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In an effort to guard and maintain his pristine reputation, he seeks out Jesus at night. We read these passages in the Gospel of John chapter three, beginning in verse one, and we are quick to think less of Nicodemus for being so concerned with his own reputation to seek out Jesus at night. Because had it been us, in his place, we would have boldly sought out Christ in broad daylight, declared ourselves His most ardent disciple (move over Peter), and made sure we were the ones who Jesus could depend on in any situation, right? But, where is our public declaration(s) at work, at school, at the mall? And perhaps more important than carrying a sign that might identify us as Christians, where are our private declaration(s) that God and those in need alone, can easily see that we follow the God of love, and not of judgment? Sometimes Christians are publicly Christians when the numbers and company favor being one, and conveniently silent when they do not. Sometimes Christians declare themselves to be Christians, with placards that condemn the evil in others, instead of offering a love that might offer one steeped in evil, a reason to think differently. Perhaps there are more night-movers in a modern church than we might at first think. Nicodemus begins his encounter with Jesus in this way, in secret, at night, and to protect his reputation.
His opening remarks and question to Christ are couched in respect, but also in flattery. In verse 2 Nicodemus says … “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.” The term Rabbi is one used for respected teachers, and from his perspective, He is elevating Jesus to be a peer, a contemporary teacher, a person of respect, even though Jesus does not appear to be wealthy, or formally educated, or a man of means and influence. Nicodemus, perhaps subconsciously, takes Jesus down a peg, by calling him a “teacher” come from God, not the Son of God. He also refers to this, as common knowledge. Here is the essence of modern Christianity, we come to Jesus and proceed to tell Him what we “know”. We flatter Him with our words, while at the same time, place Him as nothing more than a contemporary of ours. His wisdom is worth no more than our own, after all we have common sense, and an absolute certainty about what the scriptures teach us is the truth. So we proceed to tell Jesus, what the truth is, and what is common knowledge to us.
Having been greeted in this manner, at this time of day, and knowing the reasons behind it; Jesus should have been insulted. Here He has the perfect opportunity to put Nicodemus in his place, remind him who He is, as opposed to who Nicodemus is, in relationship to God. Confront and correct the errors in the thinking of Nicodemus, by telling him everything about how mistaken Nicodemus is in his interpretations of scripture. He could have told him, Hey, come back in the morning if you really care about truth, and next time, remember who My Dad is. What’s more He could have told people after this encounter how the “respected” Nicodemus came to seek wisdom from Him, thus proving He was greater than the Sanhedrin. Of course all these human responses to insults, and errors, do not seem to even enter the mind of Christ. Christ did not concern himself with the implied insult of the time of day, or even with the errors in everything Nicodemus has just said. Instead He changes the subject completely and offers Nicodemus a truth of profound spirituality, that summarizes the entire Gospel in one line. We might call it a sound-bite in modern terminology, but it was way more than that.
In verse 3, Jesus says to him … “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Here is a one line summary of every scripture Nicodemus has ever learned. Here is a summation of every philosophical concept about the nature of man ever pondered by deep thinkers. In effect, we must be re-created in order to even perceive the kingdom of God. Jesus must deal with the blindness of Nicodemus before he will be able to even “see” the truth. For the truth is not found in his long study of the word, it is summarized in the Person standing before him. The voice who inspired the scriptures is now trying to open the mind of Nicodemus to begin to think differently, perceive differently, and find something that humanity on its own, is incapable of finding. To be “born again” is not some slogan Christians wore out in the 1970’s, pairing it with “free love” and trying to associate it with “speaking in tongues”. Being born again is about being fully re-created, the death of a carnal self-centered ideology, and the birth of a self-less-service based ideology that mimics the definition of love that Christ brought to the world. One does not choose how to be born, this is done outside of our control. Begin created the first time, was a decision of love made by others. Similarly, being reborn is not something we can do for ourselves. It is a gift of love offered to us, done for us, by the hands of the only Creator God who has ever existed. This is what we must have, in order for the blindness of our own ideas about scripture to be fully and finally taken away. It will take a power outside of ourselves, to remake us, in order that we might begin to “see” truth.
