JOHN: HEARING IS BELIEVING
Gospel of John, Chapter 3
Dwelling among us, the Word met and interacted with real people. Often, Jesus spoke with individuals one-on-one and communicated the message each needed to hear. John tells about one of those conversations in chapter 3, verses 1-21. A man named Nicodemus sought Jesus out to talk with him.
I suppose this is one of the most well-known sections in the Bible, parts of it anyway. Everyone knows John 3:16. Everyone has heard about being “born again.” Consider that you have not actually heard everything that is in this conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus. You may not have heard enough.
The first thing John tells us about Nicodemus: he was a Pharisee, a member of the Jewish ruling council. Over a couple of centuries the Pharisees had developed into the most influential sect in the Jewish way of life. They were looked upon as the most accurate interpreters of the Law of God, the Torah, so they wielded great authority over the people’s beliefs and behaviors. The Pharisees were so concerned about meticulously obeying the Law that they added the traditions of the elders to the Law itself. This was a body of interpretations and applications of the Law of God that had been handed down from generation to generation. These add-on traditions served as a hedge around the actual Scriptural Law, so if you obeyed the traditions you would have no trouble adhering to the Law. It would be something like parents today requiring their teenage son to drive the car never faster than 20 miles per hour so he would never break the state speeding laws. If you adhere to the tradition you will obey the Law for sure. Every area of daily life was regulated. The Pharisees believed that a person who successfully obeyed the traditions and the Law would be a good person, so would be blessed by God and would experience “resurrection at the last day” (John 11:24).
The Pharisees, I think, would agree with the idea that the relationship of God and humanity is built on Law. It is the idea, as stated by one Christian theologian, that Law is the backbone, the framework, the granite foundation of the spiritual world. This would mean that God’s primary expectation of us is that we obey his commandments, with the result being we merit his favor. “Perform correctly,” the God of Law would say, “and I am pleased.” But, I contend, Law is not the primary way God relates to us. It is not the foundation of life as God conceived it in the beginning. Obedience is important but it’s not the principal way for humans to deserve God’s blessing. In Eden the Lord gave only one directive to the first humans (Genesis 2:16-17). It was not actually a moral or ethical or even religious command. My paraphrase: the LORD God told the man, “See that one tree. It’s dangerous. Don’t eat its fruit.” In Eden we do not see a Lawgiver handing down a litany of strict behavioral requirements for his subjects. We see a Father caring enough for his children to instruct them about safe limits for their behavior. But by the time the Word became flesh, the most influential worldview in Israel was the necessity of keeping the Law and following the traditions of previous Law-keepers.
Nicodemus saw life that way. He was a Pharisee. Most likely for his entire life he had been meticulously adhering to the Law and the traditions. He believed he qualified as a good person. He believed he was earning God’s favor. He believed he was acceptable. He believed he was an insider. Because he was a Law-keeper. But now, he must have been questioning, to some extent, that way of life. He heard about Jesus and went to him – alone, one on one, face to face.
John tells us that Nicodemus went to see Jesus “at night.” That little tidbit is important. In fact, sixteen chapters later John still described Nicodemus as the man who visited Jesus at night (John 19:39). You might say this is another “sign.” I think John is telling us that Nicodemus was in the dark. There are things he cannot see. Things he cannot understand. Things he cannot bring into focus. He must have been sensing, to some degree at least, that there was more than Law and traditions to this God and life stuff, but he did not know what they were or how he could access them. Maybe he was feeling that he did not have that connection with God, that assurance of being right with God, which the Law was supposed to provide, but he could not see how to get past all the regulations and customs. In the dark. No doubt about that.
Look how he begins the conversation that night: “Rabbi, 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” (verse 2). Nicodemus is aware that Jesus in some way hails from God. He knows something about Jesus’ work – his teaching and working miracles – but he does not really understand it; he has not been able to make a personal connection with it. He sounds very official – after all, he is a member of the ruling council. See how he speaks: “we know” this and that – not “I know” – it is not personal for him. He is being very logical – Jesus’ miracles are obviously signs that he is doing God’s work. Nicodemus knows the right things about Jesus, but it is all very shallow. He has knowledge without experience and understanding. He still hasn’t found what he’s looking for. Nicodemus is in the dark, but he is searching for the light. He seems to be willing for a light to shine.
He does not fully understand it, but he has approached the one who is the light of the world (John 8:12). Nicodemus has come to the one who is teeming with grace and truth. Grace, not Law. Truth, not darkness.
Jesus interrupts Nicodemus’ speech. The Word has something to say. It’s time to get real. Jesus butts in and tells him, “Let’s cut to the chase, Nic. Here’s the bottom line: you’re not going to see the kingdom of God unless you’re born again.”
The kingdom of God. That means God’s work in you and your part in his work; it means God ruling over your life and changing it; it means living in a faith and love relationship with God. The kingdom is the culture consisting of the things of God which influence, motivate, and support new life and new living. It is the system of God’s Spirit and God’s word and God’s purposes and God’s mission and God’s resources shaping how you live. It is where corrupted and killed images of God get restored. It is where disease gets healed, suffering gets mastered, death gets overcome, and Satan gets defeated. The kingdom is where greatness is measured in terms of humility, reconciliation, mercy, and forgiveness. It is the environment of righteousness, peace, joy, and power. It is where morality and ethics and justice and goodness and beauty thrive. It is where the royal law is love. It is where all things are possible with God. It is the system that will replace all other systems and there will be no end to it. The kingdom is God’s will done on earth as it is in heaven forever.
