Loving God, we thank you for your great love, that sent your son Jesus for our salvation.  Renew us by water and the Spirit, strengthening our faith in the same Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

          Over the past few weeks, we have been hearing about a variety of different responses to Jesus.  There are the disciples who follow him and believe in him.  There are the religious leaders who are threatened by what Jesus says and does.  And then, today, we hear about Nicodemus, who is one of the religious leaders, but wants to find out more about Jesus and what he is teaching.  However, in some ways, this is a secret meeting with Jesus.

         While it is likely that there were some disciples around, Nicodemus comes to Jesus under the cover of darkness.  He seeks a conversation with Jesus without crowds of people hanging around and interrupting.  However, it may have been one of the most unusual conversations that Nicodemus had ever had.

         You may have noticed in today’s gospel that Jesus’ initial response to Nicodemus has very little to do with what Nicodemus just said.  Nicodemus begins with a respectful acknowledgment that Jesus must have come from God.  However, Jesus’ response is to questions that Nicodemus hasn’t even asked yet.  Jesus looks at Nicodemus, sees his heart and soul, and goes straight to the heart of the matter – the need for spiritual rebirth.  Each person needs to be born from above – born from God – born anew – born again – in order to be able to see and enter the kingdom of God.

         Please note that Jesus does not then give a narrow set of beliefs and a particular type of baptism that must take place in order for somebody to be “born again.”  Instead, this spiritual rebirth has a lot to do with the activity of the Holy Spirit, which is not to be confined by humanly constructed parameters.  For, just like the wind, the Holy Spirit can be unpredictable, leading God’s people in new directions as part of the new life in Christ.

         This whole idea is, apparently, hard to understand, even for Nicodemus.  His conversation with Jesus seems to end with an unanswered question, as Jesus – in true rabbinic fashion – answers his question with a question.  Nicodemus asks, “How can these things be?” (Jn. 3:9), and Jesus pretty much answers, Do you still not understand?  Just as in every other conversation that Jesus has in the gospel of John, Nicodemus can’t quite grasp what Jesus is saying.  It is possible, however, that the verses that follow are meant to provide us with some answers.

         Jesus had been talking about the need for spiritual rebirth, or being born from above – and how does this happen? – It all starts with God’s love for the world.  God takes the initiative, sending Jesus, the only-begotten Son, not to condemn the world, but to save it.  This same Jesus will be lifted up – “just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness” (Jn. 3:14).  This same Jesus will be both crucified and glorified, opening the way for all those who believe in him to have eternal life.  This will be possible because he has become the link between heaven and earth.  Jesus is the fullest expression of God’s love, sent for the salvation of the world.

         For some people, being born of water and Spirit will come first, and that same Spirit will lead them into life-giving faith in Jesus.  For others, believing in Jesus might come first, and then being born of water and the Spirit in Holy Baptism.  God cannot be confined to only working in one way!

         What, then, is our response to Jesus?  For, after laying out the gifts of spiritual rebirth and eternal life that are initiated by God’s love through Jesus, we also hear about condemnation and judgment in today’s gospel.  John makes it clear that Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but to save it.  However, John also addresses the fact that some have encountered Jesus and yet have not believed.  There is also the verse that begins, “And this is the judgment…” (Jn. 3:19).  What we find there is not the hellfire and brimstone that some might imagine, but the judgment that seems to be left up to us.

         Jesus, the light of the world, has come into the world, and we have heard about him and encountered him through the gospel.  Are we among those who love darkness rather than light so that we can hide our sinfulness?  Or, are we among those who come to the light and seek to do what is right?

         Those of us who want to hide the things that are deep within us will have difficulty getting too close to Jesus.  For, just as Jesus looked at Nicodemus and saw his heart and soul, Jesus looks at us with that same knowledge – but also with great love.  It is true that the light of Christ might reveal some things in us that we do not wish to see.  However, all that is within us has been redeemed through Christ to bring us salvation and eternal life.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Epiphany 3 (NL 4)                            John 3:1-21

January 23, 2022

St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church

Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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