too literally (“no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born from above” ) it often gets turned into a threat. So, “believe the way I believe or you’re going straight to hell!” I don’t think that’s what Jesus meant. I believe that these words are a kind of lament from Jesus toward Nicodemus and others who thought like him. Jesus is the Kingdom of God breaking into the world. His life; His love; His sacrifice; His teachings - these are the Kingdom of God being lived out. His body; His presence - this is the Kingdom of God in the midst of the people. This is what Jesus wants Nicodemus to get. Jesus isn’t threatening Nicodemus with hell if he doesn’t get it. Jesus is lamenting that Nicodemus can’t “see the Kingdom of God” - even though it’s right in front of him in Jesus - “without being born from above.” In other words, Nicodemus has to open himself to God’s presence and allow himself to be challenged and changed by God before he’s going to be able to understand Jesus. Nicodemus knows about God, but he doesn’t know God. Nicodemus knows about Jesus (or he wouldn’t have appeared) but now he’s told by Jesus “you have to actually know Me and not just know about Me. Once you know me, you’ll see the Kingdom of God in Me.”
Nicodemus knew about 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.” So he knows that Jesus is a teacher; maybe that he’s come from God; maybe that God is with him. But he can’t take it farther than that and see the very Kingdom of God in the flesh right before him.
I hear that all the time in today’s world. “Jesus was a good man.” “Jesus was a great teacher.” “God was with Jesus like God was with no one else.” And that’s true as far as it goes. Maybe some people here today are at that point. And it’s OK to be at that point. Jesus doesn’t get angry with Nicodemus for not going farther than that. Jesus doesn’t condemn Nicodemus for not going farther than that. Jesus simply challenges Nicodemus to think some more. It’s as if Jesus is saying, “come on Nicodemus. You’re sitting right here in front of Me. You’re talking to Me. Open your eyes, man, and tell me what you see. Open your ears and tell me what you hear.”
Nicodemus appears to have figured it out. You have to read to the very end of John’s Gospel to realize that. After Jesus’ death,
Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen.
Obviously, somewhere along the way, Nicodemus had joined the disciples. He had opened his eyes and ears, and he had seen not just a rabbi who was a teacher with whom God was present - he had obviously at some point realized that here - in this man - was the Kingdom of God.
We often think that Nicodemus went to Jesus at night simply because he was afraid to be seen with him. Maybe, but I wonder if there isn’t a subtler point being made. We can hit people over the head with the Bible, we can fill them with knowledge about Jesus, we can tell them what Jesus means to us, we can threaten them with hell unless they believe, we can bring them to church - we can engage in all these traditional ways of doing evangelism. Maybe the point of the story is that we simply need to encourage people to spend time with Jesus (alone). Maybe that’s when Jesus works most powerfully in people’s lives. Maybe that’s when he’s worked most powerfully in your life. I know that’s when he worked most powerfully in my life. We don’t come together to convince each other to believe; we come together to celebrate with each other what we believe, and that’s important. We should celebrate our faith with each other! But just as I had to actually see the Great Wall of China before I could really grasp its grandeur we all you need to take our time with Jesus by ourselves to really be able to see Jesus for who He is - the Kingdom of God among us!
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