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Sunday June 7, 2009 "How Can These Things Be?" John 3:1-17 |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 6/8/2009 10:26 AM | I have questions.
Lots of questions.
It seems to me that if we are truly paying attention, each new revelation of God’s presence and power almost necessarily leads to new questions. It’s not that I don’t believe, I absolutely do, but in my humanness and our culture’s emphasis on knowing and controlling, I have questions. Over the course of the next three weeks, some of those questions will come up; attempts will be made to answer some of those questions and some will be left dangling.
I don’t know what all your questions are. I don’t even have words for all the questions I have. But the first question that I have is: what does God think of our questions? Is God exasperated that we continually ask them? Is God amused at our attempts to understand the magnitude of all that God created and oversees? Does God honor our questions? Do our questions sound like skepticism to God?
This story of Nicodemus helps me deal with some of those questions and others. It is a story that could be about most of us, and so we should pay careful attention.
Nicodemus was a Pharisee. The Gospels don’t always paint a pretty picture of the Pharisees, but the Pharisees were Temple leaders, a sect of faithful Jews who did their best to live to the letter of the law of Moses. That is where Jesus sometimes had problems with them. While the Pharisaical tradition meant living to the letter of the law, Jesus was much more interested in living in the spirit of the law, and sometimes, that caused problems. Over the centuries, we have often been told that the Pharisees were Jesus enemies.
I have heard lots of sermons and lots of Sunday school classes about Nicodemus, and in most of those sermons and lessons, Nicodemus is treated negatively. It may be because of his position as a Pharisee and our perception of their disdain for Jesus. I’m not sure that is fair. Not all Pharisees were disdainful of Jesus. Not all Pharisees participated in the plot to send him to his death. Some did, and now when we hear the word ‘Pharisee’ we are put off.
It might be that Nicodemus is treated negatively because he was afraid to be seen with Jesus in the light of day. He was fearful of what his community would think. He knew that there was something there. He knew that Jesus was a teacher that came from God. He was in awe of the miracles, the signs and wonders that Jesus had performed. He just wasn’t sure what it all meant. He didn’t have it all figured out. But he wanted to know.
Again, I can hardly fault Nicodemus for his trepidation and fear, because I have been there, too. How often has fear led us to blend into the crowd rather than to stand up and declare the Good News of Jesus Christ? Haven’t we all been in a place where, our comfort threatened, we chose the path that would least disrupt our life?
Nicodemus was at that place.
He had a comfortable place in the community, yet he had questions about just who this Jesus really was.
He could have stood up and announced that he thought that Jesus was surely a prophet of God, maybe even the messiah, but instead, he kept quiet.
But even in the midst of his confusion, his questions and his fear, he sought out Jesus.
Yes, it was in the dead of night. He did not do it openly and in the bright light of day, but he did it. Don’t we sometimes do the same thing? How often do we turn to God in the darkness of night, pouring out our hearts and raising our questions, rather than doing it when we are surrounded by people who are watching?
As they talk, Nicodemus just didn’t get what Jesus was telling him. It started with Nicodemus telling Jesus that he knew that Jesus came from God. Jesus responded: The kingdom of God is here, but no one can see the kingdom without being born from again.” Nicodemus replied, “Born again? That’s impossible.”
Jesus responded: “I’m not talking about being born of the flesh… flesh is flesh and spirit is spirit. Don’t be alarmed. The wind blows and you hear it, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going, but you accept the fact that the wind is blowing. So you may not understand where the spirit comes from or how it works, but accept that the spirit is real.”
And Nicodemus replied with the question that is on so many of our hearts: “How can these things be?”
Personally, I think that is a perfectly reasonable question. Yet over the centuries, Nicodemus has been criticized for his doubt, his unbelief, his lack of faith. And I think he’s getting a bad rap.
Nicodemus did not show a lack of faith. He was not showing a disregard for Jesus. He was confused by Jesus’ statement. He misunderstood what was being said. Nicodemus asks the questions because he wanted to know the truth.
The heart of the exchange between Nicodemus and Jesus was indeed a misunderstanding. But it was a misunderstanding with a purpose. Nicodemus was seeking to understand just exactly who Jesus was, but in striving for that goal, he had difficulty interpreting Jesus’ language, and so he misunderstood.
I don’t think we should hold it against Nicodemus. In fact, there are those who believe that Jesus made it difficult to understand on purpose!
