Nicodemus, ol’ boy, you’ve got to start all over again!
That’s the message Jesus offers to this bright and timid man.
Nicodemus is bright.
One of Israel’s best.
A leader, a teacher!
And he wants to know more about Jesus.
But he’s also a timid man.
He comes to Jesus under the cover of nightfall.
He’s not about to meet Jesus in broad daylight.
But meet Jesus, he does.
He’s on the right track!
He recognizes in Jesus something great.
Something important.
His eyes, still partially shut, but he sees glimpses of truth … and timid or not, he goes to Jesus.
When it’s dark, or when it’s light … when things are good, and when things are bad … every day of our life, to Jesus we go.
The hymn puts it beautifully, I need Thee every hour!
Jesus in the morning … and Jesus in the night.
When I’m rich and when I’m poor.
When I’m happy and when I’m sad.
When my heart is full of joy.
When my eyes are full of tears.
I need Thee every hour!
To this timid man, this bright man … a man who desires truth, Jesus says, You need to start all over again!
Who doesn’t need a fresh start from time-to-time?
A change of mind.
Change is the nature of life.
Change occurs as we grow up.
Go to school … fall in love … get a job.
Change occurs through suffering and sorrow, as well as happiness and surprise.
To live is to change.
All of us have changed a great deal in the last seven years … think back to where we were and what we were doing seven years ago.
Can we even remember?
Seven years ago is a faint memory … and seven years from now, this moment will be a faint memory, too.
Change is the nature of life.
Jesus invites Nicodemus to change.
Dramatic change … life-altering change, change of heart and change of mind … Nic, ol’ boy, you’re on the wrong path. No sense trying harder to make somethin’ outta nothin’. Ya’ gotta go back. To the beginning. Start all over again!
Jesus uses the image of birth … all the way back to the beginning.
Nicodemus wonders if Jesus has lost his mind.
Can someone enter the womb again?
This entertains Jesus … Oh Nicodemus, you’re so bright, but you just don’t get it.
You’re a leader, a teacher, and something as basic and simple as starting all over again, you don’t get it.
Jesus takes his time with Nicodemus.
Jesus never hurries, when it comes to people.
The woman at the well.
Zacchaeus up a tree.
The blind man beside the road.
Jesus takes his time with all of them.
Because it takes time to grow.
Dandelions grow fast, and we call them … weeds.
Oak trees take their time, and we call them … mighty.
Jesus takes his time with Nicodemus, because it takes time to grow a human being.
And it works.
Slowly, of course, but it works!
Nicodemus shows up two more times in the story … in John 7, Nicodemus cautions his colleagues in their rush to judgment. They want to condemn Jesus, but Nicodemus urges patience; tells them to get better acquainted with Jesus.
They pay no attention to Nicodemus, but he speaks firmly - no longer timid.
In John 19, after the death of Jesus, Nicodemus goes with Joseph of Arimathea to claim the body … they properly bury Jesus, with lots of spices and expensive linen.
It would seem that Nicodemus has made some deep decisions about what he values, what he believes, what he loves.
Whenever we meet Jesus … for the first time, the 100th time, the 10,000th time, it’s always a brand new day … a day of discovery … whatever we might know of Jesus, there’s always more to learn … whatever we have done for him, there still more to do!
Why does Jesus ask Nicodemus to go back to the beginning?
Because fiddling with what we already have produces very little more … an old car is an old car … though we may love ol’ Betsy, and she may have served us well, her tires are worn, her paint faded, the seats full of holes, the engine tired, and she’s out of alignment.
It takes more money and time to keep the old car up … it’s no longer worth it.
Time to retire ol’ Betsy.
There’s nothing Jesus can do with Nicodemus and his world as it is … it’s time for something new … a new world is dawning; old ideas have to be set aside.
Is this easy?
Never is.
Always hard.
Most of us talk a good game of change, as long as it’s the other guy who has to change.
The Bible says, Sing a new song to the Lord … because God is tired of the same old, same old, songs we love to sing … God wants to hear something new out of us … but if you’re anything like me, give me the old time religion - stuff I know … the tried and the true … the familiar and the comfortable.
The trap of time.
The pit of the familiar.
The couch of the comfortable!
How can I change? Asks Nicodemus … and we might well ask the same of ourselves - how can we change?
There are lots of things we can do to initiate change.
Go on a diet!
Look for a new job!
Read a book about gardening!
Find a new way to drive to work.
Make a new friend.
Learn how to knit!
Visit a nursing home!
Shop in a farmer’s market!
We can do all kinds of things to change bits and pieces of our life.
But Jesus drives home the central truth of the Gospel … to be “born again” - this is not possible for human beings.
We can be good … very good.
We can be wise … very wise.
We can be kind … exceedingly kind.
Yet still walk in darkness, burdened by sin and sorrow … a prisoner of ourselves … no greater prison than personal virtue … because we spend so much time preening in front of the mirror, comparing ourselves to others … too much time patting ourselves on the back.
I met a friend the other day … his arm was in a cast … I asked, “Hey, what happened?” He replied, “I broke my arm while patting myself on the back!”
Only God can set us free, whatever the prison may be.
Only God can birth us anew.
It’s always a miracle.
Just like physical birth.
Do any of us claim responsibility for our physical birth? Did we plan it? Map it out? Tell Mom and Dad, “Now’s the time!”?
Of course not.
Nor can any of us claim responsibility for our birth into Jesus Christ …
We didn’t choose God.
God chose us!
We didn’t pick ourselves up.
God picked us up!
We never went forward at that revival meeting.
God took us by the hand and pulled us out of seats.
We never accepted Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ accepted us and turned on the lights!
God plucked us out of the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the world of light.
We were dead in our sins and trespasses - not just maimed, injured, or weakened - we were dead, lost, gone … but God saves us … saves us because of God’s great love.
It’s a miracle that any of us are here today to sing the praises of God … it’s all God’s work … God’s mighty love …
Never ours to command, but always ours to receive.
The work of the Holy Spirit.
The will of the wind!
All of this, from the Great God Almighty.
Amen and Amen!
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