Sermon text: John 3:1-17
- - -
Like the Apostle Paul before his conversion, Nicodemus is a religious attorney. As such, he has a secure job that guarantees him the esteem of his community. He is also curious about this man named Jesus. His curiosity does not over ride his job discretion therefore Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night. At night is when we really are ourselves without a mask. We can let our hair down and be ourselves at night.
We do a lot of embarrassing things at night. Nicodemus was reluctant to come to Jesus in the light of day. Perhaps he feared for his own job security by being seen with Jesus. Or perhaps he feared how Jesus would react to him as a Pharisee, a religious leader in an organization that felt threatened by Jesus. Jesus had not spoken well of Pharisees. In fact he had criticized them through his parables and questions and comments.
Nicodemus was self conscious about his job title. Or maybe it was the clergy title that got to him. I'm sometimes reluctant to be introduced as a "reverend" because I may get lumped in with some TV evangelists who do not represent me or what I am about as a pastor. Other professions may have similar reticence about being identified by their work. I had a physician friend once who confided he hated to be introduced as a doctor because he would then have to hear all about a stranger's gastric indigestion or whatever other malady they faced and he didn't really want to hear about that in the context of a party or social event.
Last night we had the brightest moon for the past twenty years. The moon was shining like a theater spotlight through the dark clouds that passed by it. The moon and the stars come out at night: Stars such as Willie Nelson perform at night. Here is Willie's take on the subject in his song titled "The Night Life."
When the evenin' sun goes down
You will find me hangin' 'round
Oh, the night life, it ain't no good life
But it's my life
Life is just another scene
In this old world of broken dreams
Oh, the night life, it ain't no good life
But it's my life
Oh, the night life ain't no good life
Oh, but it's my life
Yeah, it's my life
-Willie Nelson "The Night Life"
This description of Willie's lifestyle calls to mind the "Love 'em and Leave 'em" cowboy image of romance which is the theme for many a country song. We tend to group people together for convenience's sake. So every cowboy in the rodeo becomes a lonely, misunderstood poet. The media encourages us to lump people into groups. For example, the early cowboy movies portray American Indians as savage murderer until we see more recent movies such as Dances with Wolves that the Indians were often less savage than the white soldiers. It's easy to condemn people if you lump them together as a group. Yet this Pharisee, Nicodemus, who is only mentioned by name in John's gospel, seems to have been a good, gentle, open-minded Pharisee. So often it the Gospels the Pharisees are portrayed as trying to trap Jesus by their questions, but it's clear that Nicodemus' question was genuine.
Nicodemus comes across as a much more cautious and thoughtful character than Jesus' immediate disciples. The moment Jesus called, they left their nets and their livelihood to follow him, but Nicodemus needed to test the water first. He wanted to make sure he was doing the right thing before he threw in his lot with Jesus.
Caution is not such a bad thing. It is not always advisable to plunge straight into something new. People are sometimes led to believe that they should make a sudden and urgent commitment to Christ. But perhaps it's also okay to take things slowly, to consider carefully before making a commitment which might later be regretted. Jesus was very accepting of Nicodemus. He didn't tell him he must decide now or reject Christianity forever, but spent time with him answering his questions and leading him to greater depths. Jesus never put Nicodemus under any pressure to become a disciple.
In fact, it seems Nicodemus never became more than a closet follower of Jesus until after the crucifixion. It was only after the death of Jesus that Nicodemus discovered his faith was so deep that he asked for the body of Jesus to be taken down from the Cross and given into his care. That was a courageous statement, considering that it was his own people, the religious authorities, who had caused the execution of Jesus.
People come to faith and grow in faith at their own rate. There's nothing to be gained by trying to force or persuade people into faith, for in the end, people must make up their own mind. Emotional pressure may well lead to a decision for Christ, but a decision that may not stand the test of time.
