February 17, 2008(Second Sunday in Lent)John 3:1-17
Note to preachers: Resist the temptation to cut this week's Gospel short. Next week, and the week after, too! Introduce some variation to these long lections through drama, or sharing the reading with other voices.
Now to the story of Nicodemus, Jesus, and the wind. I like to imagine Nicodemus, up on his Jerusalem rooftop late one hot night, trying to catch a breeze. His head is full of the acts and proceedings of the Sanhedrin. He sees the flicker of a campfire on the hillside outside the city. He knows Jesus is there, awake, too. His head full of … Well, Nicodemus wants to know.
Nicodemus comes to Jesus “by night,” which speaks of secrecy more than time. Nicodemus wants to know, but doesn't want to be found out. Not yet. The day will come when he won't be afraid to stand up, stand up for Jesus. Not yet.
We get bogged down on “born again” versus “born from above.” The answer is “both.” The new, true life is God's gift. Jesus has already declared that He's about something new, at the wedding in Cana and in the temple at Jerusalem. Nicodemus knows Jesus has come from God. He's just not sure what that means. Not yet.
Jesus tells him he has to start all over again. From scratch. (That's the “again” part.) Let God show him the way. (That's the “from above” part.) Nicodemus can only imagine birth in one way. Jesus talks about water and Spirit. We get bogged down here, too. Jesus may mean baptism, or He may be talking about Creation with a capital C. This new beginning is as big a deal as birth. As big a deal as Genesis! Jesus makes a distinction between flesh and Spirit (or spirit, or wind). Between just living and being really alive.
We get stuck a third time on the apparent anti-Judaism, or supersessionism here. Are Nicodemus and his people all wrong, and Jesus all right? That's what John thinks, but he can reach beyond that belief. There's a shift from the singular to the plural in verse seven. Jesus looks over Nicodemus' shoulder. Looks beyond the teachers and leaders Nicodemus represents. Looks over Jerusalem in the early morning light, and sees the whole world. That's why we should always read verses 16 and 17. This isn't about Jesus tossing out His own religion in favour of a revised version. This is about God's love for the cosmos.
We get stuck in this story because we focus on the old life, the first birth, and what we think must be left behind. We should look for signs that show us what the new life looks like. Jesus says, “So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” How is it? Look, or feel, for the wind. I live in hurricane country. I know what the wind can do. It's just as plain on the prairies, or in a mountain pass, or in the concrete valley of a city street. Wind is power. Wind brings change. Wind knows no borders, makes no distinctions. Wind can also bring refreshment. Renew life. Be God's breath to us.
Filled with the new, true life. More than just living, really alive. Life-giving, borderless, relentless in mission, gentle as a breeze, change-makers, barrier-breakers, risk-takers. “So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Is it so with us?
