Sunday, February 17, 2008
By pastor John Jorgenson
So often we attempt to impose our thinking from our perspective of our world on God’s plans for us and for the world God gave us to live in. We claim to be faithful and so often we raise questions that are rather odd when we look at them from God’s point of view. In our lesson this morning Jesus reminds us that God sent him into this world that the world might be saved through Him. Too often we forget that in our everyday life.
This is what lies behind what Nicodemus was suggesting when he asked Jesus how a person could be born again. He was trying to understand what Jesus was talking about from his own physical point of view. Nicodemus had not even considered that Jesus was trying to encourage people to change their attitude and realize that being born anew was to have a new start in life.
It is this shortsighted attitude that frustrated Martin Luther as well. Sometimes people try to impose their understanding and will on a situation and do not listen carefully. We simply do not have any power over God and it is this frustration that triggered Luther’s powerful response to those who were judging him in a trial setting. Luther testified as to what he believed to be the essence of faith and responded: “I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen.”
This level of responsibility which we have been given and that Luther defined at his trial is in return for the indescribable and never ending nature of love that God expresses to us every day and every moment of that day. As part of our refreshments this morning let’s remember to honor Martin Luther. Tomorrow is the 462nd anniversary of his death. He died on February 18, 1546. We have much to be thankful to him for his courage to witness to his faith and the freedom it brings each of us as we consider how important it is to be aware of what God has done for us and what we can joyfully do for others in return for what we have been given. We are free to be the people God created in the first place!
Nicodemus was wealthy. When Jesus died Nicodemus brought a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes for treating his body as it was placed in the tomb. Only someone with a significant amount of resources could have done that. Perhaps this is why he raised the question of how one can be born again. He knew how to make money and that may have determined how he thought about life and decisions related to living.
Lazarus name means God is my help. He was a beggar. He had nothing. He was covered with ulcerated sores. He had no access to Medicare or Medicade. No body really cared much about what happened to him. He simply lay by the gate and was treated by the dogs that washed his sores because that is what dogs do for people. Fluffy washes your hands, your arms, neck and face if you cuddle her close like a little dog. I think that is how she says thank you for being her friend. So Lazarus was with nothing really other than his name which means God is my help.
Also Nicodemus was a Pharisee. The Pharisees were some of the most capable and best people in the area. There were never more than 6000 of them. They were a close brotherhood that spent their entire lives observing tribal law and caring for each other. This Law was the most important element in life because it contained the perfect Word of God. To add or take away even one word was a profound error. The Law contained everything a man needed to live a good life acceptable to God. Therefore they lived under an infinite number of rules and regulations that applied to every conceivable experience in ones life. This was a system based on legalism of bylaws and regulations that one had to keep if one were to survive and please God.
Nicodemus was a ruler, a member of the Sanhedrin, a court of 70 members who formed the Supreme Court of the time in that area. While their powers were limited under Roman rule, they still had a great deal of influence among the Judaic people and the Roman rulers worked with the Sanhedrin because of their effectiveness in terms of religious influence over the people. They examined every person who claimed to be a prophet or who was accused of being a prophet or a false prophet. The Sanhedrin was an important element of society at that time.
Nicodemus belonged to a distinguished Jewish family that had a history of working with the Roman rulers and negotiating peace with warring factions. It is interesting that such an able and competent person sought out this homeless carpenter from Nazareth who was proclaimed to be a significant prophet. Maybe that is why Nicodemus came to Jesus at night. Perhaps he was being cautious. Maybe he was being careful and was seeking truth about his life. He had practically everything a person could want, yet he found something missing and sought out Jesus to find out the answer he was looking for.
So the question now takes on a new perspective. Did being born anew from the beginning, radically starting as a baby? Did being born anew mean being born a second time, sort of getting a restart? Did being born anew mean being born or given a new life directly from God? Nicodemus was asking what the meaning really was.
Jesus gets sort of blunt with his answer. “Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? Very truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and testify to what we have seen; but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world in this way, that God gave the Son, he only begotten one, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 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.’”
Now we begin to understand the importance of this favorite Bible verse that we learned so long ago. I remember learning it in Bible school when I was like six years old. We drew pictures of what we thought was important. Seems to me we drew pictures of Jesus as the Good Shepherd as a guide for life. Maybe we even put bits of white cotton to make the lambs stand out from the paper. I think I have mislaid the paper somewhere. After all it has been a while and a lot of stuff has taken place since. Anyway, let’s not forget the lesson Jesus taught. God loves the world including you and me. We are never alone. Anyway, I suspect Nicodemus has been accepted also.
Amen.