Did You See The Sign? - So What?

Sermon preached at Chrich Church, Billericay 8 March 2020

Reading: John 3v1-17

Recording: https://youtu.be/v1T5jVDLaMA

Did you see the sign?

Did you see the sign this morning? What sign? The one in the foyer, the strange picture. No, go take a look later, if you didn’t my introduction is ruined. If you did, did you understand what it meant?

Nicodemus and signs

In our gospel reading this morning Nicodemus had seen signs and he wanted to know what they meant. Now, we are only 3 chapters into John’s gospel, and the first miracle that Jesus did was turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana. The second chapter only covers Jesus Clearing the Temple, and the Jews demanding a miraculous sign – which Jesus promised them, but then completely failed to understand what Jesus was saying. Clearly more than that had been going on because Nicodemus says “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.”

Pharisee

Nicodemus is a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin. Pharisees and Jewish leaders are often painted in a very negative light in the New Testament. But here, Nicodemus comes to see Jesus and is very respectful. Jesus is addressed as Rabbi. Rabbi meant something like “My great one” in Jesus time and did not have the context or official standing that it does today. Nevertheless, it was not a term that was used lightly, especially by a member of the ruling council.

At Night

Nicodemus met with Jesus at night, there are endless theories why this might be – perhaps he was trying to meet Jesus in secret and was scared of the other council members, or perhaps he just wanted to avoid public gaze and not get into one of the big debates in front of a large audience.

It’s possible that he was just busy and the only time he could find was in the dark. Amazing things had been happening, especially the incident in the temple and he wanted answers fast. Before artificial light, work could not be done in the dark, but meetings and one-to-one conversations were possible.

He says ‘we know you are a teacher...’, implying that he is not alone in wanting to know more. It would be wrong though, to assume that ‘we’ implies that he was sent by the council to interrogate Jesus.

Jesus’ response

That’s enough about Nicodemus for now, let’s look at Jesus’ response. “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” or, the footnote says “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born from above.” The word has either meaning. There are lots of word plays in this little passage, we will come to another one in a minute.

Nicodemus Response to Jesus’ Answer

It’s a bit too much of a stretch for me to follow the commentaries that suggest that Nicodemus is being anything but literal here. My reading of the sense in verse 4 would start with the words “Don’t be ridiculous ...” so “Don’t be ridiculous how can a man be born when he is old?” Whether that was really Nicodemus’ tone we can’t tell, but we can be sure he didn’t understand what he heard at all.

Spirit (Breath of God)

“I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” says Jesus. The word for spirit is more usually translated breath or wind. Jesus may be referring to John’s baptism of repentance when He mentions water, and when he mentions spirit or breath he may be referring to Genesis 2:7- “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.”

Then He would be saying no-one can enter the kingdom of God unless they repent and have God’s life breathed into them again.

Flesh

Flesh, our sinful selves, can only give birth to flesh. We cannot recover the spirit of God that Adam and Eve had before the fall, that life is ruined, broken and destroyed we cannot regain our innocence, we cannot unknow the wrong that we so easily do. Only God, the pure and holy one, untainted by sin can do that for us.

Nicodemus and Jesus

So there they are, Nicodemus and Jesus, sitting in the dark. If this is soon after sunset as seems likely there would most likely have been a gentle breeze. Jesus picks this up (not literally!) and uses it to help Nicodemus understand. In verse 8, He says “The wind blows wherever it pleases.” That’s the same word again – spirit, breath, wind. “You hear its sound” - in the trees, perhaps whistling past your ears, “but you can’t tell where it has come from or where it has gone” - That’s how it works when you have God’s breath – God’s life inside you.