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“Encounters with Jesus: Nicodemus
John 3:1-18

 

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas

Trinity Sunday—May 27, 2018

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

About 50 years ago, most Christian denominations adopted a new three-year cycle of Scripture readings for use in worship services.  Not all denominations follow such a system of appointed readings, but it is pretty amazing that on most Sundays the readings used around the world, in Christian churches of many different denominations, are the same. 

The first three Gospels in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, are called the “synoptic” Gospels, meaning, “to see together,” “to have the same point of view.”  They are called synoptic because for the most part Matthew, Mark, and Luke parallel each another very closely.

The three year cycle of Scripture readings is based on these three synoptic Gospels.  Last year was Year A, with the Gospel Readings mostly from Matthew.  Next year will be Year C, with the Gospel Readings mostly from Luke.  And because Mark is the shortest Gospel, for the current Year B, the Gospel Readings are taken from both Mark and John.

According to tradition, the fourth Gospel was written last, by the aged Apostle John, who was an eyewitness to many of these events.  Whenever they make a movie based on a book, they always have to leave out lots of things from the book, because it just isn’t possible to squeeze it all in a two-hour movie.  In the same way, in the last verse of his Gospel, John explains to us that it was likewise impossible for him to include in his account everything that had happened during the three years of Jesus’ ministry: “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”

So, John leaves out some things which had already been reported by Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  But, John often adds unique material not found in the other Gospels.  It seems that in his Gospel, John wanted to fill in things not already covered by the synoptic Gospels, and to leave for us a personal account of his recollections as the last surviving Apostle.

So, John’s Gospel is like a DVD “extended bonus edition”:  “Includes previously unreleased material.”  A big part of this bonus material in John is detailed stories of encounters Jesus had with particular personalities.  Several of these prominent characters occur only in John’s “bonus” edition.  Others appear in the synoptic Gospels, but in John we have much more detailed descriptions of their encounters with Jesus.

Beginning today and for the next several weeks we are going to be looking four such “Encounters with Jesus” recorded in the Gospel of John: Mary, Martha and Lazarus; the Man Born Blind; the Woman at the Well; and, from this morning’s Gospel Reading:  “Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night.”

The first question is: Why did Nicodemus come to Jesus at all?  In the previous chapter of John, Jesus for the first time, at the beginning of his ministry, did something he would do again three years later at the end of his ministry, on Monday of Holy Week: “In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money.  So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the Temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.  To those who sold doves he said, ‘Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!’  His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’”

Needless to say, his zeal did not endear this rabble rousing rabbi to the authorities operating the Temple.  So, why is it, probably later that same day, that one them, Nicodemus, comes to see him? 

Some think Nicodemus was a spy, like those we are told were later sent by the religious authorities, “looking for a reason to accuse Jesus,” and trying to “catch him in his words.”  But, I think Nicodemus was sincere.  I think Jesus’ very stern preaching of the Law in the Temple earlier that day had hit home with Nicodemus. 

That also answers the second question: Why he is coming to Jesus “at night,” under the cover of darkness?  Because he doesn’t want his fellow Pharisees and members of the ruling council, the Sanhedrin, to know that he actually agrees with this rabble rousing rabbi.

“Rabbi,” he begins, “we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”  Who does Nicodemus mean when he says, “WE know you are a teacher who has come from God”? 

One of the other features of John’s Gospel is that these personalities, these characters he focuses on, in telling us the life of Christ, often appear again, later in the story.  So, in the seventh chapter of John we meet Nicodemus again, this time boldly defending Jesus before his fellow members of the Sanhedrin.  And in the 19th chapter, John writes: “Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away.  He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen.”

Luke tells us that Joseph of Arimathea was also, “a member of the Council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action” to condemn Jesus to death.  So, Jesus had at least two friends on the Sanhedrin, who eventually became his followers.  It seems to me that is what Nicodemus means, and he is sincere, when he says, “Rabbi, WE know you are a teacher who has come from God.” 

Everyone knew the high priest was a scoundrel, in it only for the money.  He HAD turned the Temple into a marketplace.  This state of affairs sickened people like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.  It was shameful, and time to do something about it.  Perhaps God had sent this new teacher to set things straight.

