Gospel Lesson for February 17th
So it is that the Spirit of God blows where and when that it will. I’m reminded of the story of three preachers who got together each week for coffee in a small cafe. They were sitting around the table enjoying their coffee and inevitably talk would turn to things about the church. This day their attention turned to sermon preparation. The first preacher said, “I have all my sermons outlined a year in advance.” The second preacher said, “That is amazing, I manage to get my sermons outlined for about a month in advance.” The third preacher was just absolutely astounded. “A year? A month? What in the world do you guys do during the anthem?”
Some people wait for the Holy Spirit to move at the last moment to bring inspiration and guidance. Today we have an illustration if you will, a story in John’s gospel about a man who was seeking some type of inspiration and he does so at night. Last week we looked at how Jesus has begun this journey to Gethsemane. Along the path to Gethsemane he has many confrontations or encounters with people. Last week he had an encounter with the devil. This week he has an encounter with a man named Nicodemus.
Now Nicodemus is a righteous man. He’s a Pharisee. He’s an intelligent person, you have to be to be a Pharisaic rabbi, to go through the training. A very well educated man and yet he knows there is something special about this rabbi, he’s not quite certain what it is. He knows that Jesus must be from God because he sees the wonderful things and hears of the wonderful things that Jesus can do. So he wants to know more, he wants to shed light on his ignorance. But it is interesting to note that he chooses to do so under the veil of darkness. He goes to him at night. He asks him some questions, quite natural questions. Jesus shares with him some answers. They are really quite extraordinary answers.
Now here we get into some of the difficulty of the text. You see the Gospel of John presents a real challenge to Bible translators. The problem is that the Gospel of John contains many puns. You know words that have more than one meaning. But as you can well imagine a pun does well in the language in which it originates but it is hard to translate a pun. How can you translate a word that has different meanings in one language to another language where they use different words for those different contexts. It just doesn’t work. The translators have to choose one word and try to make it fit. Personally I think that the translators of the NRSV did a very poor job at this point, where they translated the phrase of Jesus, “That you must be born from above.” That is the most literal translation, that is true. But it misses the pun, it misses the point of the joke that Jesus is having upon Nicodemus. You see the word that Jesus uses there is a word that can be translated as ‘above’ or can be translated as ‘again’, ‘anew’. You must be born anew. You must be born again. It’s in that more physical sense that Nicodemus hears and understands this word. Even though Jesus clearly meant that you must be born from above, the meaning of the word in that context is completely lost on Nicodemus who sees things only in this unspiritual sense. Only in this darkness in which he comes to Jesus can he understand this phrase, “You must be born again.” He is absolutely astounded, ‘What in the world can this Jesus be talking about? Born again? Can a man who is fully grown be born again? Can a person come from his mothers womb a second time?” This Jesus is speaking in riddles.
I don’t know what Jesus exact response is at that point whatever it was it must have been unspoken. Maybe it was just a little smile. You know here he is. He is with Nicodemus, a man who is very well educated, a man who should get the pun of the joke but he doesn’t. So Jesus goes on a little further, he throws another pun at him. He talks about how the wind blows where it will. You don’t know from where it comes or where it goes. He says so it is with children who are born of the spirit. Now in the Greek the word ‘spirit’ and the word ‘wind’ is the same word. It is also the same word as ‘breath’. As a matter of fact the Greek word is pnuema from where we get pneumonia, and this is the word that Jesus is using all throughout this conversation.
You can imagine that Nicodemus is sitting there scratching his head trying to figure out what he is talking about. The wind blows where it will so it is with the children of the wind. The spirit of God blows where it will, so it is with children who are born of the spirit. Or is he talking about the breath? What is he talking about? Astounding, think about it. It’s astounding. You think that Jesus is content to let it lie there? No he goes one further. He says something even more cryptic, because he says something that Nicodemus would have no way of understanding. Indeed the disciples would have no way of understanding. Indeed it points to something that is rather obscure in the history of Israel. But he says, “Just as Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness so must the son of man be lifted up.” Now you might be familiar with that story about what happened in the wilderness, or maybe not, let me just recount it quickly for you.
