John 3:1-16 God loves the cautious seeker too
Trinity Sunday

Nicodemus was a teacher of the law and a Jewish religious leader. He appears again in two other places in John but is not mentioned in the other three Gospels. The writer of John has a wonderful way of telling the Gospel story in and through the life experiences of people who encountered Jesus. To me the personalities of the people who met Jesus are much more pronounced in the Gospel according to John.  It is through John that we get to know the personalities of disciples like Nathaniel, and Philip, also others like the Samaritan woman at the well, Mary and Martha, Lazarus, and Nicodemus. So, what is John trying to tell us about God and us through the life of Nicodemus?
  
I must say that I love dramatic conversion stories like the Apostle Paul’s, the Ethiopian eunuch in the book of Acts, and in our lifetime like Chuck Colson’s, and many we know personally in our lives. But such dramatic conversion stories as we define them are hard to come by. For most people the faith journey is one of a continuous search process, filled with more questions than answers, and the dawn of God’s light coming on in very slow motion. Nicodemus was like most people, like most of us. He knew and saw in Jesus the presence of God. He had obviously heard about and had probably seen Jesus do many miraculous things. Nicodemus even acknowledges and affirms that Jesus is a teacher divinely anointed and delegated by God. The fact that he goes to Jesus in the night may not necessarily be because he wanted a secret meeting. It could have been that Nicodemus was following the discipline of many devout Jews who studied the law very intentionally in the quiet and peace of the night for better focus and concentration. He probably just wanted Jesus’ undivided attention to answer his questions. Whatever the reasons for the night visit, we can take it for granted that Nicodemus was a diligent and faithful Jew, whose life was defined and guided by the law or the Torah.  If he were a Christian, Nicodemus would be the one you see in church every Sunday, he would be in a prominent leadership position in the church, he would probably be one of the big donors, he would be reading all the latest books on Christianity; and above all, he would be quite convinced that he is doing everything that’s needed to be a good Christian. Have you ever found yourself asking, “Am I doing everything that is necessary to be a good Christian?” Doing the right thing was very important for the teachers of the law of which Nicodemus was one. But there was something in Jesus that Nicodemus saw, which led him to seek the truth behind who Jesus really was or is. Nicodemus sensed and acknowledged that Jesus seemed to have an intimate relationship with God that was very different from what he experienced through the observance of the law, and obviously he wanted to know more about what it was that Jesus had, which he didn’t. 

As soon as the conversation with Jesus starts, Nicodemus gets stumped, confused and intrigued by what Jesus had to say to him. Jesus in one sentence completely dismantles everything that Nicodemus stood for, which was the belief that following the Torah/law could earn the way into the Kingdom or presence of God. Jesus tells him that one must be born again or remade by the power of God in order to enter the Kingdom of God. No human effort can lead us into the kingdom of God. Anyone who is not born again or transformed by the Spirit of God will not even see the Kingdom of God, leave alone enter it. Jesus explained further with metaphors about what it means to be regenerated by God, and even then there is no indication that Nicodemus was enlightened at that moment about Jesus and what it means to be born again. Nicodemus was filled with doubts, uncertainties, hopes, fears, desires, and habits that he had accumulated over the years and he just could not fathom the implications of a regenerated life. Jesus patiently and fervently explains to Nicodemus about what it means to be born again. He says that he must be born of “water and the Spirit.”  Jesus in a way chides Nicodemus for his denseness in seeing the spiritual aspects of the new life for surely Nicodemus knew what water and spirit symbolized in their religious practices. Water in most ancient cultures symbolized purification, an acknowledgement of ones’ need to be cleansed, and also signify repentance from a life of displeasure to God. And being born of the Spirit clearly conveys Jesus’ invitation to enter into a completely new and holy life that Jesus himself would give.

Like Nicodemus, some of us stand before God with many questions and hesitations, being held captive by our reasons and rituals. However, God is patient, just like Jesus was with Nicodemus and at some point we must take the leap that is required of us all. Who knows how long it took for Nicodemus to believe that Jesus was truly the Son of God, or maybe he didn’t. But there is hope for us too when John writes that after Jesus was lowered from the cross,  “Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds.”  I would like to believe that Nicodemus did finally experience the transforming power and presence of God in his life. God’s desire is that we will all come to believe in Jesus as the one sent by God who has the power to generate in us a new and holy life.

A story is told of a crowd gathered to watch in awe the tightrope walker as he walks on the wire from one end of the cliff to the other. Next, the tightrope walker takes a unicycle and rides on the wire as effortlessly as he would on solid ground. Everyone cheers and admires the ability of the tightrope walker. As the applause stop the tightrope walker takes a wheelbarrow and asks for a volunteer to sit in it so he can wheel him or her on the wire to the other side of the deep chasm. What do you think? Well, there was no one who took up the challenge from the tightrope walker that day.

Do we, like Nicodemus, see all that Jesus is doing, even believe that he is indeed the Son of God but still reluctant to believe in Him to transform our lives? Are we amongst the crowd that like to join in the applause when Jesus works in mighty ways and fail to take that step when he invites us to walk with Him? Lately, have we stopped to check if our lives reflect the new and spirit-filled life that God calls us to? Amen.