Nicolas Campbell
John 3:1-15
“Divine Inspired Conversation”
Dramatic monologue
1Now 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.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.[a]”
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[b] gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] 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.”[d]
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.[e] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”[g]
I stood there in the market. I walked from stall to stall buying every bit of myrrh and aloes that I could find. I didn’t care what it cost I needed as much as I could get. Stall after stall I bought all they had. After what seemed like an eternity it was time. I finally had enough. I walked through the market leading my donkey. I reached the Joseph and nodded to him letting him know that things were ready. He also nodded back to me and I knew he had the linens.
The sun had begun to sink low in the distance. Joseph approached the man called Pilate and demanded that the body be entrusted to us for burial. After it was given to us and we started toward the garden. The hill was not difficult, but the heaviness in my heart made the trek so much harder.
As we were walking up the hill Joseph looked at me and said, “Tell me of when you met this Son of Man.”
I began to smile thinking of Him fondly, “I saw him quite often going through the towns and villages, and I just knew there was something different about him. The council and I confronted him demanding that he show us by whose authority that he acted. He was defiant. There were businessmen trying to gather their supplies from the road because he had just thrown them out of the temple. He looked at us all and said, ‘You see this temple? It will be brought to rubble and I will rebuild it in three days.’
“I remember that day like it was yesterday. I was baffled that this man was doing all these amazing things, but was still talking about destroying the temple. I mean the Temple! That was everything for us. So I decided I needed to find out more about this man. I needed to see who he really was. There was something different about him and I went to find out what that was. I didn’t want anyone to see me so I went to him at night. I found him easily and said to him ‘Teacher. We can see that you are from God because of these wonders that you have been doing, and only God’s power can be behind these things. You talk about the Kingdom of God being at hand. What are you talking about?’ He just looked at me. I felt this empty feeling in my spirit as it seemed he looked through me.
“Then he spoke ever so softly, ‘Look. You cannot just recognize my miracles and come to me recognizing that I am a good man. I’m telling you the truth. No one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’
I began to laugh. Joseph it seemed ridiculous to me! Who is this guy who is going to tell me, a scholar, a member of the Sanhedrin what I need. I looked down at myself then I looked back at Him, ‘Surely you are joking. My mother isn’t going to want to give birth to me again. I’m old and so much bigger now. There’s no way that’s happening. You must know some crazy people if they are doing that. And look at who I am. I am an Israelite and have everything that I could ever need. I am who I am.’ I shook my head because I had no idea what he was talking about, but he started talking again.
‘No you don’t understand. Let me explain it again. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to the spirit. You shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss this. You need to be born from above. This is not something that you can accomplish with physical things, but instead you have you go through a spiritual rebirth. You have to become new again. Men are falling down buildings and instead of trying to do a remodel your soul needs to be stripped to the foundation and rebuild by God. If you are reborn to your mother it doesn’t accomplish anything because that is still just a body. Your soul needs to be renewed Nicodemus. Your soul needs to be restructured. The wind and the Spirit both flow where they want and how they want. They both cleanse and renew. Men cannot understand how it works, but only that it does.’
“I looked that man in the face and the silence enveloped us. Joseph I’m telling you, it was like this man was dismissing everything I had ever learned! I said back to him, ‘Are you kidding me? How could you even say that?’
‘Aren’t you the high and mighty member of the Sanhedrin? Aren’t you the man that everyone looks to for advice on religious matters? How hard is it to understand?’ He said, ‘It’s truth I’m telling you. The lessons that I teach I use your language and your stories from here on Earth so that you may understand the truth that is displayed in Heaven. You come to me and call me teacher and prophet, but I am more than a teacher and I am more than the prophets. I have come down from Heaven to teach you these truths. I have the knowledge that you seek, and I will be lifted up and offered so that all may look to me and believe and be saved.’
“Joseph, I went away that night and went back to my home. I tossed and turned the rest of the night. Everything that I was and everything that I knew this man said didn’t matter. I knew He was from God because he was able to do these amazing things. I never forgot that night. Every day since then I have thought about what he said.
“I’ve learned so many things from just that one conversation, Joe. I now know that being born again isn’t about my effort. If anyone could earn their way into Heaven it would be me. I’ve been born into the perfect situation. I’ve done everything right. I kept the commandments, went to temple, and gave alms, but He told me that none of that mattered if I wasn’t changed on the inside. I really thought I was good enough, Joseph. But I know now that there is no good enough. We can’t earn our way into Heaven, but merely accept the gift after we have been changed into one of God’s true sons. It was the opposite of everything I had ever been taught. See everything that I could do was physical and that’s what He was telling me. I couldn’t do anything about the spiritual.
“I was still so confused about who I was supposed to be too Joe. I knew my family and friends, but what about now? Like I said everything that I knew was completely flipped on it’s head. But it was still so important to me Joe. I couldn’t just stay the way that I was. I needed something that was more. I needed something that was real. I thought that I had it, but it turns out I didn’t my friends and family couldn’t fill that void that I had in my life. I needed to be renewed from God, Joseph. I knew it. From that night on I knew it and needed it.
“You know. I almost didn’t go that night. I had so much to lose. I thought I had it all figured out. I knew who I was and where I was going. He turned it upside down by saying He was going to rebuild the Temple in three days. He threatened our way of life by saying that. But I truly didn’t know what he meant. But something was different about that man, about this man that we are laying here in this tomb tonight, and I want it. I want to have what He told me is a gift. I want to be born again.
Closing Remarks- Prayer
