I am told
John 3:16, God loved the world so much …
is one of the best known verses from the Bible. This passage from chapter 3 of John’s gospel, can feel like a weapon rather than good news to some people. I have known people who have grown up in the church, who have not had a ‘born again’ experience and feel like they are second class citizens in some spaces. And I have met people who have had an amazing ‘born again’ experience, and they live as if they need do nothing more.
is one of the best known verses from the Bible. This passage from chapter 3 of John’s gospel, can feel like a weapon rather than good news to some people. I have known people who have grown up in the church, who have not had a ‘born again’ experience and feel like they are second class citizens in some spaces. And I have met people who have had an amazing ‘born again’ experience, and they live as if they need do nothing more.
Let us look a
little closer at what is happening in this passage:
Nicodemus, a
Pharisee and Jewish leader comes to Jesus at night.
Why come at
night – the last paragraph of the reading helps us here. People do things in
the dark they want to keep hidden. A
religious leader seen having a conversation, rather than an argument, with
Jesus is not going to go down too well with the other religious leaders. So,
Nicodemus tries to see Jesus, on his own, without disciples or crowds.
Then there is
a confusing conversation, about being born from above, and what that might
mean.
Pharisees,
may be seen as the enemy of Jesus a lot of the time, but they were people who
tried really hard to keep the rules, all the rules. Jesus tells him that being
born from above involves the Spirit. The mysterious Spirit, that blows where it
wants to.
And Nicodemus
does not understand.
I wonder if
what Jesus is trying to get to in the next section is that if someone who is a
religious leader doesn’t get this, then there is a problem with the system. [i]
We heard in
the Old Testament, how the prophets spoke God’s judgement, and hope, to people.
Judgement because they disobeyed God, and hope because God didn’t give up on
them. Often the disobedience wasn’t about ritual or tithing, but about justice
for the poor, the widow, the traveller.
The system
was broken, a system that increasingly was about who was acceptable, or
unacceptable.
The system
was broken, Jesus came to show people how to love and live, and what it meant
to live in relationship with God, not how to tithe herbs.
Jesus gives
Nicodemus a new way of thinking.
From the
beginning of the gospel of John we have heard that Jesus comes from above but
was born physically in the incarnation. Nicodemus has already been born physically
but needs to be born spiritually.[ii]
And the
Spirit is unpredictable.
Nicodemus,
like many educated people, relied on his brain.
And as much
as I would like to be able to understand much more of the Bible in terms of
knowledge, belief and faith are not about up here [head].
We can know about someone, even God, without ever knowing them.
We can know about someone, even God, without ever knowing them.
You can know
lots about the royal family or your favourite band, but that doesn’t mean you
know them.
This passage is much more about God’s love for us, than how much we know about Jesus.
Here is an
image I put up on the Facebook page this week.
Another of looking
at this passage.
The original
text didn’t come with chapters marked out and verse numbers. It can be
difficult sometimes to know where one story finishes and the next one starts.
At the end of
chapter 2, John writes:
“In Jerusalem during Passover many people put their faith in Jesus,
because they saw him work miracles. But Jesus knew what was in their hearts,
and he would not let them have power over him. No one had to tell him what
people were like. He already knew.
There was a man named
Nicodemus who was a Pharisee and a Jewish leader”
What if the
story of Nicodemus, is an example of how Jesus knew what was in the hearts of
people?
How when
approached by Nicodemus, Jesus saw immediately what was going on, a religious
leader who is intrigued by what Jesus has been able to do yet isn’t quite sure
what it means.
What if Jesus
saw Nicodemus for who he was, even in the dark of night, the one who is the
light of the world saw Nicodemus.
What if this
passage is about Jesus, Jesus who knows us, Jesus who loves us, Jesus who won’t
give up on us.
Jesus who
will continue to hold us in love, even when that confuses us.
Jesus who is
born of water and spirit and invites us into that life.
“Jesus is clear.
This whole thing is about God’s love for the world. In the end, Jesus had to
bring it down to the simplest of terms. God loves the world. Jesus came, not to
condemn, but to save. People of the light would respond with joy. People of
darkness would flee the light. But God would not condemn anyone – God would give his Son before giving up”.
[iii]
How do you
feel knowing God will never give up on you?
[i]
http://zionelginil.org/god-can-be-confusing/
[ii]
https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3385
[iii]
http://zionelginil.org/god-can-be-confusing/
