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Step Out of the Shadows

Wow, there is so much going on in this text today that if you wanted me to attempt to address it all, you would have to cancel the rest of your plans for the day. There is the imagery of water and Spirit. There is the imagery of Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness. There is the imagery of God’s Spirit being like the wind and blowing wherever and however it chooses. There is the notion of being “born again,” or as our text says begin “born from above.” And of course there is the claim of God’s love for this world.

If I were a betting man, I would bet most of you had a lot of questions about the text right up until the time I read verse 16, “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.” After all, we have all heard that text and in fact most of us can probably quote it without reading it. So, when we hear something that familiar we tend to put everything else aside. Why should we worry about the other stuff, once we read it, I mean, like Martin Luther once said of John 3:16, it is “the gospel in a nutshell.” What else do we need to know besides God loves us?

Well, maybe we at least need to take a little deeper look at this story before we get too caught up in wrapping it up with Verse 16. First of all, how many of us knew that John 3:16 was something Jesus said in response to Nicodemus’ visiting Jesus one night.

Now, we don’t know much about Nicodemus, except that John tells us that he was a Pharisee and that he came to Jesus at night. Now when I hear these two things, I immediately think that Nicodemus didn’t want anyone to know he was with Jesus. After all, he was a religious leader and we know that the religious establishment was not thrilled with Jesus at this point in John’s Gospel. Even though it is early in John’s story, John has already told us of the miracle (sign) of turning water into wine, and how when Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover he used a whip in the temple to drive all the money changers and those selling cattle, sheep, and doves. John tells us that Jesus said, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" The religious leadership was upset with him and they began questioning his authority and his purpose.

So, for Nicodemus to come to Jesus and say, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God” would either mean he was there at the request of the other leaders to get more “dirt” on Jesus, or he was genuinely interested in getting to know Jesus, but was afraid to let his peers know. I would argue if he had been there at the request of other Pharisees, he would have gone to Jesus in the light of day, not under the cover of night. Nicodemus wants to know Jesus, but is afraid to be seen with Jesus, much like many of us today.

Now, we never learn what Nicodemus came to really ask, because as soon as he states that he knows Jesus must be from God, because of the “signs” (miracles) Jesus performed, Jesus takes over. Believing because one sees “signs” (miracles) is not enough for Jesus. In fact, for Jesus, if we only believe based on what we see then we would never be able to fully realize God’s presence in this world. So, as soon as Nicodemus speaks of knowing who Jesus is because of what he has seen, Jesus says “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Now Nicodemus, being the literalist that most humans are, thinks Jesus is saying that to be part of, or to literally see, the Kingdom of God then one will have to literally be born again. He is confused and he wants to know how this can be. He wants to know how he can do such a thing. But, Jesus was never speaking literally of birth and he certainly wasn’t speaking about what we humans needed to do. No, Jesus was speaking about the power and promise of God. He was speaking about how God, or more specifically how God’s Spirit will make us new, and renew us as “born from above.”

But even today, many are confused by these words of Jesus’ and these words are often used as a litmus test of whether one can be truly Christian. These words are often used to speak about how one must accept Jesus to be “born again.” But such an interpretation, just like Nicodemus’ literal interpretation would make this about us and not God. To be born from above, or again, as some like to translate this, has nothing to do with us. It has everything to do, though, with God’s Spirit, which like the wind will blow wherever it wants and it will rest upon and claim whoever it wants. We can’t see the Spirit, but when the Spirit is at work we will know it is there.

But, even with this explanation, Nicodemus cant believe that to be part of the Kingdom is about what God will do and not what we will do, so again he says, “how can this be?” To which Jesus says “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.” In other words, this can be, because God loves the world. And when Jesus says the world, the word is “cosmos” which means God loves the WHOLE world, even the part of the world that doesn’t love God. In the Gospel of John this word “cosmos” is usually associated with the parts of the world that are hostile to God and God’s ways. And that is the key to this whole story. If understood in this way, then when Nicodemus says how can the world, even those of us hostile to God, come to know God through the Spirit, we could translate Jesus response as “For God so loved the God-hating world, that he gave his only Son…” Yes, Nicodemus, you have come in the darkness of night because you are unsure of me, but you need not fear, nor should your peers fear God. For God, loves you, as you are, even with your doubts. You can step out of the shadows.

But, that is not the end, either. We all can quote Verse 3:16, but what about the verse that follows? “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (3:17). So Nicodemus, step out of the shadows and let God’s Spirit create you new again for “God did not send the Son into the world to condemn even this world that despises God but instead so that the world that rejects God might still be saved through him.”

In his confusion as to what God is about and what God expects of God’s people, Nicodemus wants to know we what we can do to be made new, and Jesus says, you are made new because God loves you, even those of you who are unsure and those who reject God and Gods ways. Verse 17 makes it very clear Jesus was not sent to condemn but to save. So it’s not about us, but rather about God’s consistent intent to love, save, and bless the whole world.

In this broken world, where we are constantly attempting to determine who is in and who is out; whose beliefs are correct and whose aren’t, Jesus says, God sent me because God loves all of you, even those of you who would reject me and my Father.

As we journey through this time of renewal, may we come to believe that no matter what, God has claimed us and God will make us new. We need do nothing but let God’s Spirit bring us to a new birth and may we share this love boldly with the world. May we share it without fear of persecution or being rejected. May we come out of the shadows and boldly proclaim to the world, the cosmos, that all are part of God’s salvation. Amen

Tags: Sermons