Making Conversation in the Dark

This week we witnessed one of the dark moments in sports. Damar Hamlin suffering cardiac arrest on the football field during Monday Night Football. In the aftermath it was interesting to see how the world reacted. The entire nation was confronted by mortality in a very direct way. We all witnessed the collapse. And in the minutes and hours that followed, many struggled to put into words what they had seen. There were no words. Many prayed. Others found themselves wanting to pray, but not knowing just how to pray. Even one prominent atheist said on social he even felt like praying.

While there were many Christians who were indeed praying, others struggled. In the dark. Wanting to know more about Jesus. Curious, even, about Jesus. That’s what our story today involves. We are spending some time as we open 2023 to talk about our speech and our conversations. More Jesus into more of life using our words and our speech. All over the Bible there are conversations that show us how heaven interacts with earth. How the holy meets the unholy. And it’s never more obvious than when Jesus is having a conversation with someone. Here, we find Jesus in a conversation with a man named Nicodemus.

There are a few things we can say about this conversation.

This conversation is from the curious.

Jesus is at the Passover festival in Jerusalem. Jesus has already caused an uproar by cleaning out the exhibit hall with a whip. Many were angry with Jesus, but there is one religious leader who wants to know more. He’s curious. Nicodemus texts Jesus asks him for a conversation. We are told that Nicodemus was “a man from the Pharisees”. Pharisees were those religious leaders in Jesus’ day who claimed to have the inside track to salvation through keeping the law of Moses. Salvation by the works we do. And Nicodemus is apparently not just any Pharisee, but one of the highest ranking religious leaders of his day.

John 3:2 “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”

Nicodemus doesn’t quite get to a question. He simply gives a statement. When the curious engage in a spiritual conversation, the presentation is less than what they are really after. Many times they don’t know where to begin. Here’s one of the most learned men in all of Israel, one of the big guns. and he is talking about Jesus as a teacher… he may or may not recognize Jesus comes from God… he knows about the water being turned to wine, he knows about Jesus’ rampage in the temple. He is left with: you couldn’t do these things unless God is with him. You came from God. We know this.

We don’t know why Nicodemus begins the conversation here, other than it seems like he wants to begin with what he thinks he sees. But there’s another important detail here:

This conversation is in the dark.

John 3:2 “This man came to him at night.”

There’s a lot of speculation about why Nicodemus is coming to Jesus at night. Later in John’s biography John makes the comment that there are Pharisees who believe in Jesus but they are not public about it because they are afraid. We don’t know this is why Nicodemus came in the dark here. But what we do need to see is that this curiosity is coming from the darkness. John has already said this about Jesus in his biography:

Christian Standard Bible (Chapter 1)

That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not comprehend it. (John 1:5)

This is the darkness that cannot comprehend the light. Nicodemus and his curiosity are part of the darkness that doesn’t quite get Jesus. Throughout John, Jesus is presented as the Light, the Light of the World. And the world is in darkness. The darkness doesn’t get Jesus and the darkness doesn’t want Jesus. And this conversation is a conversation between the darkness and the light.

Nicodemus is fumbling around not exactly knowing where to begin. And Jesus opens his mouth and goes right to the heart of the problem:

John 3:3 “Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

That’s a bit of a stunning statement given Nicodemus is talking about knowing that Jesus comes from God. It almost sounds like Jesus isn’t really listening. But he is. Jesus knows why Nicodemus is there. Jesus knows he is curious, knows he is in darkness, and he pretty much challenges the way Nicodemus is thinking.

This conversation is about the human problem.

You see… Nicodemus is saying that God is with Jesus. And Jesus is saying there’s a lot more to Jesus that God being with him.

Unless someone is born again, Jesus says, he cannot see the kingdom of God. The subject of this conversation is new birth. That’s the human problem. Humans are in darkness. Humans are dead spiritually. Humans need new life.

Eight times, birth is mentioned and of those eight times, six are references to a new birth.

