Jesus invited Nicodemus on a fresh journey of faith, to embark upon a holy adventure.
Every journey will entail questions along the way…

Genesis 12:1-4
Now the LORD said to Abram,
‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great,
so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse;
and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him.
Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

God invited Abram a sacred journey of faith, a holy adventure into the unknown.
In our gospel reading, we discover another man of advanced years and of some standing in the community
who was invited to embark upon a fresh journey of faith.
In our text for today, Nicodemus’ journey was not so much about entering the “promised land”,
as in the strip of land between the continents, which is still being fought over today,
but about entering a new Promised Land, the kingdom of God.

John 3:1-17
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.
He came to Jesus by night and said to him,
‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God;
for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’
Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God
without being born from above.’
Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old?
Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’
Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God
without being born of water and Spirit.
What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.”
The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it,
but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’
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 tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen;
yet you do not receive our testimony.
If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe,
how can you believe if I tell you about 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 that he gave his only Son,
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.’

When you are invited on a journey, inevitably questions will arise…
Where are we going? How are we going to get there? Which route will we take?
What should we take with us? What will we eat?
Who else is going on this journey? When will we arrive at our destination?
What will we do when we get there?

Like Abram being called to leave his father’s house and journey toward an unknown land,
Jesus invites Nicodemus to leave his old life behind and begin something totally new.
Nicodemus would have made a wonderful Presbyterian elder.
As a respected Pharisee, he was a dedicated and faithful man of the Temple.
Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling party.
The Sanhedrin was like a combination of the Senate and the Supreme Court and the Pope’s cabinet,
all wrapped into one body of 70 men. They helped run the Temple “decently and in order”.
There were never more than 6000 Pharisees in all of Israel.
They separated themselves from ordinary life so that they could keep every detail of the law.
The Law included many daily habits and practices meant to keep a person holy,
but most people considered following all of these practices impractical.

When faithful, influential Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, under the cover of darkness,
he realized that something new was afoot.
Nicodemus seemed genuinely curious and spiritually astute,
but he was also careful, not wanting to impact in any negative way his standing in the community.
He says to Jesus, “We know you are a teacher who has come from God!
No one could do what you’re doing if God were not with you.”

Nicodemus did not begin with a question.
He began with a statement about what he knew to be true.
Even so, in his statement were many implied questions.
He felt that is was his duty to examine and deal with false prophets.
He needed to “check out” this rabbi from Galilee
to determine if Jesus was going to lead the people of Jerusalem astray.
He needed to determine if Jesus was going to undermine the Temple,
or cause upheaval in the tenuous relationship between the Jews and the Roman occupiers.
When Jesus spoke in the Temple courtyards,
he had surprised Nicodemus and others with his engaging words and powerful deeds.
Nicodemus had recognized that God was up to something in this Jesus,
and he felt that it was his job to make some determinations.

Jesus answered Nicodemus, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God
without being born from above.’
If you want to journey toward the kingdom of God, you must be born again.
If you want to face in the direction of God, you must start anew.
This idea of “rebirth” was not foreign to Jewish leaders in the first century.
Greek converts to Judaism were spoken of as “reborn”,
and new believers were called newborn children, infants in faith.
Rebirth was a key aspect of the Greek mystery religions of the day.
Scholars have claimed that the whole world was talking about rebirth and seeking renewal.
Certainly, the crowds who came out to the wilderness to be baptized by John,
signifying death and rebirth, attest to this popularity.
So, when Jesus and Nicodemus talked about rebirth, about being born again,
this was not a totally unusual conversation.

The Greek word for the English “again” is anothen, which has three meanings.
The common translation is “again” – as in “born again”, for the second time.
Another translation in some of our Bibles, including the NRSV, is “from above”,
as in being “born from above,” from God?, from heaven?
The third meaning can be “from the beginning”, as in a complete, radical, fresh start.

Any of you who have given birth can attest to the radical, fresh start that an infant brings.
You also know that there were ten long and often arduous months before the birth ever happened.
Though human birth can happen rather quickly, in some cases,
there will always be significant preparation in advance.
So, being born again does not necessarily connote some simple, easy procedure,
but likely entails many preparatory events.