And the kingdom of God is intense. It is an invasion against everything our self-centered nature holds precious. It is an attack on our idolatry and paganism. It is an assault on our failure to love God and our unwillingness to trust him completely. It is a raid against how we waste our lives on petty projects and irrelevant activities. It is a ransacking of our using and abusing other people for our benefit. When you see God’s Kingdom, be ready for his love to be so passionate that he will not be satisfied until he burns away everything that keeps your heart from being meshed with his, and you become whole and holy.
Sounds exactly like what you need, Nic. But you’re not going to see that kingdom, you’re not going to experience any of that unless you’re born again. You have to go back to the drawing board. You have to reboot. You have to start life all over.
Nicodemus – still in the dark – does not get it. It does not make sense to him. He knows enough biology to understand that a person cannot be physically born all over again. So Jesus explains. He is not talking about a physical rebirth; no, you do not become a baby in your mom’s womb again. This is not biological. This is not something that science can discover or explain or make happen. This is a spiritual thing. You start over inside, within yourself, in your heart, in your spirit. You reboot your beliefs and ideas and feelings and values. The core of it is that God’s Spirit does something in you. The Spirit makes the rebirth happen. The Spirit takes you back so you can start over; you get a do-over but this time you are part of God’s Kingdom.
You do not do it yourself. You don’t obey the Law of God better. You don’t get more education or exercise more willpower or go through more therapy. You don’t meditate or medicate to make it happen. You don’t add something to what you already have. You don’t add religion to your current way of living. You don’t add faith onto all your present characteristics and interests. You don’t add Christianity to the beliefs and values that you are already living by. No, you don’t do more or add more to what you have. You become born again; you start over. The Holy Spirit takes you back to nothing and makes you a new person in God’s kingdom. God put it this way, speaking through his prophet, in Ezekiel 36:26-27: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you…”
Nicodemus wants that. He has spent his whole life trying to get it through Law-keeping. It does not seem to be working. He wants it but does not know how to get it. “How can this be?” he asks Jesus. How can I be born again? What does it take for me to start over? What button do I push to reboot? Yes, he is in the dark. He sees something of God’s kingdom, but he does not know how to get there.
Ever been there? You can see something of what God wants, but you do not know how to make it happen. Oh, yeah, still in the dark. I have been there many times.
All I can say is do what Nicodemus did – ask. Ask for help. Ask for direction. Ask for clarity. Ask for light. Ask God. Then listen. You can’t see in the dark but you can hear if you listen. I have noticed that in the gospels people do not go on and on telling Jesus what is wrong and what they need and what he should do for them. They do not beg, sweet-talk, plead, and reason with him. By far, Jesus the Word does most of the talking. People ask then Jesus answers – sometimes very long and detailed answers. So we have to listen – more listening than discussing; more paying attention than figuring it out. Ask, listen, then wait, for as long as it takes, for the answer.
Jesus told Nicodemus the answer. How can you be born again, start over? Here’s how.
Jesus came from Heaven and was “lifted up” (verses 13-14). He is talking about the cross. Jesus was lifted up on the cross and died with the sin of the world – all people in all places at all times. Anyone who believes in him will have eternal life. Please understand that eternal life is more than existing forever. It is more than dwelling in a far-off Heaven forevermore. As the time was approaching for Jesus to be put on that cross and die, he prayed extensively. He began with this: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:1-3). Eternal life is the gift of knowing God, living in fellowship – in connection – in relationship – with your Creator, the way it was in the beginning. To be sure, that can look different for different people. There are many features of that relationship which all believers have in common, but there are differences as well. Some persons seem to have a more intimate fellowship with God than others. I do not really know how to explain that except to say we are all different; individuals are not all the same, and God relates to us the way we actually are and with his own understanding and purpose for us. That is okay. The point is that each person can be born again, can start over because Jesus died with the sin of the world and so made it possible for the relationship with God to be restored.
God sent his Son in love for that to happen. Through Jesus, God pulls us to himself instead of pushing us away. If you believe in Jesus, he will give you eternal life: take you into his kingdom, put a new heart in you, bring you into fellowship with God. John also wrote about this in his first letter, saying, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God…” (1 John 5:1).
“For God so loved the world” (verse 16). The relationship of God and humanity is not built on Law, but on Love. God’s primary way of relating to humans is Love. Going back to the beginning, to the first humans, everything God did provided some kind of benefit, some kind of blessing for them. He brought them into existence – he “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7). He put them in an environment that was “pleasing to the eye and good for food” (Genesis 2:9). He assigned to them a meaningful purpose – he “put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15). He created them male and female as loving and supportive partners to be “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). Here is the caring, compassionate Father looking out for his children in everything.
And after his children rebelled against him and joined the ranks of the enemy and corrupted the Lord’s good creation (Genesis 3:4-6) God kept on loving. He loved to the point that he “gave his Son.” John wants us to know for certain that God’s action has never been against us. He explains: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (verse 17). The Word became flesh and lived among us, not to pronounce God’s disapproval and punishment, but to rescue and set free his wayward children and, in fact, his entire creation. God’s mind-set toward and his approach to relating with humanity is predicated on Love. Always has been, always will be.
TO BE CONTINUED