Introduction;
This is the Pastor’s Blog for the Service on Sunday March 1st at 10:45AM. Included here is the primary Scripture of this message and the Pastor’s notes. Prior to the service it will include an excerpt of the Pastor’s notes and following the service the complete notes will be added. Also following the service a link will be provided at the bottom to Replay this service. We hope you will join us in Worship on Sunday.
Scripture: John 3:1-17
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.
Pastor’s Message:
For folks who were raised in children’s Sunday school and left teeth marks on wooden pews in sanctuaries across the Bible Belt, this story contains one of the most often-memorized bible verses – John 3.16. Why don’t we say it together?
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son; that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
Martin Luther wrote that this verse contains the entire gospel. We could share with each other how we’ve heard this verse interpreted and used. Maybe we received it as gospel, or less generously, whether we’ve heard this verse used in exclusionary ways – who’s in, who’s out, who’s condemned, and who’s saved. Such an exclusionary interpretation is more hell-fire and brimstone than gospel. Many interpretations fail to include verse 17, which offers even more good news. Still other interpretations lead some folks to think that God and Jesus have a biological father-son relationship. It’s right there in John 3.16, right?
I think it’s helpful and wise to recall that what we call the Bible is a library of all types of literature – stories, poetry, letters, gospels (which are their own particular type of literature) that came together over more than a thousand years. This biblical library has offerings from many different writers and editors, not all of whom agree on their understanding of God or Jesus Christ. We have four gospels, after all, showing us four different understandings of Jesus of Nazareth, who he is, what he did, and how he relates to God. This library of sacred literature is also written in ancient languages by an ancient people who lived on the other side of the globe. The ways they lived and thought are so very different from our ways of living and thinking.
I’d like to invite us to “make it strange again” as we consider this nighttime encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus. In so far as we can, let’s try to approach this story with fresh eyes and a beginner’s mind. For a few minutes, let’s leave on the table our practiced recitation of John 3.16, and see what the Spirit might offer up for us that is fresh and new.
The conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus is a good starting point. The writer of John doesn’t tell us why Nicodemus comes to talk to Jesus at night. We often assume that because he is a Pharisee, and Pharisees are frequently arguing partners with Jesus, that Nicodemus’ visit is secret, and that he doesn’t want anyone to see that he’s speaking with Jesus.
But maybe Nicodemus just can’t sleep. He’s been witnessing the ministry and teaching of Jesus, and maybe he just can’t shut off his mind so he can drift off. Maybe he just throws off his blanket and decides “heck! Let me just go talk to the man to see if I can understand better.”
The text tells us that Nicodemus is indeed trying to understand. His first words to Jesus are a confession: “we know you’re from God, for no one can do what you do apart from God.” He’s a rational fellow, and there’s a lot in what Jesus is saying and doing that he wants to understand better. We might say that Nicodemus is a “head guy” – rational, educated, well-versed in the scriptures of his people.
Jesus’ responses to Nicodemus don’t sound very rational, though. He starts talking about being born “from above,” and being “born of the Spirit.”
Bless his heart, Nicodemus relates this notion of birth with actual birth and cannot understand how the heck this might be possible.
Forgive the pun, but maybe the Spirit has something new coming down the birth canal. Jesus gives voice to this new thing, and it sounds anything but rational.
In this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, Jesus bears witness to the movement and work of the Spirit, The Spirit is what makes the Kingdom of God visible. The Spirit is what gives new life, even if one has grown old. The Spirit is what enlivens and pulls us beyond the box of rationality and what we think is possible. The Holy Spirit frees us from our self-imposed boxes and fences and leads us into the freedom of God’s dream for the world.
Jesus harkens back to the stories of his and Nicodemus’ people. The newly freed Israelites complain in the wilderness, even though God has led them out of slavery. They don’t “see” the presence of God’s Spirit among them, providing food, water, and salvation. They want to put themselves back in the “Egypt box” that’s familiar, even though that box is just awful.
To “see” the movement of the Spirit, Jesus says, one must trust its presence even though we don’t know where it comes from or where it goes, just like the wind. The Spirit’s presence and work is just as sure even though we can’t hold it or grasp it.
A Greek word that appears several times in this passage is “pneuma.” We have several words in English which build on this root word: pneumonia, an illness of the lungs; “pneumatic,” which refers to a tool powered by air. In Greek, the word “pneuma” can be translated “breath” “wind” or “spirit.” The same is true for the Hebrew: the word “ruach” can be translated “wind” “breath” or “spirit.”
Each Sunday morning when I invite us into a time of prayer, I say something that some may find a bit strange. I invite us to be aware of the presence of the Spirit, who is as close as our own breath. The reason I do this is not just that being aware of the breath is a centering prayer tool. It’s also because Jesus reminds us in this exchange with Nicodemus that the unpredictable Holy Spirit, who is as free as the wind, is also summoning us to new birth, to new life. And this new birth is at hand as close as our own breath.
With each and every breath the Spirit is present, reminding us that we can be born anew with each inhale and exhale. It is an invitation that is offered again and again, because God loved the world in this way: that the world not be condemned and perish, but thrive, abundantly, freely, eternally.
The Spirit is moving and beckoning. We can be born anew into the life God dreams for us and the world one breath at a time.
Closing prayer
