Blogging Toward Sunday, March 26th,
Fourth Sunday in Lent (Laetare Sunday) Wear
PINK!
Restored: No Messing Around!
John 3:1-17 (Common English Bible)
There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a Jewish leader. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could do these miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him."
3 Jesus answered, "I assure you, unless someone is born anew, it's not possible to see God's kingdom."
4 Nicodemus asked, "How is it possible for an adult to be born? It's impossible to enter the mother's womb for a second time and be born, isn't it?"
5 Jesus answered, "I assure you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, it's not possible to enter God's kingdom. 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Don't be surprised that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.' 8 God's Spirit blows wherever it wishes. You hear its sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going. It's the same with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
9 Nicodemus said, "How are these things possible?"
10 "Jesus answered, "You are a teacher of Israel and you don't know these things? 11 I assure you that we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but you don't receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you about earthly things and you don't believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Human One. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Human One be lifted up 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. 16 God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won't perish but will have eternal life. 17 God didn't send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
Nicodemus was a seeker. A religious leader, yes...but looking for something more. He seems to see something in Jesus that he's seeking, which has eluded him in all of his studies of the Torah, all the laws and regulations. He's curious and open, but also rational. In so many ways, he's a sympathetic character.
He's curious enough to intentionally encounter Jesus face to face-but not ready to go public with his interest in Jesus. So, he approaches Jesus in the middle of the night, to keep his faith secret, separated from the rest of his life. Nicodemus was messing around in the dark, not ready to come out as a Christ-follower.
From the beginning, John's gospel speaks of Jesus as light, so the setting of darkness for this encounter is significant. The verses that follow this week's lesson provide context for the sign of dark- defeating light:
19 "This is the basis for judgment: The light came into the world, and people loved darkness more than the light, for their actions are evil. 20 All who do wicked things hate the light and don't come to the light for fear that their actions will be exposed to the light.
Enlightenment happens when heart and head connect. In his conversations with Nicodemus in this chapter, the woman at the well in chapter 4, and with the lame man by the pool in chapter 5, Jesus seeks to shed light on the connection between our minds and our souls. That "AHA!" moment comes for the woman at the well, but seems to elude both Nicodemus and the man whom Jesus healed in John 5. Being "born of the Spirit" (verse 6) suggests a new birth into a full life that changes the believer's actions from evil-doing to carrying on the healing, saving work of Jesus in the light of everyday living.
It's impossible to overlook the penultimate verse 16 from this passage, perhaps the most widely known and quoted verse from the entire Bible, which serves as the capstone to this passage. (Do you remember the rainbow-wigged fellow who would appear at football games brandishing a sign that simply read "John 3:16?") And it adds depth of meaning to understand the context in which it is spoken - in the middle of the dark night to a seeker of the ultimate truth. Then comes verse 17 which is often overlooked, Jesus' assurance that he came not to judge, but to save.
That's the great good news that we will be celebrating this Sunday.
See you in church,
LeeAnn
