I wonder if you\u2019re the kind of person who likes word play and puns. Do you groan at them, or delight in them, or a bit of both? Perhaps the gold standard, the prime example of this is the Two Ronnies \u201cFour Candles\u201d sketch. A customer and shopkeeper in a dance of mutual incomprehension that begins with the famous request for \u201cFork handles\u201d, misheard as \u201cFour candles.\u201d <\/p>\n
Or perhaps, you enjoy cryptic crosswords, with clues often depending on more than one meaning for words. A crossword I did this week had the clue \u201cIneffectual compromise that a confectioner provides.\u201d 5 letters. I did think about leaving to ponder on the answer, but I was a bit concerned that it might distract you from what I was going to say, so I\u2019ll give you the answer. \u201cFudge.\u201d Both an ineffectual compromise and something that a confectioner makes. \u201cFudge\u201d<\/p>\n
What has all this got to do with our Bible readings? Well, it seems to me that there is a bit of this going on in this conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll get into why I think that in a minute, but first we\u2019re going to have a quick look at the context of this conversation. It is recounted in the third chapter of John\u2019s eye witness account of the good news of Jesus, and so is pretty early on in his public ministry. So far all he has done is get baptised, collect some disciples and turned some water into wine at a wedding. Then he has come up to Jerusalem, taken exception to the extortion and exploitation of worshippers going on there and cleared the temple. He\u2019s engaged in debate with some of the Jewish religious leaders and people have started to believe in him.<\/p>\n
Now we come to beginning of chapter 3 and this conversation with Nicodemus. He is described as a Pharisee, a leader of the Jews \u2013 he is a devout, learned, and respected man. He comes to see Jesus at night \u2013 perhaps just because that\u2019s when he could arrange the meeting, perhaps because he doesn\u2019t want to be seen talking with this controversial figure. <\/p>\n
The conversation starts well, by calling him Rabbi, Nicodemus acknowledges Jesus as an equal, even as someone who he can learn from, as someone that God is with \u2013 which had a significant meaning, this is how the great prophets of old, Moses, Elijah, Elisha were described \u2013 men who God was with. <\/p>\n
And then we come across our first word play. Jesus says, \u201cunless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.\u201d If you look carefully you\u2019ll see that there is a footnote to the word, \u201canew\u201d. It also means \u201cfrom above.\u201d The word in the original language could mean either thing. Nicodemus picks one of the possible meanings. \u201cHow can someone be physically born again?\u201d he asks. Jesus response makes it clear that is not what he meant. He meant, \u201cborn from above\u201d. Everyone has a physical, earthly, birth. To see the kingdom of God we also need to have a spiritual birth, from above. Born of water and Spirit. Looking back on this, it might seem obvious that this is a reference to baptism \u2013 both physical and spiritual, but would that have made sense to Nicodemus? Probably not, so it is more likely that Jesus was using water and Spirit as synonyms \u2013 more word play \u2013 water being one physical metaphor for the Holy Spirit in Jewish thought.
