P rayer: We are grateful, O God, that we may come to you with answers and questions, with hopes and fears. Open us to words that can change us. Open us to new life that beckons us. Open us to see we are loved by you in Jesus Christ. Amen.

On a certain day, in an ancient time, sometime between sun down and sunrise, an encounter happened. One teacher ventured out at night to meet another. Nicodemus, a Pharisee, a leader of the Jews, worked his way through the stillness of the night, moved to create an encounter with the most radical of Rabbi’Äôs.

Picture this: Nicodemus, a Middle Eastern Jewish leader, walking the road to Jesus by moonlight, moving through the darkness, trying to fulfill a longing, a seeking. The night probably had a chill to it, Nicodemus sees the shadow of Jesus and he moves closer until Jesus comes to life in the darkness.

This is no ordinary citizen seeking Jesus; Nicodemus is man with very impressive credentials’Äîhe is an authority on the law, a religious leader, a man of privilege and prestige, his identity is shaped by the public role he defines. This very public man comes to Jesus in private, in the dark. Why come to Jesus in the dark? Why not during the day, at one of the signs Nicodemus and others witnessed Jesus fulfilling? Why not meet with Jesus in the synagogue?

We can only speculate. But I should highlight that it was a risk for anyone to come to Jesus’Äîthis radical Rabbi who was pushing up against the political Pax Romana’Äîthe Roman Empire. So for a Pharisee, a man of the religious establishment to seek out Jesus, this was a risk on many levels. The dark may have made this encounter a bit safer for Nicodemus, hiding his potential allegiance to Jesus and his initial disconnect from the mainstream Jewish community. In the dark, with the moon a glow, with a chill in the air, Nicodemus and Jesus become companions in conversation.

This encounter turns life upside down for Nicodemus. Being a Pharisee, Nicodemus was an expert on the law---the way of living and teaching that was based on a literal, cerebral understanding of Jewish life. So here comes Nicodemus, his mind full of clarity, strong sense of what it takes to be faithful, confident of his ability to grasp the most complex of God-talk discussions, seemingly aware where Jesus gets his power and Jesus’Äô ability to create signs of God’Äôs existence.

Quickly, Jesus throws a stick in the spoke, breaking through Nicodemus’Äô mind set with this theological statement: Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above. The ambiguity continues as Jesus states: no one can enter into the Kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.

Jesus was the master of language and reading his audience. When talking with peasants, Jesus spoke in parables, using symbols and images to connect with those who worked the land. When talking with Nicodemus, a Pharisee, Jesus intentionally uses language that disrupts Nicodemus intellectual brain pattern. This is what created the disruption: when Jesus used the words ’Äúborn from above’Äù and being born of ’Äúwater and Spirit,’Äù he used language that had more than one meaning. In Greek, ’Äúborn from above’Äù can mean ’Äúborn again,’Äù ’Äúborn from above,’Äù and ’Äúborn anew.’Äù

In Greek and Hebrew, one word serves for both ’Äúwind’Äù and ’Äúspirit.’Äù In both languages, it is also the same word for breathe.
The question isn’Äôt about which meaning is correct. All are correct. But in Nicodemus religious training and literal interpretation of the law things have one meaning so he doesn’Äôt get what Jesus is saying. Because of how he is trained to think, Nicodemus settles for one meaning of born again, the literal one’Äîyou mean you go back into your mother’Äôs body even after you’Äôve grown old? Nicodemus knows that’Äôs impossible but he’Äôs stuck in this one way of thinking and believing.

Can you experience what Jesus is trying to do here? Jesus is trying to re-wire Nicodemus’Äô brain, pushing Nicodemus to break out of his normal way of being and welcoming him into the language of God’Äôs way. Jesus is challenging Nicodemus in his beliefs’Äî’ÄúOk, I know you have been spent years in training to believe a certain way but to follow me and live in God’Äôs way, you need to change how you envision and express the faith’Ķyou need to be born again, you need to start all over.’Äù

In using these words ’Äúborn again’Äù and ’Äúborn of water and the spirit,’Äù Jesus is extending an invitation to Nicodemus to a new birth. He invites Nicodemus to enter the kingdom of God where the Spirit will play the same role as his flesh and blood mother: providing the womb of new birth. Jesus is calling Nicodemus to enter the womb of the Spirit and to receive new life as a child of God. For Nicodemus, to enter into the kingdom means that one’Äôs knowledge and confident assertions of how things are and how things should be are opened up to the unpredictable nature of the Spirit.

