Lent 2, A- Newberry 2--8

Come Holy Spirit, move among and within us as we consider that God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that we should not perish but have eternal life. Amen 

This Lent, as you may or may not remember, I am preaching a series of sermons about “real people” who were “really there” at the Passion of Christ!

First, we looked at Peter and John who were there with Jesus at his Transfiguration, at the cross and at the empty tomb.

Next, we looked at Satan, who tempted Jesus in the wilderness, and Judas, who betrayed him.

Today’s gospel introduces us to Nicodemus, and with apologies to those who are not part of the “MTV Generation”; I have entitled this sermon “The Original Nic at Night”!

Nicodemus was a religious leader and a devout man, who came to Jesus at night seeking to find out who Jesus really was. Jesus told him he must be “born again”… or as the New Revised Standard renders it, “born from above.”

Nicodemus is surprised and confused by these words. Is this a riddle?

He asks for clarification: HOW can one enter into the womb a second time and be born?  But rather than clarify, Jesus speaks mysteriously, ambiguously…as he often seems to do…about wind, water and spirit: “Truly I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born

of water and spirit! The wind blows where it wills- you hear the sound of it, but you don’t know where it came from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit”

Although two millennia have passed since this nocturnal conversation took place, there is still considerable confusion and debate about what Jesus meant.

Some of us are old enough to recall the Presidential election of 1976.  Jimmy Carter, a Southern Baptist from Plains, Georgia, was running against incumbent Gerald Ford, an Episcopalian.  During the campaign, Carter created a sensation by announcing that he was a “born again Christian.”

He seems to have been the first presidential contender to publicly use this term.  For many people, the implication seemed to be that Carter was not just an ordinary, run of the mill Christian- but something of a different order- something special:

… “A Born Again Christian.”

A few years later, respected news anchor, Walter Cronkite made a similar stir by referring to himself as a “Born Again Episcopalian.”

That really was a shocker.  Few Americans associate the words, “born again” with “Episcopalian”.  (Note that we read this passage John 3: 16 only once every three years, while most Southern Baptist probably hear reference made to it weekly.)

Like Nic at Night, many were surprised and confused, wondering what those words “born again” might mean.

To clear up some of our confusion, we must return to our Gospel story and to Nicodemus.  What we know about this man is that he was a leader of the Jews, a member of the ruling class.  His very name says as much, being Greek for “aristocrat”.  We are told he was a Pharisee, aligned with the progressive wing of Judaism and a member to the Sanhedrin.  Nicodemus was wealthy, powerful, educated and respected in many ways the opposite

of Jesus.  Perhaps this explains why he dared to talk to Jesus only at night.

During the daylight hours, Nicodemus would have been surrounded by friends who were scandalized by Jesus.  They challenged his authority and debated with him in the temple.  No doubt, Nicodemus was expected to agree with them and to oppose Jesus.  But secretly, Nicodemus was impressed by Jesus and longed to talk with him.

He could never openly acknowledge Jesus as “a teacher sent from God” or called him “Rabbi” in public.  After all he had a reputation to protect. He had to be careful.  But despite his position as a teacher of Israel, Nicodemus had questions about life and death and God.  Questions not answered sufficiently by pat legalistic religion of the Pharisees.

And he sensed that Jesus had answers.

It was in this context that Jesus spoke of the need to be “born again”.  The Kingdom of God, Jesus told Nicodemus, is not something that is attained by human effort, or even human religion.  It comes to us “from above”, as a gift from God.  Like the wind that seems to have a will of its own, the spirit of God blows freely where He wills.  And the soul touched by His spirit is changed and remade – He changes us “from above”, from the top down and the bottom up and from the inside out!  It is as if we are washed with cleansing water and given a new life!

No one can enter the Kingdom of God by his or her own human efforts. Only by the Spirit of God.  Only by being “born anew”, “from above.”

Hearing this for the first time, not only confused Nicodemus but it must have frightened him as well.

With all his piety and all his learning, how could he have neglected such important a truth?  How could he and his learned colleagues not have known?  It was as if the life he has worked so hard to build up came crashing down in a moment like a house of cards.

But in that moment Nicodemus was changed. Once the wall he had built up was broken down the spirit was able to blow free and Nicodemus became a new man.  In a very real sense he was “born again”.  We know this because the course of his life changed.  At first, in secret then later openly, he became a disciple of Jesus.  The next time we see Nicodemus he has found his courage.

When the Sanhedrin met to condemn Jesus, he speaks out reminding them that under Biblical law no man is condemned without a fair hearing and a fair trial.  For daring to say this, Nicodemus was censured by his colleagues and accused of complicity with Jesus and his band of unruly

Galileans, a charge Nicodemus does not deny.

After the crucifixion Nicodemus appears once more.  No longer as a “Secret Disciple” of Jesus but as a full-fledged follower.

With Joseph of Arimathea, another member of the council, Nicodemus is with Jesus at the last taking charge of his body. He provides a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes at his own expense and helps to prepare the body for burial and assist in laying it in the tomb.  This final loving act was dangerous since Jesus’ enemies were rounding up his disciples.

It shows us how the secret disciple had changed.  Tradition tells us that Nicodemus later used his scholarly knowledge of scripture as a teacher in the church helping to spread the good news of new birth.

Nicodemus was one who was there with Jesus at his passion and one who through Jesus was “born again” by water and the Spirit, one of the first.

Nic at Night was reborn from above and came out from under the cover of darkness to live in God’s marvelous light. The same invitation has been extended to each of us and everyone. Amen