In his collection of writings called “The Homilies of John” the fourth century Christian priest Chrysostom wrote: “Now it was for this reason that Christ often spoke obscurely, because he wished to make his hearers more inclined to ask questions and to cause them to be more attentive. What has been said with its meaning obvious often escapes the listener, but what has been said obscurely makes the listener more curious and eager.”
There are wonderful lessons in this passage, maybe the most important one being that we are all Nicodemus. Out of the darkness of night, the domain of fear and misunderstanding, we bring our questions. And even though we may not understand, we bring the questions out of a real sense of wanting to know. We seek answers that will strengthen our faith. We have seen the signs and wonders yet don’t quite grasp the explanation.
We must give Nicodemus credit for bringing the conversation to Jesus. He ran the risk of being ostracized from his community if people knew, yet he went anyway. And like Nicodemus, I have found some of my most enlightening conversations to be with people that many people shun. People who are on the outside of society looking in. In my case, it has been people who are living with HIV.
Now, my goal was not the same as Nicodemus. I did not seek these folks out so that I could better understand God’s kingdom. But the fact is, in my time working with folks living with HIV, I found myself asking the same questions as Nicodemus. And I found myself understanding more about God’s power and grace and presence.
While I was a chaplain at the Edgewood, a residence for folks living with HIV and Aids, I became friends with a man name Rio. Rio was a heroin addict, and because of using shared needles, he contracted the virus that leads to Aids. Rio’s reality was that he was dying. He had been abandoned by his family, friends and even his church. He was the definition of someone who was shunned. For anyone looking from the outside, he was completely and utterly alone.
But Rio didn’t see it that way. Having worked hard to become clean, he spent his time helping others in the Edgewood to recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit, just as he had recognized it. It wasn’t that he completely understood, but he accepted that God was present and he gave thanks.
One day we were sitting outside on a bright sunny day when suddenly he said, “You know, some people in my predicament are always asking ‘how could God allow this to happen?’ What I say is, ‘How amazing that God never left me!’ Rio knew why he was in the situation he was in. He accepted that there were consequences to his action. And when he needed it most, he realized that God was a grace filled God, and there was a place for him in God’s kingdom.
Rio had taken a step further that Nicodemus. He could not understand all of God’s ways, but he accepted that they were God’s ways, not his, and he praised God in the full light of day.
Nicodemus’ last words in this portion of Luke’s Gospel are the words that many of us have had on our hearts and minds: “How can these things be?”
Like Nicodemus, we have seen the signs, we have heard the stories, we have come to accept Jesus as the messiah, but still we do not understand. And so, we ask questions. We do need to face the spiritual reality that Nicodemus faced. We need to continually work to change our way of knowing and believing and seeing and being, all in order to open up room for the spirit in our lives.
We are more like Nicodemus than we would care to admit. We hear the stories, we feel God’s presence, we want to believe. But we have questions, we seek greater understanding, we seek to break through our barrier of proof into the realm of the spirit.
The most important thing we do to achieve that goal is to continue to ask questions. Jesus understood Nicodemus’ questions and our questions are understood, too. Questioning is not a sign of a lack of faith, questioning is a sign that our faith is strong, and we want it to be stronger. If we had had no faith, we would simply dismiss all this God talk and go on with our lives. But we do believe, and we want to understand, so we ask questions. And I truly believe God honors those questions.
Nicodemus uttered his final question “How can these things be?” and exits the scene. We don’t know where he went. We don’t know how he carried on his life. We hear no more questions.
John’s Gospel, however, is not done with Nicodemus. In the 19th chapter of John, we read of Jesus death on the cross and we learn of the people who claimed Jesus’ body so that he might have a proper burial, not the criminal’s burial that would surely have been the case. In the 39th verse we read, “Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds.”
He came at first by night. But in the end, he declared his devotion in the full light of day.
Why? Because he knew that Jesus was special, but didn’t know exactly how. He asked Jesus questions and struggled with the answers. But somewhere, somehow, it made sense to him. He heard the words of Jesus and believed what he said: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.”
Do you have questions? You’re in good company.
Let us pray:
Gracious God, we try so hard to grasp your message, but sometimes we just don’t get it. We don’t want to be fearful, but sometimes we are. We seek the light, but sometimes cloak ourselves in darkness. We have so many questions.
Please accept our questions as proof of our devotion and faith. We love you. We worship you. We want to know even more. Help us to hear your
answers and to use those answers to glorify you in all we say and do.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. | | | Permalink | Trackback |
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