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.”The main character in this text (aside from Jesus, of course) is Nicodemus, a member of the religious establishment. Old Nic had plenty of things going for him. He was one of the few among the religious peerage who was willing to give Jesus credit, proclaiming him "from God" because of the signs he had seen. He bothered to come to Jesus--albeit by night--in order to talk to him. He was willing to listen to the things Jesus said. At some point he took them to heart too, as this same Nicodemus would later tend to Jesus' body after the crucifixion...openly and by day this time.
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.
But for all the things Nic had going for him, he lacked one: he didn't understand the connection between God and the faith he was pursuing, even when he pursued that faith in God's name. This was quite the serious oversight! We likened it to the guy who sold his beloved heirloom set of baseball cards to buy an engagement ring for his girl. He got plenty of money for his treasure. The problem was, the girl didn't want to marry him. He had the ritual right. He had the necessary equipment. He had the right concept of love and togetherness. He just didn't understand his girlfriend. As it turned out, that was the only thing that mattered. Without her, none of the rest meant anything.
It's perfectly possible to do church well--at least to outward appearances--while leaving out the actual "God" part. Most people will look at churches with reasonably full pews, good music, a charismatic preacher, and money in the offering plate and say, "That church is successful!" Sadly, some of the most unfaithful churches I've ever had the displeasure to experience have had all four of those qualities in spades. Love, welcome, acceptance, grace, and Spirit? Not so much.
We run into serious trouble when we start defining church by tasks to be accomplished instead of people to be served and loved. God works through relationships: forgiveness, passion, affection, patience, togetherness. He doesn't reside in things or places, but in people, through their connections. Pretty religion practiced by ugly people doesn't cut it. People who use tasks to mow over people are like flesh giving birth to flesh in the gospel above. The trappings are right, the exterior looks good, but the spirit isn't there. These people can't even see the Spirit. It blows where it will, not being confined to their self-important rituals and restrictions. Never looking for it in the right places, not willing to follow if it means changing what they're doing, these folks just can't find it. And without it, all the rest is nothing.
But those who do trust that Jesus came to love the world, that he died for our sins, that he's reaching out to every one of his children...they see his work every day. The Spirit leads and the flesh follows. Life isn't a finite series of tasks, it's a beautiful strain of music played between all of us that never ends. The Spirit makes us anew, or "born again", and opens our eyes to possibilities and people we'd never see on our own.
The job of our church community, then, is simple: open our eyes, follow the Spirit, rejoice as God leads us. On the way we gather and serve, uplift and nourish, let people know how good love is and how precious a gift we've all been given. Whatever we need to do inside or outside church to make that happen, we do it cheerfully. With God at the center, the world opens up into so much more than it was before, just as it did for Nicodemus walking out of that dusty temple and seeing the light in the middle of the night.
--Pastor Dave (pastordave@geneseelutheranparish.org)
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