March 8, John
JOHN 3:1-17
This morning’s Gospel lesson from the book of John is one that highlights John’s particular writing style. It is a story that makes it impossible to ignore that John is the master of dramatic settings, symbolism and imagery. As we read the story of Nicodemus, image after image floats by such as; born of water and spirit, hearing the sound of the wind, and the wind blows wherever it pleases.
Jesus’ mention of water and spirit inspire many thoughts and images. Perhaps we think of water tinkling over rocks in a stream, or the sound of the water rushing to shore with the pounding of the waves, or the power that water has to carve rock formations like the Grand Canyon. The word for spirit, on the other hand, is actually the same word for wind in Greek. The spirit or wind blows where it wills. That is, it is unpredictable and even dangerous at times. The soft sound of the wind in the trees on a warm summer night can be very soothing and lovely, while the roar of the wind through the trees during a storm can be anxiety producing, raising thoughts of fear. Jesus point is that we are all born from both the water and the spirit, and our bodies are not separate from our souls.
Then we have the image of night. Night can be scary with lots of things that go bump in the dark, but it can also be wonderful like the first warm spring night that we can sit outside in comfort looking at the starry heaven. The time when you can feel the softness of the dark and the wonderful smells of spring. We are told that Nicodemus “came to Jesus by night.” I wonder if that’s not true for all of us. I wonder if we don’t all come to Jesus by night. It really has little if anything to do with Nicodemus’ faith or even the time of day. Rather, it refers to Nicodemus’s life and how he is living it.
Like Nicodemus, we all have daytime lives and nighttime lives. We are physically born into this world, and as we grow, we are all indoctrinated into the culture around us and its values. We create our daytime lives ourselves. It is the part of our live that defines us. I am a farmer, a teacher, a Lutheran, and so forth. In the daytime, we are comfortable and know who we are, and there is nothing wrong with that. Yet, when you think about it, you realize that day after day you have to maintain your image not only for yourself, but for those around you. A fact of life that can be very tiring. It is the “mask” that we must wear so that no one sees who we are deep down in our hearts.
Nicodemus knew who he was in his daytime life. He was a well- respected Pharisee, a leader of the Jews. People listened to him when he spoke. He is in the upper crust of society with security and power. He knows the Law and strives to abide by it. Yet, in his night-time life, it is clear that Nicodemus is not so sure. His heart is telling him something different, something that is confusing, thoughts that shake the foundation of who he is. His daytime faith and knowledge of the Law begins to shake, and doubt edges its way in. His daytime life with all his accomplishments does not seem all that important in the darkness. What if, just what if, this Jesus is really from God?
So, protecting his daytime life and persona, Nicodemus searches out Jesus under the cover of the dark. He wants to understand what Jesus is all about. Yet, what Jesus tells him just does not register, or as we might say today, “does not compute!” For Nicodemus, and for many of us today, God exists in small box with certain parameter, but once you let God out of the box, you find that you really don’t know much at all. Yet, by letting God out of the box, it opens you up to new possibilities. New possibilities for increased faith and spiritual growth.
It is by wrestling with ourselves in the darkness, that we seek the answers and explanations for our very lives. It is where we learn to hear the Holy Spirit. It is where we learn to accept who we truly are. A beloved child of God. A child that depends on God versus the daytime self. It is where we begin to understand that no matter what we have done in our lives, God has this unconditional love for us.
As we leave here this morning, let us recognize that we are really not so different from Nicodemus. We too want to see and to understand, but unlike Nicodemus we have the Word of God to guide us. All we need to do is open our Bibles and read it on a daily basis, and we will find Jesus not only in the day but in the night. Let’s listen to these words from the book of Jeremiah. “Then you will call upon Me and come pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search with all your heart.”
The season of Lent is our reminder that the nighttime of life, no matter how dark, is always filled with the promise of abundant life. Let us ponder what Christ did for each of us on the cross so that we might have this abundant and eternal life. Let us seek Him with all our heart!
Amen