"Eyes to See"
Sermon Presented February 20, 2005
John 3:1-17
When I open an e-mail attachment from Betty Ollerman, all I see are strange symbols that look like a foreign language - Oriental in nature. Betty has a different kind of computer system than I and I can't interpret her computer language. When I visit non-English speaking countries, I can't read the local newspapers because I don't know the language. I even need to listen more carefully to people from Milwaukee and New Hampshire than I do to people in Kansas City because of your accents.
This same understanding - or lack thereof - holds true for spiritual signs. Sometimes we just don't get what God wants us to receive because we aren't tuned in to the language of the Spirit. We miss the message because we can't discern the signs or language.
Nicodemus was an educated Jewish religious leader who was seeking understanding. He believed that God was in Jesus because the signs that Jesus performed were a dead giveaway. But even though he believed God was in Jesus, he couldn't make sense of what Jesus was telling him. Hear his story taken from the 3rd chapter of John's gospel, verses 1-17. (Read text.)
Following the 9-11 terrorist attacks, I decided that people in Marysville needed to hear a Muslim so that they didn't equate the attacks with all people of the Islamic faith. To make a long story short, I couldn't get funding from a local trust fund to do it or a place outside of our church to hold it unless I had a series on world religions. You can see why we needed such a program!
One of our speakers was a professor at Kansas State University who spoke on Buddhism. For her, Buddhism is a practice and not a religion. She is a practicing Catholic who attends mass daily and also meditates daily using Buddhist practice. When she was in her 20's she left the Catholic Church because she couldn't reconcile the subjugation of women by the Church with Jesus' teachings and actions. She was seeking spiritual meaning in her life and Buddhist meditation filled that void.
One Sunday following her father's diagnosis of cancer, she decided to attend St. John's Catholic Church in Lawrence and God showed her the need for her to return to her faith. She "came home" to the church and her spiritual life continues to be strengthened through meditation. God met her where she was and God gave her the desires of her heart. She was seeking and God responded.
I heard a similar message from Mike McCann last Sunday night. When he sought newness from God, God opened new avenues to spirituality through what he read and then through the spirituality of Ignatius. Because he was seeking, he found new meaning for his life.
Nicodemus is also a seeker. He tries to process what Jesus does and says. Obviously he's been observing Jesus for some time, but he doesn't understand the spiritual language Jesus uses. It's like my inability to interpret computer languages and the languages of people in non-English speaking countries. It's like people with no religious background coming to our churches and not understanding the meaning of words like repentance, grace, sanctification and salvation. Nicodemus isn't stupid he's just in unfamiliar territory. He needs someone to interpret the spiritual signs God provides so he can grasp the message.
In order to gain understanding, Nicodemus begins his conversation with his observation that Jesus must be from God or he wouldn't be able to do what he's doing. He begins at the point of his understanding so that Jesus can expand from there.
Jesus tells Nicodemus that he can't "see the Kingdom of God unless he is born from above." He brings Nicodemus' statement that Jesus "lives in the presence of God" along side the concept of "seeing the Kingdom of God." According to Jesus, "Living in the presence of God" and "Kingdom Living" are the same. How do you enter the Kingdom of God? Jesus says you must be born from above.
Now Nicodemus is really confused. He can't see the connection between his comment and Jesus' response, so he asks his first question. "How can a person be born a second time? Can he go back into his mother's womb and be re-birthed? What do you mean?" I don't think he's being a smart aleck; he just needs clarification of what seems a ridiculous concept. He can't connect intellectually or spiritually with what Jesus says. It's like he hears the message in a foreign language.
Nicodemus understands physical birth and he knows people don't have a choice in that. We don't choose our parents, our social status, our gender, our intellect, our physical characteristics, our talents or our athletic abilities. But this spiritual birth Jesus is describing, this birth from above, appears to be a choice. It sounds like Jesus is saying we choose whether or not it will take place. It sounds like we must assent to allow God to birth us a second time. That kind of birth doesn't make sense to his rational mind.