The womb of the Spirit can birth a human being able to see the kingdom of God, because the child of the Spirit is able and willing to envision new possibilities beyond the confines of established human categories. 1

As the encounter continues, Nicodemus hits his conversational threshold, ’Äúhow can these things be true?’Äù It’Äôs dark, cold; Nicodemus is probably tired after teaching in the synagogue all day. Nicodemus came to this encounter confident---sure that he understood what it meant for Jesus to be Jesus but now his intellect is seriously challenged.

I can imagine Nicodemus saying something like, ’ÄúCan we take a break from this ambiguous, obtuse, metaphorical stuff and just tell me what I need to do.’Äù Just give me an answer. Tell me what you want me to do. I want to connect. How do I do that?

What is so brilliant about this encounter is how Nicodemus’Äô conversation with Jesus may reflect our daily conversations with those around us and with God and each other’Äîsometimes we have encounters that leave us in the dark.

Jesus never tells Nicodemus exactly how to live in God’Äôs way. But Jesus implies that life with God will change Nicodemus’Äîwhen you care for the sick, when you live close to the poor, and when you touch the earth gently these things will change you. In order to do this work, Nicodemus will have to let go of life as he knows it, release his present beliefs, and shift his identity as a Pharisee in order to become a follower of the way.

Imbedded in all the ambiguous language from Jesus is this: trust me. Trust the radical truth. Trust the process. Trust the journey. Trust the encounter. Trust the need to create life anew. Trust this is how you connect with God.

In the dark, Nicodemus doesn’Äôt get it. But Jesus’Äô language opens up rather than closes Nicodemus’Äô journey. As life goes on, something happened to Nicodemus. Later on in the Gospel of John we find Nicodemus in other encounters, living with less ambiguity and more clarity about what it means to be a follower. In the beginning of this story, Nicodemus is identified as a Pharisee. Later on in the Gospel of John, Nicodemus is referred to as the one who had at first come to Jesus by night. This is a shift in identity: from Pharisee to the one who came to Jesus by night. This shows Nicodemus has made the jump from a leader of the religious status quo to a leader and risk taker for the sake of Jesus.

Later on in John, as the temple police and other religious leaders start the process of arresting Jesus, Nicodemus defends the Human One. After Jesus is executed, Nicodemus follows Joseph of Arimathea and takes Jesus body away for burial. Nicodemus brings along a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing a 100 pounds. Now Nicodemus is totally implicated as a follower.

The ambiguity of God’Äôs way is diminished as Nicodemus is challenged to take a stand in identifying with Jesus whose body was executed and broken because of how he cared for the poor and sick. This is the same Nicodemus who was lost in the dark ---lost trying to decipher what it meant to be born again.

Nicodemus is a model of faith, following the One whom God gave to us because God loved creation so much. Nicodemus didn’Äôt get it but he still forged ahead, opening himself up to change in beliefs and a way of life. He encountered a choice and he found a new identity. This gave Nicodemus eternal life or as I interpret it, the fullness of life.

Living with this fullness, this ability to risk identity, privilege, and choices for the sake of Jesus---this is what saves the world.

Throughout Lent, we are hearing from fellow Pilgrims and their stories based on our Lenten theme of encountering choices, finding identity. In our storytelling, we follow in the footsteps of Nicodemus as we wrestle with our own encounters and how they lead us to connect with the Holy and the fullness of life.

Last week in worship, we heard from Mitch Fulton and his encounter that challenged
his assumptions and judgments about another human being. In Jeff’Äôs Updates and Invitations email, we read Matt Boote’Äôs story about his experience at the funeral of his friend Ted and Matt’Äôs encounter with death and the work it takes to live out Ted’Äôs legacy.

I should share that Aine McCarthy, who has been worshipping with us for some time,
made a connection with Matt’Äôs email. Aine knew Ted, she was Ted’Äôs friend, too, and Aine was at Ted’Äôs funeral. Aine and Matt have now connected. An encounter can create another encounter.

Today we will hear from Stan Lou.

We tell these stories so we can trust---trust in encounters that leave us with more questions than answers; trust we can change for the sake of Jesus, trust that as we come to the communion table later on in worship an encounter is waiting for us, trust that if we are sitting in the dark just not getting it, we can still live as the Beloved of God.

1. O’ÄôDay, Gail R. The Word Disclosed. Chalice Press, St. Louis, Missouri. 2002.

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