"Nick at Nite"

By Dr. Mickey Anders

South Elkhorn Christian Church

Lexington, Kentucky

June 7, 2009 

Text: John 3:1-17

G. Campbell Morgan, the famous preacher and Bible scholar from the early 1900s, suggests that the conversation in our text for today goes forward in three movements.  In verses one and two we have the first movement, in which we see Nicodemus and Jesus face-to-face.  Then the second movement is in verses three to eight, in which we see them mind-to-mind.  The last movement is in verses nine to seventeen, in which we see these men heart-to-heart.  I like this outline and think it will be helpful to us in discussing this text today.

First of all, we see Jesus and Nicodemus face-to-face.  The fact that Nicodemus is named at all is a significant fact.  Many key people in the book of John are not named.  We do not know the names of the woman at the well, the cripple at the pool of Bethesda, or the man born blind.  Nicodemus was an important figure with impressive credentials.  He is a Pharisee and a leader of the Jews, almost certainly a member of the Sanhedrin.

John seems to go out of his way to make the point the Nicodemus came to Jesus by night.  That fact has led to a lot of speculation about the reasons for it.   Maybe Nicodemus had a busy schedule and that’s the only time he could get away from the office.  It could be that he does so only to have a quiet, uninterrupted conversation with Jesus, who tends to attract crowds.  It may have been that Nicodemus didn't want anyone to know of his visit.  Perhaps Jesus was sensitive to Nicodemus’ position as a Jewish leader and didn't want him to be made guilty by his association. 

This Gospel associates night and darkness with evil and separation from God.  I think it is very significant that this section of John ends with these words from John 3:19-21:

"And this is the judgment, that 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."  When Nicodemus came to Jesus in the dark, he found the light of the world.

Nicodemus is intrigued enough to search him out, to come to the light, even if he chooses to do so at night.   He wonders if Jesus is a true prophet or just a troublemaker? If he is a prophet, Nicodemus wants to know him better. If he is a rabble-rouser, Nicodemus needs to know that too, for he is a leader of the Jews and an important part of such leadership is determining what is true and what isn’t. 

Nicodemus begins the conversation with these words, "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 we see them face to face, a seeker standing in the presence of this unusual teacher, wanting a fresh word from God. 

Next, we find these two men mind-to-mind.  Jesus doesn't even respond to Nicodemus' reference to signs, but instead begins to teach Nicodemus about the entrance requirements to the kingdom of God.

3Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ 

What kind of mind did Jesus have?  Nicodemus started the conversation politely with a compliment and mention of signs.  The mind of Jesus saw beneath the words.  He was not distracted with what Nicodemus said, but rather went right to the heart of the matter - Nicodemus' need for God.

But this is not preachy Jesus pronouncing fire and brimstone.  Instead, he entices Nicodemus further into the conversation with this mysterious reference to "being born from above."  The mind of Jesus is rich in imagery, irony, theology, double meanings and sophisticated wordplay.  

John portray's Jesus as the kind of man who liked to play with words.  I think Jesus had the kind of mind that would love modern word games that many of us play today. He, too, would have liked Scrabble, Crossword puzzles, anagrams, acronyms, mnemonics, haiku, poetry, or palindromes. 

Do you know what palindromes are? Palindromes are words or sentences that read the same backwards or forwards.  Words can be palindromes, like civic, kayak, radar, racecar.  Names can be palindromes, like Eve and Hannah.  Phrases can be palindromes, like "God saw I was dog," "Ah, Satan sees Natasha," "Dogma: I am God." 

I think Jesus would have loved reading the headlines in the newspaper that have double meanings.  He would have enjoyed these as much as we do:

"March Planned For Next August"

"Patient At Death's Door - Doctors Pull Him Through"

"Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant"

"Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers"

 I think Jesus would have loved all those things as well as we do. 

The mind of Jesus entered this conversation with just such double meanings - born again, born from above and born of water and spirit.  Then he talks about the wind blowing where it will.  The Greek word for wind is pneuma, which can mean wind or spirit.  Jesus is talking circles around Nicodemus with symbols, metaphors, and double meanings galore.

But the mind of Nicodemus was operating at a different level.  He was still dealing with a purely physical understanding of birth, and asks, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?" 

In a flash he saw what a marvelous thing it would be if that could be.  What a glorious thing it would be if a person could begin all over again.  But how could it be?  This does not compute!

