EDITOR'S NOTE: On Oct. 23, 2021, I was ordained as a minister of word and sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and installed as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. I also served the same church for four years from October 2017 to October 2021 a synodically authorized minister. The journey together these past four years has been an amazing one, full of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on March. 5, 2023.
This week's gospel: John 3:10-17
Nicodemus Visits Jesus
3 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 unless God is with that person.” 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 the 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.
The message:
Poor ol’ Nicodemus, right?
I mean, who hasn’t felt like they were in the same set of circumstances as Nicodemus?
Here is this Jewish religious leader. … Remember, we’re told that he is a Pharisee, and in the 1st century the Pharisees were members of an ancient Jewish sect.
Membership in this sect was distinguished by strict observance of not only laws laid out in the Hebrew Bible, but also of all the lists of laws that religious leaders had created over centuries.
And as a Pharisee, Nicodemus would have been expected to know and live by all of these religious laws.
So, against that context, now imagine Nicodemus sneaking off at night to go visit Jesus -- who also was viewed as a rabbi, or religious teacher … but one who was maybe taught contrary ideas to the Pharisees -- to try to figure him out.
“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.”
Poor ol’ Nicodemus is just so befuddled.
Here is this rabbi -- this Jesus -- whom he doesn’t doubt at all is divinely inspired … because after all how would he be able to perform the “signs” … or miracles as we commonly call them today … if he wasn’t blessed by God. … Right?
But that is about where Nicodemus’ understanding stops … because Jesus -- this rabbi -- teaches a whole different gospel than what the religious leaders of the day had been preaching for generations.
Jesus, who proclaims to be the son of God, is marching around Jerusalem overturning all of the old laws. Religious laws that had been compiled over hundreds of years, and frankly a set of laws that ended up setting the Pharisees up here on a pedestal. … After all, they got to be the religious scholars.
And the laws that Nicodemus and his Pharisee buddies knew by heart proscribed a very certain path to salvation. There was a life -- based on laws of cleanliness and obedience -- that led you to holiness and the worthiness of receiving God’s love.
And here was this Jesus -- this rabbi whom they believed was inspired by God, mind you -- but who was upending hundreds of years of religious teaching.
So just what were the Pharisees -- men who had been raised from a very young age to be these religious legal experts -- supposed to do with Jesus? … That’s what Nicodemus was doing with those stealthy trips at night.
So as not to be seen by his Pharisee buddies, he was sneaking about to visit with Jesus because he so badly wanted to figure out this religious teacher marching around saying he’s the son of God.
But he was willing to risk it all.
And what does Jesus do? … Well, he’s Jesus, and he does what Jesus always does. … He never outright answers Nicodemus’ questions and rather just gives him what sounds like a bunch of riddles. … Can you imagine how frustrating this must be for Nicodemus?
“Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’”
Wait, what, Nicodemus says … What do you mean by being born from above? We know how birth works Jesus? So somehow being saved is like going back into the womb and coming out again?
Again, Jesus ignores the actual question, and gives Nicodemus another answer to untangle.
“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.”
Poor ol’ Nicodemus. … I mean it!
Here he is, a Pharisee risking his standing in the community, to sneak out at night to go visit Jesus … trying to get some answers about his radical teachings … trying to wrap his head around this obviously divinely inspired rabbi but one who is upending everything that the religious scholars have taught for centuries.
And all he gets in returns … is Jesus answering him in riddles.
Adding insult to injury, Jesus even kind of pokes fun at Nicodemus: “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?”
So, Faith Family, I don’t know about you, but I can’t help but feel a bit sorry for Nicodemus.
After all, who among us hasn't found ourselves in the same set of circumstances as this befuddled religious leader?
Granted, I’ve never had to sneak off at night to go find Jesus to try to get my questions answered. … But I have felt at times that there was a measured amount of secrecy needed to explore my religious questions with God.
I mean, this isn’t the 1st century, where heretics and blasphemers could be stoned to death by the religious leaders. … But, I guarantee you that it’s still not easy to ask questions of God out in the open … without fearing at least some retribution from other believers. … Right?
If we are honest with ourselves, we are all faithful who have doubts and questions about God and what the scriptures mean … and yet it can be very scary to raise your hand and say, “Hey, rabbi, what about …”
Now, imagine what it must have felt like for Nicodemus to have these burning questions.
“Hey, Jesus, what do you mean being born of the Spirit? … That’s how we get to heaven? That’s where salvation lies?
What do you mean that whoever believes in him may have eternal life? … Look, right here, these scriptures and these religious laws we’ve created. They tell us how we get to heaven.
And yet here you are creating all of this confusion? … What gives?
Tell me, Faith Family, that you haven’t at times felt this very same confusion that Nicodemus felt. … Tell me that there haven’t been times where you wanted to sneak off in the middle of the night to ask some questions of God so that those around you didn’t see you doing it.
So, yes, I think we all can put ourselves in Nicodemus’ shoes in this gospel story. … Because no matter what our earthly expectations of how God behaves, nor our earthly understanding of what the scriptures say, Jesus tells us that the only thing that matters is: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
And that’s the bottom line for everything, isn’t it, Faith Family?
No matter our inner doubt and questions, nor what various religious leaders throughout your life have told you, the only thing that matters is that God loves us so much … he came to live among us in the form of his son. … Flesh and blood. … The incarnation. … God in mortal living glory.
And as long as we believe in him, the son of God, we are saved. … We will have eternal life, Faith Family.
Makes it pretty simple doesn’t it? … Oh, we being human like to complicate things. … Just look at poor ol’ Nicodemus, and how his life of religious training set him up for such confusion.
And look at the barriers to God’s love that we continue to set up yet today -- just like the Pharisees did 2,000 years ago.
You have to belong to this church or that. … You need to believe this or that. … You have to take communion in this way. … You have to exclude these folks who commit these sins. … You have to live this way, and not that way.
This is the way or … you’ll never get into heaven. … The Bible says so. … Our church says so. … Our pastor says so.
And there is Jesus … sadly shaking his head, asking us the same question he asked Nicodemus: “Are you not faithful? And yet you doubt what I tell you?”
Stop complicating it, Jesus is telling us this morning, Faith Family: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
That’s it … and that is the Good News on this Second Sunday in Lent, March 5, 2023. … Amen.
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