"Are You Scared of the Light?"
John 3:1-21
The first apartment I lived in after I graduated from college was in an old run-down apartment building in downtown Macon, Georgia.
My living quarters consisted of a small room, a bathroom...
...and since there was no kitchen, a refrigerator which was in a closet.
I didn't have any furniture, so I slept on my boss' old army cot.
Now, again, this was a really old, run-down building, and there were a lot of cockroaches.
But I hadn't a clue just how many cockroaches lived in the walls of that one-room apartment until one night, after I had gotten into the cot and turned out the lights, I jumped back out of bed because I had forgotten to do something...
...turning the lights back on...
...I watched...
...to my horror as hundreds upon hundreds of cockroaches scurried back to their hiding places in the dark crevices of those old walls as soon as the lights came on.
There were so many cockroaches that the walls looked like they were just a brownish black of movement.
I saw what happened in the darkness of that room as I slept night after night.
And, since there was nothing I could do about it, I decided to ignore the cockroaches.
Whenever I read John Chapter 3:19-21 I am reminded of those cockroaches, who only come out--in mass--at night...
...and as soon as a light is turned on, they flee--as fast as they can--back to the dark places.
"The light came into the world, and people loved darkness more than light, for their actions are evil.
All who do wicked things hate the light and don't come to the light for fear that their actions will be exposed to the light.
Whoever does the truth comes to the light so that it can be seen that their actions were done in God."
The Gospel of John uses the metaphors of darkness and light over and over again in deeply symbolic ways.
For instance, in John Chapter 1 we are told that "the light (Who is Jesus) shines in the darkness and the darkness doesn't extinguish it."
Then it says that the world came into being through Jesus--"the light"--but "the world didn't recognize the light."
"The light came to his own people but, but his own people didn't welcome him.
But those who did welcome him, those who believed in his name, he authorized to become God's children, born not from blood or from human desire or passion, but born from God."
And this moves very nicely into our Gospel Lesson for this morning from John Chapter 3, which, with different words and a conversation--says pretty much the same thing.
The story begins somewhat abruptly.
We aren't told where the meeting takes place.
John doesn't do a whole lot to introduce us to Nicodemus.
We are only told that Nicodemus is a Pharisee and a ruler, a member of the
Sanhedrin--which was the Jewish ruling council.
In other words, Nicodemus was "kind of a BIG DEAL" to say the least.
And he's been watching Jesus from the shadows.
He's seen the people flock to Jesus.
He has watched Jesus perform all kinds of "miraculous signs."
Perhaps he has seen some of the healings.
Maybe he has even listened in on a few of Jesus' sermons.
He does, after all, call Jesus a "teacher who has come from God."
In any event, Nicodemus is intrigued by Jesus and wants to learn more.
In our day and age, and in church language, we would call Nicodemus "a seeker."
Nicodemus is seeking the truth.
Nicodemus is seeking God.
And so, Nicodemus is drawn to Jesus.
And in the dark of night, Nicodemus emerges out of the shadows, seeking the light from the teacher he believes has been sent from God.
And just as suddenly as Nicodemus appears, Nicodemus disappears back into the night--which, in John's Gospel represents separation from the presence of God.
But before he does so, Jesus tells him some pretty heavy stuff.
Jesus says to Nicodemus, "I assure you, unless someone is born anew, it's not possible to see God's kingdom."
Now the word Jesus uses here can be translated 3 different ways--it can be translated as "born again," "born anew," or "born from above."
But all three translations mean the same thing.
Believing in Jesus changes a person's life to such an extent that the person actually becomes a brand new creation!!!
So Nicodemus is shocked to hear Jesus tell him that he must be "born again."
"How is it possible for an adult to be born?," Nicodemus asks.
"It's impossible to enter the mother's womb for a second time and be born, isn't it?"
And, yes.
Yes it is.
And so Jesus goes on to explain to Nicodemus that human beings are born the first time as "flesh and blood" people.
But in order to enter God's Kingdom, we must be born of God's Spirit as well.
And God's Spirit is Light, and God's Kingdom is Light--in it there is no darkness at all.
So many of us are afraid of the dark, and this isn't without some good reason.
You can trip and fall over things in the darkness.
If there is a noise, you can't see what is making that noise.
Strange things like to crawl around in the dark--things like cockroaches.
Many people--especially children--like to use nightlights when they sleep so that they never have to be in complete darkness.
The night symbolizes absence from the presence of God.
It's at night that we sleep.
And it's at night that we sometimes have scary dreams.
