Nicodemus

John 3: 1-17, pages 93 and 94 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 we 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.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?” “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. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 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. “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.” Sermon Yesterday at Mrs. Peggy Fleming’s funeral, we sang a hymn that used to be in the hymnal but isn’t anymore. That’s a funny thing about new hymnals – the worship committee of our church is discussing even now whether or not we should go ahead and order the new hymnal created for Presbyterian churches which was published just last year – and I’m willing to bet that as soon as they do and the new hymnals are in the pew racks, we’ll all be looking through the index to make sure that our favorite hymns are still in there, because, for whatever reason, the committee who gets together to decide what hymns will go in the hymnal and which ones won’t often make their decisions without first seeking our authorization. Churches do have recourse however. In the case of yesterday’s funeral, even though the words to “Onward Christian Soldiers” are not in our hymnal we were able to print the words in the bulletin. And years ago, when the red hymnal first came out without including that great hymn, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love,” your church secretary at the time, Mrs. Lenora Parnell, simply pasted the words into every single hymnal. Lacy Coleman, who was the sexton at the time, brought those hymnals to Lenora’s desk, stack by stack, and after a while he looked at the title to the hymn and said something like, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love huh? It’s a good thing we’ll know them by their love because you’re sure not going to know them by their words or actions.” As usual, Lacy was right. The hymn is about characteristics representative of Christians, and so it calls us to “walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand,” but we’re often more interested in winning than walking with each other, we’re often more interested in being polite than being honest, and far too many of us are more dedicated to my way than our way, so we walk away from each other in frustration and anger breaking the bonds of love. Churches should cooperate rather than compete with each other and church members should listen to each other rather than talk over each other or talk to each other rather than about each other in the church parking lot, but sometimes people are just stuck in what they believe and can’t hear, compromise, or sympathize – so churches divide. But on the other hand, there are so many great reasons to work together. “We will work with each other, we will work side by side,” the hymn goes, and what is this place, this sanctuary built nearly 100 years ago, this church founded over 200 years ago, but a great sign of what can happen when we are all working towards the same goal rather than pulling apart in two different directions? We are called then, for the good of the Kingdom, to build relationships with each other even though relationships aren’t easy. And sometimes relationships aren’t easy because while relationships are built on understanding, conflict is built on misunderstanding, and misunderstanding seems to thrive in our fallen world. Misunderstanding turns conflict into a battle between right and wrong, misunderstanding allows for the demonizing of one group of people without thought to the repercussions, and misunderstanding plants the temptation that it would be easier to go off alone, even though going off alone doesn’t reflect what we believe about the Church or what we believe about God. Relationship, on the other hand, is divine and is modeled in the Trinity. In God there is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – three together in one – but while we were created by a God who is in relationship with God’s self, while we were created to be in relationship with our neighbor, and while we need relationships to be truly happy, relationships also have a way of making us truly miserable. While attracted we are also pulled apart. While given the gift of speech we have trouble hearing each other. While forgiveness has been modeled by God, we are tempted to withhold it. And for these reasons and others, while we were made to be in relationships and were created in the image of the God who is not one but one in three, we have trouble with friendships, marriages, and bonds within our families, and too often find ourselves isolated and alone. There is always a knocking at the door however, and sometimes the one who wants to break through to us is right on the other side. Nicodemus goes to Christ at night. Sometimes if it’s done at night it’s because you’re ashamed to do it during the day, and that was the case with Nicodemus. He didn’t want anyone to see him associating with Christ. In fact, the world was pulling these two in opposite directions as is often the case. There are those whom you are supposed to associate with, and there are those who you shouldn’t be seen with. This is a tragic story – it’s Romeo and Juliet – their hearts say yes but their families, their friends, their whole world says no. Nicodemus sees something in Christ, but to follow and believe in him means to give up the position that he gained in society – he could lose his job, he could lose respectability, he could lose everything that he thinks truly matters. Still he goes to Christ, and in an attempt to hold on to what he stands to lose he goes under the shadow of night. Once he gets there though, more problems emerge. Nicodemus makes a simple statement that longs for a simple response: “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.” This is the kind of statement that begs a “yes I am from God” or “no I’m not.” If only Christ could have given him a response so clear. Instead he says something that’s easily misunderstood: “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above,” Nicodemus doesn’t understand what this means, and after trying to break it down into simpler terms Jesus gets frustrated: “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?” Sometimes attempts to connect go this way and even face to face we misunderstand each other. If only it were easy to understand, but the truth is that relationships require communication – and communication is the problem with all relationships. Somehow they both have to learn to communicate what they mean in a way that the other can hear it, but that takes this enormous step into an uncomfortable direction: in order to say something so that he can hear it you have to be able to imagine what it’s like to be him. That’s why the last two verses of this passage mean so much. “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.” God sent God’s Son into the world to do precisely this: to bridge the gap between humanity and divinity, to form a firm relationship between God and you. That’s what all relationships take – someone has to give up something to make it work – and to make this relationship work God gave up everything. God took the step to understand rather than build up a wall. God took the step to see it our way, to build up a relationship built on truth rather than assumptions. And God made it work – God kept on loving – even though, as a bride said to me just the other day reflecting on her first year of marriage: “It’s a whole lot easier to give up on a relationship than to try to fix it, but if you stick in there, it is always worth it.” Do not give up on God, because God hasn’t given up on you. And do not give up on each other – because you have no greater gift than to live together in love. Amen.