Jesus & Nicodemus

Good morning One River,

Today marks the second week of Lent in the Liturgical calendar. This week is a little different. So far we’ve spent the entire year in Matthew, but this week our reading comes from the Book of John. We’re going to be looking at the chat Jesus had during his first encounter with Nicodemus.

This encounter takes place in John 3. First I want to jump back and paint a bit of a picture so we can hopefully see what’s going on with this discussion. One that I think is possibly one of the most misunderstood conversations in scripture.

We learn in chapter 2 that Jesus is back in Jerusalem for the Passover. We’re told he clears the temple courts, which is something we’ll look at another day. Today we learn that Jesus has a chat with Nicodemus.

John 3:1–18 (NIV)

Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”

4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”

5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Ok, you probably heard a message at some point that Jesus was pointing to Baptism. This is part of why the idea of baptism of the Holy Spirit became such an issue for salvation during several periods in Christian history.

Because if Jesus says we must be born of the Spirit, well, what would that look like? There must be a sign. Then baptism of the Spirit must be accompanied by signs. What are the signs? Oh, we must need to speak in tongues.

I’m not here to get into a debate on your feelings as to whether or not you need to speak in tongues to prove you’ve been born again. What I would say, is if you’re looking for scriptural support for that argument, this is not the place.

See, this argument goes something like this. We must be born of the flesh. Well, that’s natural birth. And we must be born of the Spirit. Well, that takes place when you confess that Jesus Christ is lord and take up baptism. Upon completion of baptism you will have the Spirit fall upon you and you will speak in tongues, just like we see in Acts.

The practical problem with that argument becomes, well what happens when I don’t speak in tongues?

The key to understanding this conversation would be the timing. Jesus was there for Passover. As a chief Pharisee, Nicodemus would have been in charge of the preparations for the Spiritual component of Passover and these plans would have been fresh in his mind.

The whole concept of being born, or born again is wrapped up directly in Passover. The Hebrew word for Egypt is Mitzrayim. Now, that’s not a name. It’s a descriptor. It means something like “The Narrow Straights” or “the Constriction”.

This is a direct reference to human birth through the female anatomy. Egypt was seen as a narrow place, similar to the birth canal. The children of Israel were stressed, oppressed, compressed; literally caught in a narrow place where they found themselves sandwiched between the Egyptians and the Red Sea.

But just like the birth process, the stress and confinement were all part of the plan. When the Israelites couldn’t stand it any longer, they threw up their hands and said, “We are powerless God and only You can help!” At that point, the sea split, the Israelites left Egypt for good, and a new nation was formed.

One of the key messages of Passover is that stress and pressure can lead to rebirth and renewal when we bring God into the process. Our lives often feel overwhelming, like we cannot do it all on our own.

This would have been directly known and understood by people getting ready to celebrate the Passover. And in a contemporary setting, to Jesus and Nicodemus, they were again seeing this “Constriction” and oppression at the hands of the Romans.

What’s Jesus doing here?

He’s walking the smart kids through remedial school. As a nation, you were born of the flesh. You emerged from water, quite literally through the Red Sea. God himself birthed your nation (our Nation). We celebrate this miraculous fact every year. Everyone is defacto, born of the flesh.

But in order to truly be saved, and admitted to the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, you’re going to need to be born again. This time a spiritual birth and spiritual remaking. It won’t look like it did before. Because God is not putting his stamp on a particular people at a particular time. This birth, this Spiritual movement which will erupt, when things get so painful that, like in Egypt and like childbirth we can’t take it anymore. When will that be? When you see the Son of Man, me, hanging like Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness. Basically, my crucifixion.

It's also important to remember that this conversation is recorded in Greek so that the message would be easily spread. But this conversation in real life, would have taken place in Aramaic and the word Mitzrayim would have appeared several times in this chat.

Jesus was painting Nicodemus and the Jews of his day and perhaps ours as well, a picture of the new nature of the kingdom of God. It’s a spiritual kingdom birthed, like a child, from a single act of pain and suffering.

