1 Now 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.’
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 gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, “You 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.’
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. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.’
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Our Bible passage this morning contains one of the best known and best loved verses in the Bible – John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." I want us to consider this verse in its context in the third chapter of John's Gospel.
The chapter begins by telling us, "Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 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’" (John 3:1-2).
What picture springs up in your mind when John tells us that Nicodemus was a Pharisee? Perhaps you think of someone full of pride in themselves like the man in the parable of the Pharisee and Tax Collector at prayer where he boasts to God that he is not like other men, especially this Tax Collector. Or perhaps you might think of him as hypocrite. In Matthew 23:27 Jesus says, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence."
Such comments by Jesus came out of the conflict between Jesus and the Jewish leaders, including the Pharisees. Taken in isolation they do not give us a balanced picture of who the Pharisees were.
They were a religious group within Judaism which had been around for about 200 years by the time of Jesus' ministry. They were serious students of Scripture – of the Old Testament. They looked back to the time when God's people, under the rule of God's appointed king (such as King David), had been a manifestation of God's kingdom on earth.
That kingdom had been lost through disobedience, as the northern kingdom of Israel had been defeated by Assyria and the southern kingdom of Judah had been taken off into captivity in Babylon. And even now, though the Jewish people had returned from captivity in Babylon, they were no longer free and the kingdom had not been restored. They had been dominated first by the Greeks and now by the Romans.
The Pharisees looked for God to come and liberate his people and restore his kingdom on earth. And as the kingdom had been lost through disobedience, they believed that if they could only get the Jewish people to be perfectly obedient to God's law, God would come and restore the kingdom – he would send his Messiah, the King.
This is why they were so keen on insisting that every Jewish person should be obedient to every detail of God's law. They also added extra demands both as extended interpretations of the Law and as a hedge around the Old Testament law to ensure that it was not broken. They focussed on detailed lawkeeping because they believed that this would persuade God to come and restore his kingdom again on earth.
Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council. He was a prominent man, a member of the cabinet, and he was a notable teacher among the Jews – note Jesus' acknowledgement of him as "Israel's teacher." He had witnessed not only the teaching of Jesus but also the remarkable things that Jesus has been doing, no doubt in healing the sick, the disabled and the possessed, and he acknowledges that Jesus is a teacher sent by God, "For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him."
Nicodemus is a genuine enquirer. Jesus puzzles him because his teaching does not match that of the Pharisees yet he is evidently sent by God. Nicodemus wants to understand what Jesus' ministry means. He has come to Jesus by night – that is, in the evening, under cover of darkness – so that he can have a private and confidential discussion with Jesus. He is genuinely seeking understanding. And Jesus, while challenging him, does not judge him; he seeks to show Nicodemus the truth.
At first sight, Jesus' response to Nicodemus might seem a little strange: "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again." Nicodemus has not mentioned the Kingdom of God, though he clearly wants to understand Jesus and his message.
What Jesus is saying is something like this: "You are trying to obey every detail of God's Law given through Moses and to get everyone else within Israel to do the same in the hope that God will renew his covenant with his people and re-establish his kingdom among them. But you just can't see what's right here before your eyes. The kingdom has arrived on the scene. This is the meaning of the blind receiving their sight, the lame walking and those with an evil spirit being freed from their possession. God is on the move, bringing in his kingdom before your very eyes. And his anointed King, the Messiah, is standing right here in front of you. But you just can't see it!
To see what is going on, to see that the Kingdom of God is here, you must be born again (or born from above)."
And as if to prove the truth of what Jesus is saying, Nicodemus responds, "How can someone be born when they are old? Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!" He just does not get it; he can't see it.
Jesus is telling him that he needs his eyes to be opened by the Spirit of God, enabling him to see the kingdom and recognise in Jesus the one who is King.
Nicodemus would have been proud of his ancestry. He could probably trace his family tree all the way back to Father Abraham. He was sure that when God came to establish his kingdom, he, Nicodemus, would have a place in it – he had a birthright to it.