This story reminds me of the Brad Pitt movie I watched recently entitled "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."  It was the story of a man who lived his life backward.  He was born as a very old man, and got younger and younger as his life progressed.  It was a strange movie, but we all know that life does not go backward.  It only goes forward. 

Nicodemus was saying, "Here am I, and what I am is the result of what I was an hour ago, and yesterday, and all the days of the past.  My personality is the result of processes.  Can this body of mine be turned back into embryonic form in my mother's womb?  And if that cannot be, then how is the more difficult thing to be done, that of remaking my personality, spirit, mind and body?"

Nicodemus was putting forward a very popular and mistaken argument, one that we still believe today.  We all believe that time moves inexorably forward.  We have all watched our bodies age.  We say about young children, "My how you have grown!  I remember when you were only this big."  

But for those of us with many years, we have noticed distinct changes in our bodies.  Here are the age spots that are beginning to show.  I still have the scars from that time my legs were burned.  I used to have hair, but then it went away.  My back is stiff, my eyes are dim, and my hearing is dull.  My body is defined by the past, by the accumulated effect of all that has happened to me in almost 61 years.

Our mistake is that we tend to believe the same thing about our spirit and mind.  We think we are the result of what has happened to us.  We think we are defined by who we were in the past.  Measure the influences on us and you know who we are.  Look at who we were and you will know who we will be.  We think that people do not really change.  In our minds, we have a very "Nicodemean" view of life. 

But Jesus told Nicodemus, and he tells us, "What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit."

Jesus would say to us, "What you say may be true of the flesh, but what is impossible in the flesh is possible in the spirit.  You have been suckered into a very deterministic view of life.  Yes, your body may continue to show its age, but your spirit does not have to.  You may walk with a limp from that car wreck long ago, but your mind can be renewed like that of a baby.  The spirit can be completely regenerated.  That which is born of the Spirit is sprit.  Do not confuse the two things." 

Now Nicodemus moves to the final stage - heart to heart.  He wants to believe what Jesus is saying.  He knows that his old way of thinking predetermines decline, failure and the status quo.  Assuming that the way of the flesh is the way of the spirit, leads to a life that never changes, a life without hope.  Nicodemus knows in his heart that he wants more than that.  So Nicodemus asks, "How can these things be?"  I think he is wanting to understand, wanting to believe in the power of God.

Jesus responds by sharing his heart.  He tells Nicodemus of his calling, of the high purpose of his life.  He says, "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." 

Jesus calls to mind that episode in the desert when the people of Israel were bitten by serpents.  God instructed Moses to craft a serpent, "and set it on a pole, and every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live" (Numbers 21:9).  Only those people who believed in the possibility of healing would look at the statue.  Only those with faith in God's power to heal would attempt the cure.

Now Jesus compares himself to that saving statue of a serpent.  In words that foreshadow his own lifting up on the cross, Jesus says, "So must the Son of Man be lifted up."  Just as the ladder in Jacob's dream at Bethel enabled the angels of God to go back and forth between heaven and earth, so the Son of Man is the ladder making possible communication from the opened heaven to earth. 

1 Peter 3:18, "For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring us to God."

And his promise is eternal life, entry into the Kingdom of God, a radically new way of life in which the spirit is renewed by the power of God.  Our spirits do not have to be locked with our bodies in a declining state of health.  Life can be renewed day-by-day by the power of God, and the future can be brighter than our past.  We do not have to be determined by the tragedies and the mistakes of the past.  We can be transformed, redeemed, renewed and re-created into new creatures. 

2 Corinthians 5:17, "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!"

Romans 12:1-2, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect." 

Jesus has described in this passage roles for each person in the Trinity.  The Spirit is like the wind that blows where it will.  The Spirit is the unpredictable, uncontrollable activity of God.  Jesus is the one who came as the bridge between heaven and earth.  And now Jesus turns to a God's eye view, telling us of the actions of the Father.

We read the most-memorized verse in the Bible - John 3:16, which says, "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. 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 world may be full of disease and decay.  Even our physical bodies may be progressively moving toward death every day.  But God looks on our world with compassion and gives to people of faith the gift of eternal life.  When the eyes of our bodies see only decline and death, the eyes of faith see redemption and life!  The overall affirmation of the text is that God is a life-giving God.

And we have a hint in the Bible that Nicodemus heard the heart-message from Jesus.  At the end of this gospel, we read his name again.  John 19:39 says, "Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds." 

Nicodemus became a believer that night when he met Jesus face-to-face, mind-to-mind and heart-to-heart.  The question for each of us is, "Will we?"