A few weeks ago, someone who's name will remain "unmentioned" watched a scary video on YOUTUBE that I should not have allowed her to watch.
And the poor thing woke-up in the middle of the night, calling for me to come and stay with her until she fell back asleep.
This was a good learning experience for both of us.
The next morning we spoke about, how, since a goal in life should be to be happy and at peace we ought to focus on
what the Apostle Paul talks about in Philippians Chapter 4 when he says, "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."
In other words, whatever is in and comes from the Light, rather than the darkness--"think about such things."
Of course, this is easier said than done.
There can be no doubt that we live in a very dark world.
Human beings do things to other human beings which are beyond comprehension, sanity, humanity--everything!!!
We are capable of such great evil.
And of course, our natural sin nature or flesh is easily lured away toward that which is not "true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy."
Even after we have been set free from the penalty of sin by the blood of Christ, and have been pushed through the "spiritual birth canal" we continue to live in the body and in the world.
Even when we have been given a "way out" of our sin by the Holy Spirit of God living inside of us, we do--all of us--stumble and fall.
Paul calls this being "burdened again by a yoke of slavery."
And so he instructs us to "live by the Spirit"...
... "For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.
They are in conflict with each other."
I suppose it is for that reason that so many folks could actually be said to be: "scared of the Light"--kind of like those cockroaches, in a sense.
Again, Jesus says in John 3:19-21: "This is the basis for judgment: The light came into the world, and people loved darkness more than the light, for their actions are evil.
All who do wicked things hate the light and don't come to the light for fear that their actions will be exposed to the light."
Or, I suppose it could be said, "All those who love the darkness more than the light are not willing to come out of the darkness of the birth canal and into the glorious Light of living as new people in God's Kingdom!!!"
Jesus came into the world, not to judge it, but to save it.
Whoever does not believe, and chooses to continue in this dark condition "is already judged."
Are you afraid of the light?
Do you love darkness or do you love light?
The biggest problem with darkness is that it is devoid of Love.
Again, darkness represents separation from the presence of God.
And God is Love.
Have you ever found yourself in a situation that is devoid of love?
Have you ever been in a place where you can almost feel the evil in the air?
Have you ever been in a place where everyone is completely "out for themselves" and "no one is thinking about the well-fair of others"?
There are machines and mechanisms and world systems that seem to operate that way at times, are there not?
Within the economy we can sometimes find instances where it seems that people don't matter--only profit.
Or, there are times and situations where power is sought above all and with no care for the well being of anyone who gets in the way of obtaining that power.
This happens with lust, addictions--any kind of selfishness.
And sometimes we like our lust, addictions, selfishness, power plays...
...and we are scared or are not willing to give them up.
But there is no joy in these things.
There is no peace.
There is no happiness.
There is no love.
As Paul says, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
There is no law against things like this...
...If we live by the Spirit, let's follow the Spirit."
Back in John Chapter 3 Jesus says to Nicodemus: "Don't be surprised that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.'
God's Spirit blows wherever it wishes.
You hear its sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going.
It's the same with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
There comes a time in everyone's life--many times, in fact, when we are given the opportunity to be "born of God."
And this opportunity is the greatest privilege the world will ever know.
For, in order for this privilege to exist Christ Jesus, the Lord, the Light, the One through Whom all things exist had to be crucified on a Cross as the atonement for our sins.
In order for us to be able to live, God had to die.
To believe in Jesus is to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that God so loved the world that God gave His Son as a gift.
And the God revealed to us through Jesus Christ is a God Whose love knows no bounds and Who asks only that we receive His gift of new life.
The seriousness of this invitation is underscored by verse 18.
"whoever doesn't believe in him is already judged, because they don't believe in the name of God's only Son."
Nicodemus asks Jesus, "How are these things possible."
After their conversation Nicodemus drifts back into the darkness.
But he takes with him a new teaching, a new knowledge and conviction.
The spark has been ignited.
Later, Nicodemus argues to the Sanhedrin for the fair treatment of Jesus.
And after Jesus was crucified a guy named Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate if he could take away the body of Jesus.
And we are told, in John 19:39 that "Nicodemus, the one who at first had come to Jesus at night, was there too."
In broad daylight, he and Joseph of Arimathea "took Jesus' body and wrapped it, with spices, in linen cloths"...and they placed Jesus' body in the tomb.
"The light came into the world, and people loved darkness more than the light..."
But to those who choose the light over the darkness, "those who [believe] in his name, he [authorizes] to become God's children, born not from blood nor from human desire or passion, but born from God."
And that is because, "God so loves the world"!!!
There is no other reason.
Praise God.
Amen.
