By Pastor Ole Lillestolen

Nicodemus typifies for us the kind of confusion that is so common when we try to comprehend God and what He is doing.  Nicodemus also illustrates for us the way to overcome our confusion with God so that we can move on.  Finally, the account of Nicodemus’ visit with Jesus opens a window into one of the most profound, yet confusing aspects of what it means to be a Christian, that of the new birth, or of being born again.

Nicodemus was a Jewish Pharisee and a member of the Sandhedrin.  This was the Jewish counterpart to our supreme court, except that it was made up of seventy one members and that it had no authority except what was granted by Rome.  Rome ruled Judah at the time, but the Sanhedrin worked to maintain Judah’s obedience to the Old Testament by interpreting and enforcing the laws of the Old Testament.

The Sanhedrin was, therefore, both a civil and an ecclesiastical body.  They ruled on what was acceptable behavior in the civil realm based on the teaching of Scripture.  They did not pass laws.  They interpreted the biblical law.  I assume that in Islamic cultures, where they speak of the Sharia law, the process is fairly similar with Koranic scholars enforcing Koranic law.  

Nicodemus was, therefore, one of the most educated people in all of Israel when it comes to the Old Testament.  He knew the ins and outs of it better than 99.9% of the rest of the Jewish people.  Yet Nicodemus was confused when Jesus showed up performing miracles and teaching what He did.

John the Baptist had already created a sensation preaching his message of repentance from sin, baptizing people in the wilderness of Judea.  People flocked to hear John preach because morality had slipped to the point that they had to admit that it was time to change their ways if they didn’t want to totally mess up their children and the coming generations.  John’s message was pretty straightforward and Nicodemus could understand what was going on there.

This same dynamic is what led up to the great awakenings in America.  Back in the colonial days in New England when Johathan Edwards was preaching, people had just about given up on church because sermons had become pretty academic and people were so spread out.  Morality had, however, taken a hit and one of the problems was that it was popular for young single people to drink and go wagon riding, with everyone climbing under piles of blankets, producing babies out of wedlock.  As the problems grew, people responded to messages like those from Edwards in Enfield and Northhampton, and like those listening to John the Baptist, they turned to God in repentance from their lack of interest in God.

But, Jesus was not another John the Baptist.  Jesus was an enigma to Nicodemus!  There was no question for Nicodemus that Jesus was from God because of the miracles he performed.  By this time Jesus had developed an even greater following than John the Baptist ever had, but Jesus was not calling people to be baptized into simple repentance.  Jesus was baptizing people into ‘His new kingdom,’ and John 4:1 tells us that “Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John!”  But, was Jesus inviting people to become involved in something new, right there in Jerusalem?  Jesus wasn’t acting like any Messiah Nicodemus expected to set up a kingdom!

Nicodemus was curious and came to visit Jesus one night.  He greeted Jesus with respect, acknowledging that he believed that Jesus had to “come from God as a teacher,” because no one could do what He did “unless God is with him.”  Jesus got right to the point and said:  “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  

Now, here’s a tragedy.  Nicodemus came alone!  There were seventy more teachers and theologians like him, but he was the only one to bother to come to talk to Jesus to find out what Jesus was really teaching.  One of the greatest tragedies in life is that so few people ever really go to Jesus for answers to their questions and confusions; they go off alone or to someone else to come up with a way of responding to Jesus.

It was sad to watch former White House press secretary George Stephanopoulis do a morning show interview with a pop preacher by the name of Rob Bell.  Bell teaches that there is no hell and Stephanopoulos wanted Bell to explain why. Bell never quoted Jesus. He simply talked about his concept of God’s love.  In other words, Bell is selling Bell, not God as God presents Himself to us!  I don’t like the idea of hell any more than Bell, but I don’t dare tell you that I don’t think there is a hell on the basis of my intuition!  Nicodemus did not, however, go the road of rationalization.  He went to hear the straight stuff from Jesus! Jesus told him that He had to be born again to even see the kingdom of God!

Nicodemus was confused even more! He was expecting a physical kingdom to be established in Jerusalem so that everyone could see it. This ‘born again’ business was totally new to Nicodemus and he said: “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?”

Jesus’ said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”  What did that mean?  “Born of water and of the Spirit?”

Jerry Falwell’s commentary says that Jesus either meant by water the Word, or baptism, or maybe even the amniotic fluid of infant birth.  He liked the last idea, but Jesus described this being born anew with a verb form which points to something which has not happened yet.  This would mean that Jesus was not saying that “unless, having already been born in the flood of amniotic fluid, you are also born of the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.”  Jesus was actively baptizing people with water into His kingdom so it seems most clear that Jesus was saying: “Nicodemus, you need to open your heart to My Holy Spirit by being baptized into Me, or else you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”  This would have been another way of Jesus’ saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No man comes to the Father but by Me!”

Then Jesus added: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” In other words, “Nicodemus, being born again is like being taken by the wind.  You cannot see the wind and you cannot see it blow, but it moves you where it blows and the Holy Spirit is like that!”

Nicodemus, the teacher of Israel,  was still confused so it was not the time for Jesus to go further and try to tell Him more about the work of the Spirit, but what He did tell him was exciting!  Jesus reminded Nicodemus of the serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness so that people who were being bitten by poisonous snakes could look and be healed.  Then He told Nicodemus that in the same way, “must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”  

Nicodemus went away that night with more questions than he came with.  But, he also went away with the clue he needed to understand the answers he needed.  Jesus told him that just as Moses hung that bronze snake on a pole to save Israelites from the poisonous snakes, so Jesus would be hung on a pole to save for people from their sins.  

Can you see Nicodemus’ mind working when he saw Jesus being crucified on the cross?  After the death and resurrection of Jesus his parting words would have opened the door to let his confusion fly away!  Jesus had come to die for our sins and to give us eternal life, "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him,” the “only begotten son of God”

In the meantime, confused Nicodemus trusted Jesus, not because He made sense, but because He was obviously from God.  He became a disciple of Jesus, and when Jesus was crucified He joined Joseph of Arimathea in asking for Jesus’ body to be buried in Joseph’s tomb.

Remember though, Jesus was offering Nicodemus the opportunity to be born again by opening his heart and life to God’s Holy Spirit!  What was different about Jesus was that He was not starting another movement to reform people.  He was offering us the means to be a transformed people, transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit!  Christianity isn’t about us believing in heaven and working to earn a spot there.  Christianity is about us allowing heaven to enter into our hearts and lives today, and as a result we will also belong there!  

As we meditate on Christ during this Lenten season, are we opening our hearts and lives to His Spirit?  Are we inviting and allowing the Holy Spirit to move us along the path He has for us, toward His choices, His ministry, His commitments?  Are you engaged with the Holy Spirit?

How often have you missed out on stuff because you allowed yourself to be distracted?  Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  Do you want to see and be part of what God is doing here and now?  We won’t feel the Spirit, or see Him at work.  But, we can give the Spirit freedom to work within.  Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you!”  Let us be eager to experience the Kingdom of God within, and we will!