• someone is born again

• How can anyone be born

• the second time be born

• someone is born of water and the Spirit

• Whatever is born of the flesh

• whatever is born of the Spirit

• you must be born again

• everyone born of the Spirit

Jesus is showing Nicodemus that the nature of his questions needs an overhaul. What is it that prompts Jesus to walk into the temple and just begin some Mayhem? Jesus forces Nicodemus to go places where I’m sure Nicodemus wasn’t ready to go. Jesus’ answers are unexpected. Nicodemus talks about Jesus being a teacher and Jesus starts talking about the new birth. And this new birth comes from water and the Spirit. It is a birth from heaven. One myth about this new birth… you must be born again is not a command. It is not something that we can do. It is a statement of fact. If you want to see the kingdom, then you must have new life. There must be a rebirth. It cannot be something that we do.

And that’s the problem is with Nicodemus’ worldview. His presuppositions. He gives it away with his question. When Jesus says you have to be born again, Nicodemus says this:

John 3:4 “How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

Nicodemus is all about what he can do. Nicodemus is a Pharisee. Pharisees have the inside track to God. Because of their birth. Nicodemus rightly understands that Jesus is confronting his worldview that Nicodemus is right with God because of his ethnic origin. He’s a good Jew. He’s a child of Abraham. His mentor is Moses. Between Abraham and Moses, Nicodemus has everything he needs to be good with God. It’s why he considers Jesus a peer. Jesus is a teacher. He is a good Jew. A child of Abraham, though the question of Jesus’ fidelity to Moses is certainly up in the air based on his antics in the temple. Jesus is having none of this. Jesus challenges the way Nicodemus views the world. His point of origin is all wrong.

John 3:5 “Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

Jesus is saying this can’t be done by you, Nicodemus. You’ve got to set aside this notion that you can choose your way in. That you can make the decision to get in. That you can work your way in. This has to be done to you.

Baptism might seem like an odd place to take the conversation until you realize that it runs to the heart of Nicodemus’ problem. The human problem. Nicodemus, it’s not about what ethnicity you are. It’s not about what you can bring to the table. Your birth certificate down at the synagogue can’t get you into God’s kingdom. Your birth certificate doesn’t answer the sin problem. Your birth certificate cannot provide you what you think you need in order to be a kingdom citizen. What you need is another point of origin. You need a new birth brought about by water and the Spirit.

You need a baptism. You need the water in which the Spirit works.

Nicodemus is curious. Nicodemus is in the dark. Jesus speaks to the human problem, a problem in which humans need new life, a new life found in the water of baptism and the Spirit that goes with it.

This conversation is about the kingdom of the cross.

That’s a backwards thought. We often think about Jesus ruling and reigning from a throne and in glory. But throughout the New Testament Jesus’ rule and reign is described as his death on a cross. And that happens right here in this conversation. Here is what Jesus says to Nicodemus about the kingdom.

John 3:14-15 “The Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

You want to see the kingdom of God, Nicodemus? You want a new birth? You want eternal life? Your darkness and your deadness can end in only one place. The cross. The cross is where Jesus reigns. The cross is where Jesus solves the human problem of sin. The cross is where Jesus provides light in the darkness.

We have this conversation every week here at The Table. This is where we find forgiveness. And light. And life. And the kingdom. This is where we remember our baptism in The Table. Again and again and again. What Jesus has done for us that we cannot and did not do for ourselves.

We are Nicodemus in this story. But this is also the conversation for those in darkness. Those who are curious. Those who are stumbling around.

41% of people in our area say they want a spiritual conversation.

55% of all non-Christian Gen X, Boomers, and Millennials are glad when they have a spiritual conversation.

We live among those who don’t know how to describe their darkness. They’ve been to church. They’ve decided they don’t like church. And many of them have good reasons. They haven’t been treated very well by church people. Church people have disappointed them. We have the gospel. We have the Good News. We know what the Good News of forgiveness and grace has done for us. We are Nicodemus having conversations with other Nicodemuses. It’s all very simple… to see the kingdom… to see Jesus.. is to receive in faith his new birth through water and the Spirit. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of Chad, the sin of Emily, the sin of Sylvia, the sin of Mike… the sin of the world. That’s the Good News. That’s the kind of conversations we are called to have.

Let’s Pray.

This Table is for those of us in darkness. This is light. This Table is the Good News for those who are curious. This is Jesus for us. This is the Son of Man who was lifted up for us. In his broken body and his shed blood. The Lamb of God is here for us this morning.