Sermon: Nicodemus
Text:
John 3: 1-17
Date:
July 20, 2008
By:
Kendall Brown
By
night, the commonest shapes take on monstrous proportions.
By
night, daytime’s unheard noises become stirring, frightening sounds.
By
night, familiar object become shadows and silhouettes and shadows take on their
own life.
Inside
ourselves, we hear voices by night that daytime go unheard.
Passions
lift up their voices by night whether in love or in hate.
Anxiety
visits us by night and asks, “Are you sure things will be well tomorrow?”
The
voice of conscious, dull and unnoticed by day, stirs by night and disturbs our
sleep.
The
soft pillow can become a stone by night.
Tired and worn we can find no rest.
On
such a night as this, Nicodemus came to Jesus.
By
day things were quite clear to Nicodemus.
He sat on the council and passed judgment. He debated with his peers and was confident
in his scholarship. He did what was
right and was afraid of no one.
Then
night arrives and with it comes the questions that had been shunned all day.
There
is something missing.
Deep
down inside I have no peace.
What
is life all about?
I
have done and accomplished much. I have
my career, my degrees, my gold watch for twenty years
of faithful service with the firm. On my
living room shelf is the picture album documenting family success and
accomplishment. But is that all there
is?
By
night Nicodemus knows a hollowness in his heart and in
his gut.
So
Nicodemus went to Jesus and so we all go with him.
He
sensed that Jesus had something to do with what he lacked.
Perhaps
I will find my peace there.
Perhaps
in Jesus I will find what is missing.
Perhaps
in Jesus the void will be filled.
But
in approaching Jesus, Nicodemus makes a huge mistake.
He
fails to ask his question.
He
is too used to playing the role of the strong person, the one who has the
answers.
He
does not lay his need before the Lord.
He
makes no mention of the hollowness, his void within.
It
does not occur to Nicodemus to speak to Jesus about how distant God is.
In
spite of the suggestive darkness of the night around him, Nicodemus avoids the
darkness of his soul.
What
does Nicodemus do?
He
decides that it is time to discuss things with Jesus as if discussion
will bring:
Light to darkness
Peace to a trouble soul
Wholeness where there is emptiness
Healing where there is brokenness.
Nicodemus
begins the discussion, politely and properly with a courteous and respectful
greeting.
“Rabbi,
we know that you are a Teacher come from God; for no one can do these miracles
that you do, except God be with him.”
Nicodemus
unwittingly reveals what it is that he seeks in his courteous greeting. He affirms that God is with Jesus. He recognizes that Jesus is one who lives and
moves and has his being day in and day out with God. Nicodemus knows that even though he is as
religious as one can be, there is a difference between believing in God as he
does and living in God as Jesus does.
Jesus
does not adopt the polite conversational tone that his visitor presents. He sees and hears even in the dark of night
that behind the mask of this polite, correct, official, religious person, there
lies the cry of a man who is not at peace with himself
and who lives outside the presence of God.
So
Jesus returns the greeting with a direct, objective statement that goes right
to the heart of the matter. “Unless you
are born again, you cannot see the
But
Nicodemus backs away from the experience.
He comes into Jesus’ presence with an empty cup and when the water is
offered he decides that he is really not all that thirsty. Jesus speaks to a heart that must surrender
to find peace. Nicodemus heart is more
acquainted with being in charge and in control.
Nicodemus
responds with an intellectual question to avoid the experiential openness and
surrender that is in Jesus’ call to him.
Jesus
repeats his answer to Nicodemus.
Essentially Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, “I cannot describe for you
what is it is of which I speak. I can only invite you to it. You must answer the invitation. Come and see what God does is good.”
Can
you describe to another what it is to ride a bicycle?
If
you have never loved or been loved can you describe love to someone else?
Jesus
knew that God wants to be present to Nicodemus.
For this to happen, Nicodemus must be present to God. This is non-debatable. There is no
discussion.
There
can be only a letting go of all that gives Nicodemus his security and sense of
self and then open his soul and heart to God.
Nicodemus
was unwilling to see himself as the lost son whom the father was willing to
welcome back with open arms. It can only
be experienced. One cannot talk oneself
into the arms of the father. One cannot
even pray one’s self into the arms of God.
It is not a matter of prayer. It
is a matter of position – the position of creature in the presence of the
creator – the source of all you are and all you have.
How
blind Nicodemus was. The experience was
sitting in front of him as bright as a comet on the dark of night. Being born again didn’t have anything to do
with his mother as he asked. It was a
matter of joining a traveler on a journey.
Jesus’ invited him and invites us all to be his companions on the road
of self-surrender, and in traveling that path, finding our peace. Nicodemus came to Jesus to find what Jesus
offered. He never expected that Jesus
would call him to offer himself.