Like Nicodemus, those who have not spoken for Jesus are not necessarily against him. Many people are in the Nicodemus position of just looking, of finding out for themselves, of hesitating over making a commitment, of coming to Jesus by night. Jesus welcomed Nicodemus as he welcomes everyone who has genuine questions to ask.
We can learn something from the way Nicodemus dropped in on Jesus at night. We may come to Jesus just as we are even if that means we come by stealth like the stealth bombers, the B-52 Bombers that dropped bombs on Libya's airport runways last night. Jesus has no problem with Nicodemus visiting at night or the reasons why he preferred the cover of darkness. As Bob Dylan puts it: "Nicodemus came at night so he wouldn't be seen by men. Saying Master tell me why a man must be born again." We too come to Jesus in the dark times in our lives. Jesus name gets called out in times of danger more than perhaps any other time.
I remember spinning circles down the highway in my family car which was going 65 miles per hour down a wet interstate highway just seconds before. The next thing I know we're hydroplaning and I'm sitting behind the steering wheel as the car turns round and round in circles down the middle lane of the interstate. Sitting in the back seat are my mother in law and my pregnant wife. Surprisingly, I felt a powerful sense of peace during those spinning moments and I just kept saying over and over: "Help me Jesus! Help me Jesus!" and he did help me as the car ended up in a shallow ditch caught between two small, flexible trees that held onto it like the very loving hands of God. After getting pulled out of the ditch, we drove on home as if nothing had happened. Not a scratch on anyone including the car.
Wendy Bailey, Associate Executive Presbyter, had an article in the presbytery newsletter this month telling about her recent motorcycle accident. She said in the seconds when the wreck was happening she felt an overwhelming sense of peace and closeness to Jesus. Wendy is now doing fine and riding her bike again. It is in such dark experiences as car wrecks and motorcycle wrecks that we sometimes experience the peace of God that passes understanding. We come to Jesus in such times of desperation because that is the only place we know to go. When the time was right, Nicodemus was brought into an open acknowledgment of his faith by the terrible event of the execution of Jesus. God has his own way of using life events to precipitate us into taking steps which we might otherwise never take. In the end, after a discreet evening drop in on Jesus, Nicodemus was there when Jesus needed him. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimethea were the two people who prepared Jesus' body for burial. (John 19:39)
"The wind blows where it will," said Jesus. Similarly, God's spirit can't be boxed in by legalism or by simply following the rules. Like the wayward wind, God's spirit goes where it chooses and often finds out hidden nooks and crannies which are unnoticed by those whose stick rigidly to the rules. The Holy Spirit is like the wayward wind. The Spirit uses whom it will as it wishes regardless of our Pharisaical rules and expectations.
No-one can determine when or where God's spirit will appear or how God's spirit will work. God's Spirit blows like the wayward wind. We remember in prayer today the people of Japan who are rebuilding their lives one moment at a time after the recent tsunami and ongoing crisis at their nuclear plants. In the midst of their suffering, we pray that God will come to them in unexpected ways and use unconventional means to bring them courage and shalom. We know that God did not make this earthquake happen in order to punish them but God will work through the devastation wrought by this natural disaster in order to comfort and support them in the midst of this tragedy.
Nicodemus teaches us many things with his night time drop in on Jesus. We learn Jesus is open to receiving us just as we are without our masks. We learn that faith often grows slowly as it did with Nicodemus but in the end this cautious disciple was one of the two who made arrangements for Jesus' burial. Thus did God use an unlikely disciple, a Pharisee, to perform the final, sacred task of burial for Jesus. Thanks to Nicodemus coming to Jesus like a star in the night we have one of the most beloved verses in all of the Bible when Jesus says to Nicodemus: "For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him should have eternal life." (John 3:16) If God be for us, no one may stand against us, and Jesus makes it very clear through his night time drop in visit with Nicodemus that God is FOR humanity not against us. Thank you, Nicodemus, for taking the risk of talking to Jesus. Humanity has greater hope because of what you did and the way Jesus welcomed you. So Jesus welcomes us when we come to him just as we are … even if we come to him at night and in need.