You remember how Moses was sent by God into Egypt, he led the children of Israel out of slavery and they passed through the Red Sea after God had parted those waters and they came into the wilderness where they wandered around for forty years. During their wanderings God took care of their needs. When they were hungry he gave them manna. When they were thirsty he provided water. But they came across a place in the wilderness where they were plagued with fiery serpents. We are told that their bites were very fiery. Apparently they were some type of poisonous snake and people were being bitten and they were dying from the snake bite. They didn’t like that very much. You know I wouldn’t either if I were wandering around and had to worry about snakes biting me all the time.
You know there is a National Forest down by the coast, the Croatan National forest and there is a trail that goes right the middle of that and when you look in the trail guide for North Carolina that trail is listed as best used in the winter time because it says that there are five species of poisonous snakes along this trail. Well I imagine that if I were to hike that trail, I would choose the winter time too so there would be less likelihood of coming across of those five species of snakes. But they didn’t have that luxury. Here they are out in the wilderness, they’re walking along and they get bit by a snake. What are they to do?
Moses was told by God to fashion a bronze serpent and to put it on the end of a long pole and he is to hold up that pole. The people of Israel who are bitten by the snake, who have that venom within them, will look upon the snake, gaze upon the serpent and God will cure them.
I know that it sounds a bit of the hocus pocus, but this is the way that God chose to heal those people who were out in the wilderness. They had no other means of healing. Just as God miraculously fed them with manna, miraculously supplied them with water so he miraculously gives them this cure, that when they feel the fiery bite of the serpent, Moses can lift up the bronze serpent upon the pole, they gaze upon it and they are healed.
Now when Jesus mentions that in passing to Nicodemus, you know that Nicodemus must be again thoroughly confused. How could he possibly understand what is meant. Jesus hasn’t come to the point of his own crucifixion yet. The disciples are bewildered by his talk every time he talks about how the son of man must suffer many things and killed and on the third day raise up from the dead and yet here he is sharing this news with Nicodemus.
Nicodemus who has come in this darkness, has come in this veil of secrecy by night to hear these great things of God and all he hears to him are riddles. Then Jesus says something quite plainly for a change, “For God so loved the world that he sent his only son and whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.” For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son.
You know a lot of times we go to Jesus in darkness. Sometimes we go seeking some sort of answer and maybe we get an answer from the Lord but because of the darkness that we live in it just doesn’t make sense. Yet the answer is there. The message is there. While it may seem confusing and puzzling at the time we need to trust that it will work itself out. That God’s Holy Spirit will be at work in our spirits. That our spirits will be able to hear and to understand. But if we are a bit too much like Nicodemus, if we’re a bit too unable to understand what he says, we can trust in that simple assurance that he gives at the end, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.”
Jesus is lifted up, lifted up on the cross, not for people who are bitten by snakes, but for people who have felt the fiery bite of sin. Jesus is lifted up for us, for us to gaze upon for our healing. That wasn’t something done like so much hocus pocus, but it was something that was done out of God’s great love for us.
The apostle Paul writes to Timothy, “the saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world while we were yet sinners, that proves God’s love toward us.” Isn’t that wonderful news? Isn’t that a precious message to get? Even if the particulars seem difficult or vague or dark to our understanding, hear that, that God has sent his son for us and for our salvation.
Christ had many confrontations along the road to Gethsemane. Last week we spoke of his confrontation with the devil. Today we see his confrontation with Nicodemus. But on this road to Gethsemane maybe Jesus will have a confrontation with us. As we stand before him seeking answers, will we hear the message of his salvation? Will we be able to respond, to leave the darkness Nicodemus came in and to walk in the light that Christ has brought? That’s a question for you to take with you today. When Christ confronts you will you gaze upon him and receive life?
Amen
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