Date: Feb. 17,
2008 Lent 2
Scriptures: Gen. 12:1-4a; John 3:1-17
Sermon: A Complicated Pregnancy
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Did you ever have a
‘Nicodemus moment’? Poor Nicodemus. Wedged in the pages of John’s gospel between
Nathanael who so readily declared to Jesus, “You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”(John 1:49), and the Samaritan woman
whose testimony about her encounter with Jesus caused many others from her city
to believe in him (John
4: 39).
Poor Nicodemus. He didn’t have a testimony to profess. His encounter with Jesus left him only able
to confess: “How can these things be?” (John 3:9). Nicodemus doesn’t get it. As the gospel-writer’s spotlight shines on
Jesus, Nicodemus silently leaves the stage and we the audience see no more of
him at this showing.
Their encounter started
innocently enough. His plan was to come
to Jesus at night when the crowds would have gone home. Then, he would have Jesus all to
himself. They could converse about the
Torah, God’s law, one rabbi to another.
And...perhaps...he would satisfy his curiosity about this most
remarkable man, Jesus.
Nicodemus is a “company
man” a Pharisee,(which means Separated One), a most devout Jew, and a
leader at that --one of the 70 members of the official Jewish court. His credentials are too long to fit onto a
calling card, but not to worry.
Accustomed to being recognized for who he is and what he stands for,
Nicodemus merely flashes the first-person plural to gain admittance, and adds a
gushing compliment to his greeting:
“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.” (Jn. 3:2).
Jesus wasn’t about to waste words returning a
compliment or even responding to the one he was given. As the Word become flesh, Jesus knew his
purpose and did not need to speak in generalities.
But on the other hand, in
spite of Jesus’ directness, it must have felt to Nicademus that he had stepped
by mistake, not into the presence of a fellow Jew most blessed by God,
but into the office of an obstetrician, given all of Jesus’ talk about birth: born
from above; born of the flesh; born of the spirit.
Now Nicodemos was a smart
man, wise and discerning. It’s not
likely he would have been a member of the Sanhedrin (the Jewish Council) if he
had been otherwise. But who wouldn’t
have been dis-oriented by such a conversation?!
It would be as if someone were to phone me and the conversation went
something like this:
Caller:
Ruth, I heard someone describe you
recently as a modern Mother Teresa.
Me:
Being part of God’s saving
reign happens when one is re-made, from above.
Likewise, predictability is sabotaged at every turn by Jesus. The lyrics to a song by Chris Rice could well
describe the scene:
I can sniff, I can see,
and I can count up pretty high,
but these faculties
aren’t gettin’ me any closer to the sky.
But my heart of faith
keeps poundin’, so I know I’m doing fine,
but sometimes finding
you, is just like tryin’ to...
smell the color 9. [song lyrics by Chris Rice]
Following Jesus’ train of
thought makes about as much sense as trying to smell the colour 9 alright. Or...is Jesus really that hard to
understand??
Just a few verses before
the story of Nicodemus begins, the gospel writer tells us that Jesus knew all
people (John 2:24). Before Nicodemus’
arrival, Jesus knew his visitor would be a loyal Pharisee, one who separated
himself from all ordinary life in order to keep every detail of the law of the
scribes, one whose very way of salvation was strict observance of the law and
tradition of the elders.
“ John then records a
conversation to show that all such views are wide of the mark. Not a devout regard for the Law, not even a
revised presentation of Judaism is required, but a radical rebirth. The demand is repeated three times” [The New International Commentary on
the New Testament: John, Leon Morris, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1971) p.
209]. The law doesn’t save. Living a life of gratitude for God’s saving
grace and mercy is reflected by observing the laws, yes. Obeying the law is still not what saves, but
only believing in Him who came to fulfill the law, God’s own Son.
Far from considering
hearing the words “born anew” as meaningless midwifery jargon, Nicodemus would
have been familiar with the “birthing” language used by Jesus. “When a man from another faith became a Jew
and had been accepted into Judaism by prayer and sacrifice and baptism, he was
regarded as being reborn. A
[newcomer] to Judaism, said the rabbis, is like a new-born child” [William Barclay, The Daily Study
Bible: The Gospel of John, Vo. 1, revised ed., (Toronto: Welch, 1975) p. 126].
