In Jesus Holy Name Lent IV March 14, 2021
Text: John 3:17,18a
“Nicodemus Wears a White Hat”
Who wears white hats? In the old silent movie days you always knew who the good cowboys were. They wore white hats. The bad cowboys wore back hats. That way you always knew who the good cowboys were.
On October 12, 1940, the newspapers reported that Tom Mix, the movie cowboy who had starred in 370 films, had been killed while he was driving to Phoenix, Arizona. Mix was behind the wheel of his custom-built Cord Phaeton, a flashy roadster with longhorns mounted on the radiator. He was almost flying when he came over a hill and saw a road crew directly in front of him. Mix literally stood upon the brakes so he might avoid killing the crew which was working on a broken bridge.
His car swung into a gully where his heavy aluminum suitcase flew forward and hit him in the back of his head, and broke his neck. Mix got out of his car, walked a few steps and fell over dead. Amazingly, the newspapers, who reported the story, also felt it their duty to add, and I quote: “Mix was wearing his trademark ten-gallon white, Stetson hat.” (This Day in History October 12, 1940)
Why did they bother to report that? Of course Mix was wearing a white hat. He was a movie cowboy. He was one of the good guys. Everybody knows movie cowboys live by certain rules.
“A man’s got to have a code, a creed to live by, no matter his job” John Wayne
1. Never steal another man’s horse, A horse thief pays with his life.
2. Defend yourself when ever necessary. Always be honest.
3. Remove your guns before sitting at the table.
4. No matter how weary and hungry you are after a long day in the saddle, always tend to your horse’s needs before your own.
5. Cuss all you want, but only around men and horses.
6. Never order anything weaker than whiskey.
Just a few rules to live by….
Nicodemus was a white hat guy. Nicodemus was an incredibly good man. He was honest to the core. He was a Pharisee. Pharisees made it their stock in trade to keep the rules and be very, very, very good. Now understand I’m not talking about just keeping the Ten Commandments. No, the Pharisee didn’t hardly worry about them. Over the years they also added another 633 rules from the O.T. You see, the Pharisees were serious about their goodness. Nicodemus was doing his level best to be the best “white hat” Pharisee. He was depending on his goodness, his Jewish genetics to earn God’s favor.
He was doing a pretty good job. Good enough to be a card carrying
member of the Jewish ruling council He was one of the 70 special elders of the Jewish nation. Further more, he was a Teacher of Israel. He had the credentials to interpret and teach others what the Holy Scriptures were saying. He was a #1 good guy. If anyone was qualified to wear a white hat, it had to be Nicodemus.
Last week I noted that John has a theological message about replacing Jewish rules with Himself., His life and message. That’s why John began his Gospel with the miracle of changing water into wine at the Wedding at Cana. John follows that miracle with this conversation Nicodemus had with Jesus. It is about Nicodemus trusting in his white hat.
At the wedding of Cana when the family ran out of wine Jesus took Jewish jars of water that were meant for the right of purification and filled them with wine. The pure water, now turned to new wine made them utterly worthless for the Jewish right of purification. Jesus becomes the replacement for all things the Jewish religion was using in order to have God accept their “goodness”. They wanted the rules to keep. It allowed them to judge themselves better than others. They believed that their own goodness would open the doors to heaven.
Nicodemus came to Jesus at night…because he wasn’t sure his “white hat” rules were enough. Nicodemus had been taught all his life that his “Jewish blood”, his special connection to Abraham, was enough to earn God’s blessings, favor and entrance into heaven.
He came at night because he did not want others to know his anxiety, his insecurity. He was thinking that his “white hat” had become a tarnished dull gray or solid black. Nicodemus knew his broken rules could not be forgotten. In his heart he felt like Martin Luther, who centuries later, wrote these words:
“Death brooded darkly o'er me, Sin was my torment night and day, ...
Left naught but death to be my share; The pangs of hell I suffered.”
This is basically the conversation: “Good Teacher, Rabbi… we know you are a teacher who has come from God…., I have kept all of the rules and forms and rituals of our faith. Jesus interrupts and turns to Nicodemus: “You must be born again.” Well, what does that really mean? Nicodemus: “Can I start life over as a baby?“ Jesus…. “What I’m talking about is that you can not rely on your family history, your goodness, your Jewishness to open the doors to heaven. I’m the replacement….In the future heaven’s doors are opened by the Spirit giving faith in me as the Savior.”