But Nicodemus is still blind. So his response is a human one, based on the current laws of physics. To Nicodemus, this idea is simply nonsense. How could a fully grown person be reborn from his mother once again? This is crazy talk. Again Jesus does not rebuke Nicodemus for still being blind, or thinking He is crazy. He does not ridicule Nicodemus, and He does not abandon what He has just summarized, instead He elaborates a bit more, again attempting to get Nicodemus to begin to “see” truth differently. Nothing in the doctrine Jesus is explaining to Nicodemus is counter to anything taught by all the scriptures of the Old Testament. Yet Jesus is employing none of the traditions or symbolisms upon which the entire Jewish religion is based. Jesus did not throw the law at Nicodemus. He did not cite the need to keep the Sabbath, or sacrifice lambs on the alter at Passover, in order for Nicodemus to finally see truth. Those ideas Nicodemus already practiced, and despite this fact, they had not led him to the truth he was still blind to. Attempting obedience before a re-creation is attempting to find salvation on our own, and through our own strength and ideas about truth, and it is fruitless. Good ideas, and good intentions, are not what our Lord wants. He wants us to see truth as truth, and this can only be accomplished if we first recognize our need for outside power to remake who we are.
In verses 4 and 5 Jesus answers Nicodemus again … “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. [verse 6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Here Christ points out the sequence in how this rebirth is to take place. Being born of water, or through the symbolism of baptism, Christ points us to the need we have of rebirth. We exist in a condition of pain. Most of our pain is self-inflicted from the evil we embrace. While our evil hurts others and causes ripples of pain that extend out in every direction, at the center of this pain is still us. We hurt ourselves by what we do, and how we think, and what we want. It is the core of us, that must be remade, reborn, re-created. This is our so great need, and the reason why John called for repentance. Not to simply be forgiven for what we do, but the desire to be something else. The desire in us, to escape our state of perpetual slavery to self and pain, to sin no more; to repent, not just of what we have done, but of what we still want to do; this was the call of John in the desert. Who you are defines what you do.
The Spirit then, is the agent outside of ourselves, that must be the mechanism, the gift of our re-creation. It is through the Holy Spirit that Christ remakes us into the new creations He intended for us to be. This is an act we have no more control over than we did at our first birth. We do not get to tell the Holy Spirit how to remake us, what areas to leave alone, and what areas we think we need help in. This is an all or nothing deal. This is about complete renovation, not minor alterations. This is not about our own ideas of truth. This is about beginning to see truth for the first time clearly. The removal of our self-inflicted blindness will only happen as we abandon our ideas, and be willing to accept a complete overhaul of who we are, how we think and what we want. This being born of the Spirit, changes the rules of physics. We begin to see that our perceived boundaries are really no longer true boundaries, because we exist no more as humans taking care of ourselves, but as new creations wholly reliant on God. It is no longer our power used to defeat evil within us, it is the power of God who defeats evil within us on our behalf. It is no longer our meager attempts at obedience, but rather true obedience from a heart that embraces the gifts God offers. The Sabbath is no longer a chore, but a treasured time with Christ, we would not abandon for the world. The chance to praise God in church is no longer about pretense, and social ratings, but about a treasured opportunity to say thank you to a God who has freed us from ourselves, and our bondage to selfishness. Perceptions of reality change post a true rebirth in Christ. What was once seen as impossible, is now merely child’s play, as we now acknowledge where all things of power can truly be found. It is no longer us. It is only Him.
Christ continues, by saying “Marvel not”. In other words, don’t be so surprised Nicodemus. You have no idea where the wind comes from or where it is going. You do not control the wind. Why did you think you could control “who” you are? Why do we? Being born of the Spirit is something that happens outside of our abilities. We must invite it. But we do not control it. It controls us. It replaces our slavery to self with the freedom that comes from self-less-ness. Here Christ keeps the conversation centralized on “how” a person is saved from evil. It is not about lamb’s blood at Passover. It is not about all the traditions the religious leadership has instituted to help people “keep” the law. It is not about how educated you are, how smart you are, how rich you are, or how healthy you are. It is about recognizing it takes something outside of yourself to be remade into something new. You DO NOT CONTROL it. You benefit from it. It is a gift. It is the gift of salvation. No earning it. No buying it. Just receiving it. It changes who you are.