\nThis likelihood is strengthened as we hear Jesus go on to another example of a natural phenomenon that helps us to understand the work of the Holy Spirit, using yet another word that means two things at the end of verse 6. \u201cThat which is born of the Spirit is spirit.\u201d Again, there is a footnote, \u201cthe same Greek word means both wind and spirit\u201d This is also true in Hebrew. So, all the way through verses 6-9 each time it comes up we have to decide if it means wind or spirit. Which, in itself, illustrates the way in which it\u2019s tricky to nail the wind, or the Spirit, down. They blow where they will. <\/p>\n
I strongly suspect that Jesus said all this with a twinkle in his eye. He\u2019s not using riddles to prove how clever he is, or to be deliberately obscure. He knows that he\u2019s talking to a bright chap, a deep thinker. Jesus doesn\u2019t want to spoon feed him, he wants him to grapple with these ideas, wrestle with them. <\/p>\n
For all his learning though, Nicodemus is struggling. \u201cHow can this be?\u201d He asks. <\/p>\n
I wonder what tone of voice you imagine Jesus using in verse 10 and onwards. Is he rebuking Nicodemus, telling him off, or is he gently challenging him to allow his thinking to be stretched, to accommodate new ideas. The idea that Jesus incarnation is the beginning of heaven invading earth, that he isn\u2019t just someone God is with, but is actually God present, on the move in creation, that the Holy Spirit is doing a new thing, bringing people to birth into the kingdom, in a way that can\u2019t be fenced in with religious rules. These are the heavenly things that Jesus is talking about. <\/p>\n
He then goes on to sow the seeds of another area of Nicodemus\u2019 thinking that will be challenged. As an observant Jew, well versed in the Old Testament writings, Nicodemus would have been expecting the Messiah, God\u2019s chosen one, to come and deliver God\u2019s people. And Jesus is that Messiah, he is the one who brings rescue from sin and death, not just to the Jewish people, but to all people. But he\u2019s not going to do it in the way that was expected. He is going to be lifted up, not onto a throne, but as a bronze snake was lifted on a stake in the wilderness by Moses all those centuries ago, onto a stake. <\/p>\n
And this is where the conversation with Nicodemus most likely ends. With a decision for Nicodemus to make. Is he going to believe Jesus, that he is the Messiah, that he is God come to earth, that the Holy Spirit is doing a new thing, that eternal life is available in the heavenly Kingdom of God, which has invaded the earthly kingdom?<\/p>\n
It is possible that verses 16-21 are the continuation of Jesus talking to Nicodemus, but it seems to me more likely that these are John\u2019s reflections on the conversation, probably based on his conversations with Jesus about it. The Greek language that this was written in originally doesn\u2019t have punctuation marks, so it\u2019s not really possible to be definite either way.<\/p>\n
This reflection begins with one of the most famous and well known verses in the Bible, a summary in a very few words of what the good news of Jesus is. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is what God\u2019s love is like. <\/p>\n
It is a love that gives. Everything that we receive from God is a gift to us. Life is a gift. Love is gift. Jesus is a gift. They are freely given, no strings attached. A couple of Christmas\u2019s ago somebody gave me a present that was obviously a lot more expensive than the one I\u2019d got them. I had a good enough relationship with them to be able to say to them that I felt \u201coutgifted\u201d, they were very gracious \u2013 it was a true gift, with no bad feeling because I hadn\u2019t given them something of equal worth. <\/p>\n
With God, this is just as well, because we could give something back to God of equal worth to what God has given us, God\u2019s son. And not just given him to us in the sense that he came to live among us, to teach us, to heal us, to show us the way, though he did do all those things. Gave him to us to die, and not just any death, but a cruel death of torture that caused him to feel abandoned. <\/p>\n
The gift is freely given, but it does have to be received. And we receive it by believing that it is for us, that trusts that it is what God says it is. Imagine someone receiving a birthday gift, but not believing that it is for them. It\u2019s too expensive, too nice, too good, they\u2019re not worth it, they don\u2019t deserve it, there must be some sort of catch. So they don\u2019t take it, they don\u2019t believe the person trying to give it to them, they don\u2019t trust them. How tragic would that be?<\/p>\n
We who have received this gift, who have been born of the Spirit from above, who are citizens now of the heavenly kingdom of God, now have a responsibility. We still live among those who are stumbling in the dark, who can\u2019t see the light, who don\u2019t know that the gift is for them. We are to be the light, to be the gift, to pray for them, to tell them, to invite them to come and open the gift, to trust the giver, and to experience this love for themselves. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I wonder if you\u2019re the kind of person who likes word play and puns. Do you groan at them, or delight in them, or a bit of both? Perhaps the gold standard, the prime example of this is the Two Ronnies \u201cFour Candles\u201d sketch. A customer and shopkeeper in a dance of mutual incomprehension that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[477],"tags":[1413],"class_list":["post-1179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-eyton","tag-john-31-21"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1179"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1180,"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1179\/revisions\/1180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carterclan.me.uk\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}