The other key to understanding these verses or this conversation comes when we read through the text from verse 7-15. See Jesus is addressing Nicodemus singularly but responding with a corporate remedy.

This is one of those lexical ambiguities because in English, you is both singular and plural. Jesus is saying You Nicodemus (singularly) don’t understand, but You (plural or you all) must do this to fix it.

So, I’m going to read through a bit of this again and see if we can clear it up a little. I’ll at a little of my own commentary to see if we can straighten out the discrepancy.

John 3:6–15 (NIV)

6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You (Nic) should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You (all) must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You (Nic) hear its sound, but you (Nic) cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

10 “You (Nic) are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you (Nic) not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you (which is actually Very truly I say), we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you (All) of earthly things and you (all)do not believe; how then will you (all) believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

See this can get a little confusing, I think with the singular and plural you’s.

Let’s look at it from the beginning. The text explicitly tells us that Nicodemus when to see Jesus. There’s no other discussion about additional people being there. Jesus may have had his disciples, Nic may also have had his. We simply don’t know. Some people have made hay out of the fact that Nic came to Jesus at night. They say he did this to hide that fact that he had questions and didn’t want to be seen talking to Jesus. If this is true, then Nic would not have brought his disciples. The other perspective is that nighttime is when traditional scriptural study would take place. If that was the case, then he absolutely would have brought his disciples. We simply don’t know. I think we can safely say though, that when Nic says “We” in his statements he’s referencing what would be the Jewish establishment.

Jesus, on the other hand, says we and he could be referring to himself and the disciples, or himself and God. Which in my mind makes this conversation exponentially heavier. In either case it goes to the heart of this conversation.

We often, I think read this conversation and want to interpret it through a singular individualistic lens. Jesus is trying to tell us that’s not what’s happening here. He’s sharing this message on a grander scale. This is a corporate message. It’s not about your individual choice. It’s about everyone’s. Jesus is talking about the birth of Christianity. The rebirth of Israel, as a faith, not as a nation. This is the second emergence from the “Narrow Straights”. First from Egypt, and then from the reign of Judaism in its current form.

He even tells them how it’s going to happen and why. You’ll know all this when you see the Son of Man (me, Jesus) hanging like the serpent on Moses’ staff. Because God so loved the world He gave His one and only Son.

This is the quintessential Lent message. Take heart, God’s doing a new thing. It will be birthed out of pain and suffering, in part because you do not understand what God has tasked me to do.

It’s important to remember that Lent is the time of year that we celebrate the coming crucifixion of Christ. It’s a time marked with suffering. It is because of the utter failure of mankind that Jesus needed to come and sacrifice himself for us.

We often look at this as a joyous event, which it is. But we must not skip over the gravity of the situation. Jesus’ chief phrase during his campaign of earth was “repent, for the kingdom of God has come near. Or the Kingdom of heaven is here.”

In the Protestant church, I think we reinterpret it as something like “Rejoice, for the kingdom is here.” But that’s not what’s actually in print. Now is the time of year to focus on our shortcomings. The things each of us ahs done that led to the necessary saving work of Jesus. It’s only right to be grateful and thankful for His holy actions. But we must also remember to repent and change our ways.

I often try to place myself in the role of different characters in scripture to get a better perspective of the story Jesus is telling us. In this case Nicodemus. What must this have felt like to him? Like most, I don’t think he fully knew the story that was about to unfold before him. But I do think he was aware that Jesus was doing something transformational in the Kingdom. I think Nic knew that Judaism going forward would not look as it did at the time.

I give Nic all the credit in the world, whether he was there to ask Jesus questions while hiding from his piers or he was there to study scripture with him. Nic saw the very beginnings of something in the Kingdom happening and he wanted in on it.

I hope that as we walk through this Lenten season, we can all get the feeling that Jesus is doing something new. I hope that we can come around the kingdom and know that Jesus is here. He’s moving in the kingdom and he’s asking us to join him.

Repent for the Kingdom of God is here. Let’s pray.