Nicodemus still clings to his own ideas about truth; ideas that are based on years of study, years of education, years of pondering the meaning of scripture. These ideas and education have earned him prominence in Israelite society. And in all his years, he has never even considered, that salvation came from outside of himself. Still clinging to his ideology he again mutters … “How can these things be?” To this stubborn clinging to human wisdom, Jesus must chide Nicodemus a bit to wake him up. In verse 10 Jesus responds … “art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?” From the perspective of Christ, how could you study the law, the prophets, and creation and NOT come to these conclusions? How could all the education have led you somewhere else? Did you not read the stories of the Old Testament and see the repeated failures of humanity, and find their success only when they trusted themselves to God? Only when they submitted to God were the victories ever witnessed. How could you have read so much, and missed the point entirely? How do we? How is it we read the Old Testament and focus on the violence of human actions, missing entirely the point of those stories. It is only when we submit to God that His victory is wrought within us. And just like Nicodemus that is not what we have seen. We focus on the human actions and think that is the way we will be saved. Here is Christ saying, you don’t get it. That is not how it works.
Jesus continues in verse 12 … “If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? [verse 13] And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” Here Jesus corrects what Nicodemus first said in addressing Him. Here Jesus says, you called me a teacher come from God, but you are not accepting what I am telling you about truth. How then can you accept what I want to tell you about heaven, where only I have been? Jesus re-asserts his divinity. Jesus tells Nicodemus here, it is not your ideas that define truth, it is me. It is not your understanding that brings about salvation, it is literally your belief in Me, and in my mission. You must accept that salvation will come from outside of yourself, and I alone am that vehicle. Then comes the most profound and detailed verses in all of scripture about the nature and mission of Christ.
In verse 14 Jesus continues … “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: [verse 15] That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Here is where the rubber meets the road. Your salvation did not come through the actions of Moses, but through the belief that God could and would save you. Here Christ says to Nicodemus, I am the sacrifice that the symbolism of the sacrificial system pointed forward to. It will be me lifted up on a cross, for your salvation Nicodemus. And as it was in the days of Israel of old, you will not be saved because of your actions, you will be saved because you believe that I can and I will save you. Christ alone, being the Son of God, could do this work, fulfill this mission, and enable salvation for all of mankind. Having done it, it would take a continued belief that God would do what He said, and change who you are, give you the rebirth, and recreation you must have in order to escape the bondage of sin.
In verse 16, Jesus articulates the reason why He, and His Father God would do this work … “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The most quoted text in the Bible, the most repeated verse in all of scriptures, are spoken by the mouth of Christ, to the ears of Nicodemus, in the dark of night. Praise God, that John was there to record the conversation, and preserve it for you and I. The reason we are saved is because of the infinite love of God for us. Our God loved us more than He loved His own life. Our God loved us so much, that as a Father, He would willing part with His own Son, to see Him tortured and killed by the very creation He was there to redeem. Our God, both Father and Son and Spirit, loved us this much. That despite our lack of knowledge of truth, our intentional self-inflicted blindness, our own sense of self-worth to dare to tell God what truth is, He would still love us more than all of it, and save us from ourselves in spite of it. Love was THE reason, we exist, and we would be saved. This motive alone moves the actions, the mission, the words, and the deeds of Christ. This motive alone – not to boost His own ego (He has none) – not to achieve some sort of wealth (He measures wealth in us) – not to win some sort of contest with Satan (He won that before it began). It was love, plain and simple. Love alone is the only reason He would do it all.
In verse 17, our very Savior continues … “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” Here Christ lays out the purpose of His mission, and directly addresses the misconceptions that have arisen regarding the point of the Messiah. He is not there to judge the world. There will be no Roman overthrow. There will be no wicked punished. There will be no misdeeds made right, and inequalities addressed, and justice instantiated throughout the planet. These things will not be achieved by force, but by love. What must precede them, is the work of enabling love within us. What must precede a perfect world of justice, is the desire for others above our own. This rebirth cannot be attained until the mission of the Messiah has been fulfilled. There will be no righteous judgment of condemnation upon the evil of others. There will be instead redemption and salvation. Despite these direct words of Christ Himself as to His own mission, modern Christians so often jump the gun, and believe the work of judgment and righteous condemnation belongs to them. Not even Christ came to condemn. But somehow modern Christians feel the need to compel their own ideas about truth on the lives of others, whether by law, or by placard. What Christ alone would not do, we somehow think we are qualified to do? The work of Christ was salvation. Those who bear His name, should embrace His mission, not try to redefine it.