When Abram left Haran with his wife, Sarai, and nephew, Lot,
it was a radical, fresh start, but it had begun years before, with Abram’s father.
In the Genesis text, Abram’s father, Terah, left Ur of the Chaldees, at the Tigris and Euphrates,
with Abram and others. They made it halfway to the Promised Land, to Haran,
where they settled for some years. It was not until after Terah had died that Abram was called anew,
to continue the journey that his father had begun.
Abram did not know this land to where he was called. He would have to find his way.
There would be many questions along the way and more when he arrived.
He would still wait many more years before he would be settled in this new land,
and even more years before a child would be born to him and to Sarai.
When a person is called to some radical new direction in their life, it might be like a new birth.
Something may happen to the soul which can only be described as being born all over again.
But in all likelihood, the preparation for that fresh start may have been happening for quite some time.

I have a confession to make, on behalf of many of us.
People like Pharisees and many Presbyterians typically do not anticipate or even appreciate
fresh, radical starts. We don’t necessarily want to start all over again.
We like our traditions. We like stability.
Many Presbyterians are mostly proud of what we have accomplished and where we have arrived.
And we like things done “decently and in order.”
Phrases like “shocking change” or “radical new beginning”
do not often show up in our personal goals for the year or in the minutes of our session meetings.
More often than not, our hope for the future entails a continuation of things,
or perhaps some incremental improvement of current circumstances.
We seldom seek to end completely what we have known
so that some stark new beginning may occur.

William Barclay wrote in his commentary that is was not the desirability of being born again,
of experiencing a radical new beginning, that Nicodemus questioned.
It was the possibility.
Nicodemus may have known that he and his people were in need of a fresh spiritual journey,
a rebirth of heart and soul. He may have known that the time was ripe,
that God had been preparing the world for something new.
But Nicodemus also knew how set the people were in their ways,
how firm were their habits and disciplines and attitudes.
So Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, curious.
He was curious about this newness that Jesus seemed to embody,
curious about how the people were responding to his words and actions,
curious to determine if this movement begun by Jesus was truly from God.

Jesus told Nicodemus you cannot be born anew unless by water and Spirit.
No one can enter the kingdom of heaven without forgiveness from God and the power of the Holy Spirit.
However we translate and interpret these words, one of the keys to understanding this text
is that rebirth will not be a human achievement.
A fresh start on a journey of faith will not be something we can do on our own.
Whether for Abram or Nicodemus or the people of Israel, or yes, even the Presbyterians,
being born anew will purely be a gift of grace.
How can this be? How can these things come to pass?, Nicodemus asked.

Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, Jesus replied.
Just as God provided a means for the Hebrews in the wilderness to turn their attention back to God,
to engender their trust in God again, even in the midst of a dangerous, serpent-filled wilderness,
so God has sent the Son of Man to turn your people, Nicodemus, back to God.
Whoever believes in me may have eternal life, Jesus said.
Whoever turns to me will find healing and salvation.
‘For God so loved the world that he (sent me) his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in (me) may not perish but may have eternal life.
Indeed, God did not send (me) into the world to condemn the world,
but in order that the world might be saved through (me).’

Whatever happened with Nicodemus?
Did he embark upon this new journey of faith with Jesus?
Did he receive the answers to the questions he was asking, on his behalf and on behalf of his people?
We do not fully know. The Nicodemus story ends with some of our questions unanswered.
But we do know that later, in chapter 7 of John’s gospel,
when Jesus was on trial before the powerful Sanhedrin, Nicodemus spoke up for him.
Nicodemus called out among the powerful body of seventy men for them to listen to Jesus’ testimony,
to hear his voice, before they proclaimed judgment upon him.
We also read in chapter 19 that it was Nicodemus, after Jesus’ death, who brought 100 pounds of spices
to prepare Jesus’ body for burial – at no small cost or risk on his part.
Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimethea risked their reputations and perhaps their lives
to give Jesus’ body an honorable burial.
Though the fate of Nicodemus remains unresolved in the gospel,
his prominence in the text probably means that he was well known to the early church.
He may well have become a leader in the Jerusalem church.
It is possible that Nicodemus, upon seeing Jesus lifted up, finally believed,
and in believing, discovered eternal life.
He may have become a key leader of his people on that fresh new start, that sacred journey of faith,
for which he and his people had been longing, for which was being prepared.

In these lengthening days of Lent, we turn our attention again to the cross,
fully aware of our own need for a new beginning, a fresh start.
Our willingness to respond to God’s invitation for this journey,
to trust God fully with our lives, will lead to eternal life, life in God’s kingdom.
When we embark upon this journey, questions will inevitably arise…
Where are we going in life and in death? How are we going to get there?
Which route will we take? Who else will journey with us?
When will we arrive at our destination? And what will we do when we get there?

Amen.

Rev. Dr. Todd Speed
Decatur Presbyterian Church
Decatur, Georgia
March 12, 2017