Jesus' words are filled with mystery because the process of new birth is mysterious. Jesus compares the movement of the Spirit in our lives to the blowing wind. We can't see the wind but we can see the effects of the wind in the trees and hear the rustle of the leaves and branches. In the same way, we can't see the Spirit of God nor prove that God is working through our senses - seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching - but we will gradually experience the Spirit's movement as our lives are changed and we are born anew. We choose to follow Jesus. We choose to allow God to re-birth us. From there, what happens is mystery.
And just as we learn new skills as we grow physically - eating, walking and talking, a spiritual birth is also a beginning. God doesn't birth us as mature Christians but we begin as infants on a lifelong journey. We gradually grow into a relationship with God just as we gradually grow physically and intellectually. As the Spirit stirs within us, we follow God's leading and begin to understand new spiritual truths.
We don't enter the Kingdom of God by a faith that we can prove rationally. Entering the Kingdom of God is a gift we are given when we choose to follow Jesus - when we choose to be born from above. It's a gift we receive when we seek, and it's a gift that keeps on giving.
I believe that many people outside the church truly want newness and spiritual growth. This is evident by the ever-expanding section on spirituality in secular bookstores. However, the Church is often negligent in presenting Jesus as the source of the newness people are seeking - both inside and outside the Church. We must be open to share God's love with those who are searching, and we can't do that if we are satisfied with life as it is. Christians need to return to the path of spiritual growth, so that we can influence those around us as they recognize the change in our lives. When we are changed, others will ask questions and we will be emboldened to speak of Christ's love to others.
When we have persistent physical symptoms like a toothache, stomach pain, headaches, fever, vomiting, diarrhea or insomnia most of us seek medical help to find out what's wrong with us. But when we have signs of spiritual sickness we often ignore the call to come to Christ and get right with God and instead, ignore our sickness and distance ourselves from the church. Nicodemus sought God through Jesus that evening. He was looking for spiritual answers and Jesus planted the seed of faith.
Jesus told Nicodemus that God sent him because of God's great love for the world - the Israelis, the Palestinians, the Koreans, the Mexicans, the Iranians, the Africans, the Iraqis, and the Americans. God's love encompasses the poor and the wealthy, the unsavory and the saints, the young and the old, and all those in between. Jesus came to bring eternal life to all who believe. God loves everyone - not just believers. God calls us to love everyone - not just those who may be like us.
Jesus came to point us to God - to Kingdom living. He didn't come to condemn us but to save us. Do we reciprocate by pointing others to Kingdom living? Do we point them toward the one who fills our emptiness and satisfies our spiritual longings? Do we point them toward a life of joy lived in communion with God and God's people?
Nicodemus did become one of Jesus' followers. Scripture tells us that he was with Joseph of Arimathea at Jesus' burial. But he needed time to assimilate the truth he heard that night. The same holds true for most of us. Unless we meditate on a new truth and remain open to God's input, the truth will remain obscure and fuzzy or forgotten. We need to take the time to make God's truth our truth.
The Spirit stirs in us before we have words to name the stirring. The Spirit of God creates a hunger for God. However, we have the responsibility to follow through - to come to Jesus and continue the search. Even though Nicodemus was a teacher by profession, he recognized his need to be taught - to learn something more. He knew he needed to grow in understanding. The Holy Spirit was stirring his mind and heart, both before his nocturnal visit to Jesus and following it.
This text says a lot about God. It says that God loves the world and is saving it - even though the world is sinful. It says that God blows as the wind and brings newness of life. It says that God wants to make believers and not just religious observers. And it also says that God is encountered as Son - not as a superhuman figure but as one who suffers with us.
Even if we are a seeking people, we often want to appropriate spirituality with the least possible effort. We don't spend the time in prayer and Bible study that we should spend. We complain about others and remain part of the problem rather than becoming beacons that lead others to Christ. As we begin to grow spiritually, we will be more concerned about helping others to grow.
To be born from above is the gift of allowing God to
reshape our lives. It's good news! It's God's love coming within to
birth us anew so that we delight in being in God's presence and in sharing
the love of Christ with those around us. It transforms us and gives
us peace and security. This gift came to Nicodemus because he dared
to ask the burning questions and then allow God to transform him - to
birth him anew. Let's open our minds and hearts to see what God wants
to do in our lives and where God wants to lead us. Then, let's say yes
to God. As we seek we will become like the one we follow. That's what
Kingdom living is all about!