But, they still don’t quite understand Jesus isn’t just a rabble rousing rabbi.  He isn’t even just, as Nicodemus says, “a teacher who has come from God.”  He is THE Teacher sent from God.  The promised Prophet, the long-awaited Messiah, the Son of God, and Savior of the world. 

As a Pharisee, Nicodemus studied the Old Testament Scriptures continually, and he knew them thoroughly.  But, for all his knowledge of the Scriptures, he didn’t really understand them.  Because, he and the other Pharisees had forgotten what these Scriptures were really all about.  As Jesus told them, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”

Nicodemus and the other Pharisees thought they didn’t need a Savior, because they smugly believed they could and would save themselves, earn for themselves eternal life.  But, earlier that day, Jesus’ stern preaching of the Law as he cleared the Temple was like a needle that had punctured and burst Nicodemus’ inflated, self-righteous ego.  Perhaps for the first time in his life, this unsettling event left Nicodemus with doubts: Was he righteous?  Had he done enough?  Would he possess eternal life?  Or, was he one of those hypocrites this new teacher denounced?

Nicodemus was coming to Jesus with the same question as the rich young man recorded in the synoptic Gospels: “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  In response to that question, Nicodemus was probably expecting Jesus that night to do what all the other rabbis did: Give him an annotated list of do’s and don’ts, some extra assignments he can do for spiritual extra credit.

In the verse right before today’s Gospel Reading, John says about Jesus, “He did not need man’s testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.”  So, Jesus already knows why Nicodemus has come, and that is where Jesus immediately turns the conversation: “In reply Jesus declared, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.’”

Jesus knows Nicodemus is still thinking that he can do it himself.  If only this new teacher from God will give him the rules and regs he has to follow, he can do it, he can make himself righteous, he can earn his own salvation.  That’s why Jesus hits him right off with something he can’t do, as Nicodemus immediately recognizes:  “How can a man be born when he is old?  Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”

That is exactly the point of the Biblical imagery of being “born again.”  Babies don’t choose to be born.  Their life is a gift from their parents.  In the same way, spiritual rebirth is a gift from above, from your heavenly Father.  “‘You are Israel’s teacher,’ Jesus says, ‘and do you not understand these things?’” 

Jesus now points Nicodemus back to a story from the Scriptures he is so familiar with: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

Nicodemus knows all about this incident from the Old Testament, but he doesn’t know its true meaning—until now.  It is a picture prophecy of how the Messiah will earn salvation, with his death on the cross.  “The Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.  For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Through the preaching of the Law, Jesus has brought Nicodemus to the realization that he is a sinner, who cannot save himself.  Now, Jesus proclaims to him the beautiful Gospel, the wholly unexpected answer to the question Nicodemus came with that night, “What must I do to be saved?”  For, the answer is not more bad news, of what we must do, but the Good News, of what God has done for us in sending his Son.  “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

It was this Good News that changed Nicodemus.  Here in John chapter three, “He came to Jesus at night,” because he started out afraid even to be seen going to Jesus.  By chapter seven, he is boldly defending Jesus within the Sanhedrin.  And by chapter 19, he is even more bold lovingly helping to bury Jesus’ body.

The Good News of John 3:16 led Nicodemus from timid fear to bold faith in Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God, his Savior.  John 3:16 is also God’s Good News for you.  For God so loved YOU that he gave his only begotten Son.  Believe in him and you shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn you, but to save you through him.

How grief-stricken Nicodemus must have been as he helped Joseph of Arimathea arrange Jesus’ body in Joseph’s tomb.  No doubt Nicodemus remembered sadly that first encounter with Jesus three years before.  But, what an extraordinary joy it must have been when Nicodemus heard that the body he had laid in Joseph’s tomb was no longer there—that his Savior Jesus Christ had risen from the dead!

That first encounter with Jesus led Nicodemus to an eternity with him, and it is the same with you.  Through your encounters with Jesus, in his Word, in Baptism, in Communion, he will take you to encounter him forever in heaven.

Amen.

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