Jesus is telling him that he has got it all wrong. The Kingdom is here now if you only have eyes to see it and it belongs to all whose lives are touched and are being transformed by the Spirit of God. This is the birth certificate that gives you citizenship in the Kingdom of God.
Jesus expresses surprise that Nicodemus is Israel's teacher yet does not understand these things. Jesus may have been thinking of passages of Scripture such as Psalm 87 which speak of inhabitants from Egypt, Babylon and Philistia, the traditional enemies of God's people, being "born in Zion", having a place in God's kingdom.
This is God's strange work of establishing his kingdom and it is going on right in front of you if you only have eyes to see it, eyes opened by the Spirit of God who can fill you not only with understanding but also with the liberating life of the kingdom.
And Jesus then goes on to speak to Nicodemus of the cross: "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
I am sure that you are all looking forward to the coronation of King Charles III. Well the cross marked Jesus' coronation. This is the strange means by which God will establish his Kingdom – through the sacrificial death and glorious resurrection of his Son. The snake that has bitten our heel and poisoned our lives with his lies shall be defeated at the cross. As Jesus says in John 12:31-32, just before he faces the cross, "Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." At the cross, Satan, sin and death are brought to judgment. By his resurrection from the dead God has declared Jesus to be both Lord and Christ (i.e. King. See Acts 2:32-36 and Romans 1:2-4. Also see Tom Wright, How God Became King). As exalted King, Jesus is able, by his Spirit, to give new life (new birth), to all who come to him.
Do you not see, Nicodemus, that God's great love cannot be confined to one small nation on earth. God's purpose in the call of Abraham was that through him and his descendants all nations should be blessed. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Nicodemus, ask God to open your eyes by his Spirit so that you may see beyond the limits of your small theology to see the immensity of God's love, for the world, for all those who have failed to live in perfect obedience to God's law, and for you.
What is God saying to us through this passage this morning? What is the crucified, risen and exalted Lord Jesus saying to us this morning?
Firstly, have you recognised what God has done for you in Christ? John 3:16: "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." You are deeply loved by God; do you realise this. You are loved so much that the creator of the whole universe sent his Son from heaven to be your Saviour. Jesus, God's Son, loved you so much that he not only came from heaven for you, he suffered death upon the cross for you – he loved you and gave himself for you. Have you come to see and understand the depths of God's love for you in Christ and placed all your trust in him?
This is what is symbolised in the communion service this morning. Jesus body was broken on the cross and his blood was shed there for you. And as you take and eat the bread and wine you acknowledge, "It was for me and I trust in him." Let that be true of you this morning.
And if you have begun to recognise what Christ in love has done for you, how are you going to live in response to his love? How are you going to live as a child of the kingdom, living under the kingly rule of the risen Lord Jesus? In particular, how can your life reflect the love he has shown you in love for him and in love for others?
Secondly, do you have eyes to see what God is doing in our world? We regularly pray that God's kingdom will come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven; but God is already at work in the world building his kingdom.
Yesterday morning I was reading from Acts 11 where the apostles in Jerusalem heard that in Antioch Gentiles as well as Jews had come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They sent Barnabas off to find out what was going on. And we read in Acts 11:23 that "When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad." Barnabas went and fetched Paul from Tarsus and together they met with the church and taught "a great many people" for more than a year. Barnabas saw that God was at work here and he wanted to join in with what God was doing and encourage others to join in the work of the kingdom.
Ask God by his Spirit to open your eyes to what God is doing and be ready to give yourself gladly to the work of the kingdom, that the world may not only hear the good news but also see that the risen Lord Jesus Christ reigns.
The kingdom has come because Jesus the king has come. By his death he has inflicted a fatal blow on Satan, sin and death. Through his resurrection he has brought to birth the New Creation and by the outpoured Spirit he is bringing people out of darkness and into his glorious light. He is building his kingdom and shall continue to do so until, at his return, the kingdom of this world shall become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ. He calls us now to live joyfully, expectantly and infectiously as children of the King and of the kingdom. Let us gladly respond to his call.
Peter Misselbrook
Christ Church Downend, 5/3/2023