In verse 18, He continues … “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Jesus tells Nicodemus, I am here to save you and the world at large. I am the vehicle of your salvation. If you believe this you are not condemned to the life you were born to. If you do not believe in the only Creator God is who is capable of changing who you are, you are simply embracing the person you are today, with no hope to change, no hope to be someone else, and as such, you are condemned already. You are who you are Nicodemus. You are who you are modern Christian. There is no denying who you are. Lie as you will to others. Fight as hard as you want to deny it to yourself. But who you are, must be remade new, reborn to Christ, if you are ever to really change and want something else. This is the unmistakable truth about the Messiah. Salvation comes from outside of ourselves, not within us. It must be accepted as a gift, no other way. To reject a belief that Christ can and will save you, is to leave yourself as you are – born of the flesh, and condemned to the slavery of serving self, and the pain that it brings. There is only one hope outside of yourself. There is only one offer on the table that is real, and offered by the Creator.
Then in verse 19 Christ redefines for Nicodemus and for us what “condemnation” actually means … “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. [verse 20] For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. [verse 21] But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” Condemnation is NOT the fires of Hell, we like to think of. It is living a life that prefers to “love darkness” rather than living free in the light and truth of God. Being a slave is its own version of hell. Living like we do is living under the weight of condemnation, and the pain we choose to embrace and inflict. Our lives are the problem. Our deeds are the cause of our pain. It is who we are that is the hell of separation from God, because we choose it. It is this Christ came to redeem us from. Not just from some far off fiery lake of flames and torment, but from the here and now of the pain that comes from our sins and our choices. This is what those who refuse to believe that Christ will save them, are doomed to experience. Whether Christian or not, believing that salvation comes from within us, perpetuates the doom of this life, this existence, and this pattern of sin and pain. It is only when accept the gift of Christ that our condition can finally be remade.
Notice too, the end of verse 21 referring to the deeds of truth Christ says … “they are wrought in God.” Our actions are NOT our own, even after being remade. They are BECAUSE of the rebirth, not to achieve it. We do deeds of truth because of the effect of love that completely remakes us in His image. His love has a transformative effect on our very thinking process. Deeds that can be done in the presence of God, in the beauty of His light, that would cause us and others no shame, are those deeds inspired by love for others, more than love for self. The absence of ego is our beginning. The absence of self, even self-preservation, is the beginning of the love Christ offered on our behalf. When this transformation is enacted within us, our deeds become those which are wrought in God. Even past the act of transformation, even past the act of surrender to Christ that brings re-creation, it is still not us. It is still acts wrought in God, not OUR acts that define our transformation. Even past the initial re-creation is the ongoing renewal powered only by Christ and the Holy Spirit.
This ends the encounter between the religious leader and Christ for now. Nicodemus came to Christ, thinking he did Christ a favor, when instead everything he thought he knew, was blown away like so much dust. How similar it is for those of us who are willing to encounter Christ today. Everything we think we know about scripture and doctrine and tradition are blown away in the presence of such overwhelming love and redemptive power. For it is not the interpretation of scripture where Nicodemus found truth, instead he found it in the person of Jesus Christ. It is not in the law that Christ told Nicodemus the secret to how he would be saved. Salvation would only come from outside of himself, and outside of us. There is only one Creator God, and only one offer of true change, true reformation, true transformation away from the condemnation of pain we live with every day. Rebirth, re-creation, renewal is what our God came to bring us. He did it because He loves us, for no other reason. His mission was not to judge or condemn but to redeem and save us from pain. His mission has not changed. His motive has not changed. His love is as alive now, as it was when He walked this earth. He does not turn Nicodemus away for his ignorance. He welcomes the engagement and uses the opportunity to give to the world perhaps the most precious words ever spoken. His gift is to more than just Nicodemus, or John, it is to you, it is to me. And it has not stopped giving yet …
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