Transcript
Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Please be seated.
Nicodemus is a Pharisee, not to be confused with the Sadducees. Pharisees were considered the quote common man scholar. They were everyday people unlike the Sadducees who were the wealthy and highly educated. The Pharisees sought a version of Judaism that is closest to modern Judaism, a belief in angels and demons and resurrections and a messiah that would save the Israelites from their plight. Nicodemus would have been educated perhaps in something similar to our own seminaries today and appropriately he still had questions. Maybe that’s why he ended up going to Jesus.
But mind you, Nicodemus went in the middle of the night. Because at Nicodem Nicodemus’s time, it would have been very dangerous for a Pharisee to be seen talking to Jesus in broad daylight. So instead, he goes by the cover of darkness. One could almost imagine the cloaked figure walking quickly from shadow to shadow, following the young man who is the son of God. You know, Jesus gets followed a lot. Nicodemus was waiting for that right moment when Jesus is alone and no one would be around to hear or see Nicodemus to hear or see what he had to say or more specifically what he had to ask because Nicodemus is seeking to know more about Jesus to know more about who Jesus is and what Jesus is teaching.
Interestingly, Nicodemus shows up two more times in John’s gospel. The first time is a question he asks of the other Pharisees and chief priests when the temple police return from arresting Jesus yet did not arrest him. The crowd of a religious officials get upset and Nicodemus speaks up saying that it would be most appropriate to give Jesus a proper trial. The third time Nicodemus appears in John’s gospel is a lot closer to the end. Once Jesus is taken down from the cross, it is Joseph of Arythea and Nicodemus who show up with that mixture of myrr and alows to prepare Jesus’s body for the tomb. I’ll come back to the significance of Nicodemus appearing two more times in John’s gospel after this current passage. a little bit. For now, I want to look at what happened in this reading.
What exactly did Nicodemus say? And what did Jesus say in return? Martin Copenhaver is a contemporary theologian and UC pastor. That’s United Church of Christ. I met him once and I totally fang girlled over him. I believe I walked past him and then turned around and walked back and was like, I just have to say that you’re like one of my most favorite contemporary theologians. And I’m pretty sure he just smiled and said, thank you. Copenhaver has a book called Jesus is the question.
The basic premise of the book is that Jesus asks a lot of questions and is asked a lot of questions and does not answer a lot of questions. In fact, according to Copenhaver’s book, across all the gospels, Jesus asks 37 different questions. He is asked 183 questions. And in today’s gospel reading, Nicodemus asks some questions. It’s funny because I’m pretty sure Nicodemus’s first comment is also a question, even though there’s no question mark, which means it’s probably not counted. But still, his first comment is, “We know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.
So not a question exactly but also feels like a question as in we know and also is it true. In fact it seems so much like a question that the next line is Jesus answered him. So even Jesus and the author of John’s gospel seem to think Nicodemus is asking a question. But Jesus doesn’t really give an answer. And that’s the other part of Copenhag’s book. Because while Jesus asks 307 different questions and is asked 183 different questions, Jesus only directly answers three questions. Now, before you ask, I totally forgot to look up what those were, but we can look them up together.
Instead, when asked a question, Jesus replies with another question or with silence or with a parable or with a completely different response that has nothing to do with the question asked. That seems to be what happens in today’s reading. Because even if Nicodemus’s first comment is a question along the lines of, “Are you of God?” Jesus replies, “No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” I feel like Nicodemus’s first response would be something like, “Yeah, okay, cool.”
But back to what I was saying. Instead, because of Jesus’s response, it seems Nicodemus is even more confused. And so we get some banter back and forth between Nicodemus and Jesus. Questions, not an answer. Another question, still not an answer.
In fact, not only does Nicodemus not get answers, it almost seems like Jesus kind of insults him. I mean, Nicodemus says, “How can these things be?” And Jesus basically replies, “Aren’t you a teacher? Shouldn’t you know this stuff? Got to love snarky Jesus.
In the end though, Jesus does give an answer, or at least kind of an answer, because in the end, after Jesus talks about truth and understanding and believing, Jesus says probably the most quoted line of scripture, John 3:16. For God so loved the world that God gave God’s only son so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. And then Jesus adds one more line. And I have to admit, if you quote John 3:16 and do not quote John 3:17, I think you’re doing a huge disservice to Jesus and to Christianity because John 3:17 says this. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Yes, God sent Jesus Christ to save the world. And yes, everyone who believes in Jesus will be saved. And also Jesus was not sent to condemn us, judge us, shame us, destin us to death and eternal damnation. No, Jesus was sent to save us.
That’s the point of all of this, of all of Jesus, all of God, all of Christianity, all of church, all of scripture, all of the questions, all of faith, all of this. We are not judged because we do not understand. We are not judged because we are confused. We are not judged because we try and yet fail or don’t even try because why risk failing or don’t even think in those terms and thus simply are living our lives. How we live our lives and that’s that. No matter what we are saved because Jesus came to save all of us.
And I have to say that’s not just those of us sitting in the pews this morning when we say that Jesus came to save us all. We mean all. All the people we like and agree with. And all the people we don’t like and don’t agree with. All the people who look and act and think and have opinions just like us. and all the people who don’t look anything like us or act anything like us or think anything like us or have opinions any like ours.
Jesus doesn’t give direct answers but because direct answers well they’re direct and final and and that’s it. Instead, the only thing that is really and truly final is that last line of the passage, God did not send the son into the world to condemn the world. But in order that the world might be saved through him.
Real quick, I said I would go back to the fact that Nicodemus appears three times in John’s gospel. Today’s reading is the first time. And then there are the two more times. Once when he advocates for Jesus to have a fair trial or trial at all. And once when he arrives at the tomb to prepare Jesus’s body for burial. Those are some pretty big shifts in a person. I mean, to go from not wanting to be seen with Jesus in daylight to spending a lot of money because those herbs were very expensive to honor a person. That’s definitely a big change.
So, I risk saying whatever Nicodemus was asking about, whatever he wanted, I think he found it. In fact, I’m almost certain he found the answers he wanted. Even if Jesus didn’t actually answer his questions, I feel very confident in saying Nicodemus found answers. Because the same man who asks, “How can these things be?” would definitely require at least some understanding before ending up at the tomb with the burial spices.
So, I invite you, ask your questions, seek answers. even if we know they won’t get answered. And know that no matter who you are, God loves you. will always love you and will always love those whom you maybe don’t particularly care for, like or agree with also, which is a blessing because otherwise we’d have to ask the question, are we on that list to be saved? Are we on the list that God loves? So I guess the good news is yes, I can certainly with confidence answer that question. Yes, we are on the list because everyone is on the list to be saved. Thanks be to God.
Amen. Amen.