Nicodemus’ question “How
can someone be born when they are already old, and can they enter a second time
into their mother’s womb?” was a verbal volley back into Jesus’ court, testing Jesus’
understanding of traditional beliefs of conversion.
But Jesus presses back,
eventually stumping Nicodemus who can only respond, “How can these things
be?” But just because he doesn’t know,
doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Someone
else in another pregnancy and birthing story asked the same thing: “How can
this be?...for I am a virgin” (Luke 1:34). Mary, the mother of Jesus,
experiences a similar challenge, being confronted and wooed by Holy Spirit that
blows where it will.
Scripture enlists a rich
array of metaphors to speak of the shake-up, the dislodgement that describes
the whole new life and world of one who claims and is reclaimed by God in
Christ: regeneration (Titus 3:5), new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), putting on a new
nature (Eph. 4:24) [William Willimon, Pastor: The
Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry, (Nashville: Abingdon Press,
2002, p. 226].
Sometimes it’s hard to
know how to describe what happens: is it birth or death? Sometimes it feels like both at the same
time. And why shouldn’t it feel like
both, since Jesus in whom we are re-born experiences both death and rebirth,
being lifted up on the cross in death, lifted up in victory at his
resurrection, and raised to glory in heaven at his ascension to reign with God
and the Holy Spirit.
But what of
Nicodemus? His is a complicated
pregnancy. He takes time. He needs time – to progress in faith from seeing the signs
that Jesus does...to embracing the offer and belief that Jesus embodies--
God’s love for the world.
John’s gospel gifts us
with two more windows into the passage of time in the life of Nicodemus. By the 7th chapter of John, the
Pharisees have shifted from admiring Jesus’ signs and wonders, to wanting to
arrest Jesus. At this point, Nicodemus
confronts his own peers, reminding them that “Our Law does not judge a man
unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?” (John:7:50,51). Nicodemus took a risky step of faith causing
eyebrows of suspicion to be raised about his allegiance: was it to the
Law or to Jesus?
The last snapshot John’s
gospel offers of Nicodemus depicts him helping to remove Jesus’ body from the
cross. He has brought with him 100 pounds of spices to wrap among the linens as
he and Joseph of Arimathea bind Jesus’ crucified body for burial (John 19:38-40).
As Nicodemus embraces the
body of Jesus, he embraces the offer of eternal life (“of life in its fulness
that begins now and continues beyond the grave” [Sue Steiner]). His water is beginning to break. Nicodemus is being born anew.
The decision, whether or
not to embrace this offer of God’s love in Christ Jesus, is also ours to
make. As one writer reminds us: “In these 40 days of Lenten wilderness, there
may be no better place to contemplate the decision for life with God in
Christ. Because in the wilderness it is
difficult, if not impossible, to hide from the moment of decision. We travel without the comfortable
accoutrements of habit and routine that we often use to seduce ourselves into
believing that we do not have to decide for life. In this season of the Christian Church we
call Lent, we are called to strip our life with God down to the bare
essentials. We are called to embrace the
offer of love and new life that God makes available to us in the life and death
of Jesus, and to allow our lives to begin anew as a result of that embrace” [Gail R. O’Day, “Piety Without
Pretense, Faith Without Falsehood: The Lenten Journey According to John” in Journal
for Preachers 20 no. 2 Lent 1997, pp. 10-13]. May we say ‘yes,’ to that offer--now and
always.
Let us pray:
There is a time to be born and a time to die.
And this is a time to be born.
So we turn to you, God of our life,
Our times...including
this time, right now... are in your hand.
Help us to hold your hand,
to trust you with our life, our congregation, our future,
not so we might never die,
but so that we might truly live through Christ and for Christ.
Through Your Holy Spirit’s power
move us from womb warmth to
real life.
With the assurance that you will never leave us, nor forsake us
we offer you our baby steps, in faith,
trusting you to raise us like
your Son,
in whose Name we pray. Amen.