You must be born again. What "born again" means is literally to begin all over again, to be given a second birth, a second chance. The one who is born again doesn't all of a sudden get turned into a super-Christian. To be born again is to enter afresh into the process of spiritual growth. It is to wipe the slate of one’s past, clean. It is to cancel your old mortgage and start again.
As the conversation comes to a conclusion Jesus states what might be the most important verse in the New Testament. “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert” (Numbers 21:8,9)… and all who looked at it were healed from the deadly poisonous bites that brought death. So also, “when I, the Son of Man is lifted up on a cross, anyone who believes in me will have eternal life.” “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him…. Whoever believes is not condemned…..” (John 3:15,17)
In some ways, verse 17 suffers from understandable neglect, coming as it does on the heels of what Martin Luther called “the heart of the Bible” and “the gospel in miniature.” John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Many people still miss the Savior’s point. People get so wrapped up in the words “being born again” that they get confused as did Nicodemus. Unfortunately many people today have the same mindset as Nicodemus. We think our hats are white, not a dull gray, certainly not black. People think that without any outside assistance, if we are “good enough” God will say: “Wow! You really do deserve to wear a white hat.” You really are a good person. I am so overwhelmed by the way you’ve lived your life, I’m going to invite you into heaven.”
Nicodemus, really believed that heaven was his birthright because he was a descendant of Abraham, and he was keeping all the Jewish rules. Jesus is replacing that false theology.
You might be thinking, I don’t know anyone who believes that their “goodness” is enough to open heaven’s doors. (My comment.) Yes, you do. Almost every religion in the world says you have to do this or that to work you way up to God. Look at the Hindu who pierces his flesh to show his god he is saddened by the wrongs he has done. Observe the faithful follower of Islam who is commanded to obey the five pillars of faith if he hopes to be accepted by Allah. No guarantee, just a hope. Go to the temples of the world and watch the sacrifices and offerings being made by pilgrims who are trying to earn their god’s approval. All of them are trying to earn their white hat.
American’s have fallen into the same trap. Many believe that our Judeo-Christian work ethic, our doing good deeds will out weigh our faults, failures and broken commandments. I will call it our “American theology”. Go to any funeral and the eulogy will list all the “good things” the individual did…But we Americans have discovered that this view does not really bring peace to our soul. So our new American theology is simply: “all religions are simply different pathways to heaven.”
When Chuck Colson received the 1993 Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, he spoke to an audience at the University of Chicago on The Enduring Revolution. In describing the plight of modern society, he mentions four myths that define our time–“the four horsemen of the present apocalypse.” The first myth is the goodness of man.
This myth deludes people into thinking that they are always victims, never villains; always deprived, never depraved. Our new American theology dismisses our responsibility (to God) as the teaching of a darker age. It can excuse any crime, because it can always blame something or someone else — a sickness of our society or a sickness of the mind.
We’re all sinners desperately in need of God’s grace. We’re all in the same boat, and the boat is sinking. If God doesn’t do something, the whole human race will go down to destruction.
Jesus said: “the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” by Jacob’s Well. He came seeking fishermen, politicians, physicians, tax collectors, rich men at the top of the heap, and lepers no one else would touch. He sought the prostitutes and drunkards, and they loved him for it. When he was dying, He came seeking one hanging on a cross beside him. There is only one way to heaven. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
That verse is not popular with many people because it sounds too narrow in these politically correct times. American theology would be more comfortable if Jesus said, “I am a way, but not the way.”
Every major world religion has had a “teacher” who prescribed codes of behavior….that if kept will allow one into the ultimate paradise beyond death. Even the “New Age” religions that blend Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity will tell you that Jesus was a man whose lifestyle should be copied. The difference is that Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth and the life….” Jesus did not say “I am “one” way among many. No. Only those who look to the cross, the savior with the crown of thorns, will be given eternal life.
It sounds so intolerant to our American ears. Well, it is quite simple. The bones of the teachers of all other world religions are still in the ground. Jesus is different. He rose from death with a physical, glorified body. Jesus is the exclusive Savior. He is the “way, the truth and the life”. No one comes into the Creator’s holy presence without clinging to the nailed pierced hands of Jesus.
