Nicodemus [Lent 2A - John 3:1-17]

The Rev. Jeremiah Williamson

John 3:1-17

Nicodemus

This meeting wasn’t exactly planned.  It was more the direct result of a head full of thoughts – the kind of thoughts that present unresolvable problems.  The kind of impossible dilemmas that seem only to emerge once the bustle of the day is put to bed.  And so, on that rather ordinary night, at the end of a rather ordinary day, Nicodemus tossed and turned in his bed, and so did his mind.

It was Jesus: Jesus was the impossible quandary, the stone in Nicodemus’ brain sandal.  His was the voice this local leader could not turn off.  And so, though it was dark, though the night was suggesting sleep and quiet, Nicodemus needed some answers to quell this particular case of insomnia.  Given that Jesus was the problem, he reasoned, Jesus must also be the answer.

Some scholars suggest that Nicodemus came to Jesus under the cover of night to avoid the watchful eyes of his peers.  And that very well could be the reason, or a reason; Jesus did, in John’s Gospel, just complete a hostile rearrangement of the Temple gift shop.  And so perhaps this meeting takes place after-hours because Nicodemus knows that an association with Jesus, a Bible-thumping, whip-handling, backwater construction worker who threatened to tear the beloved Temple to the ground, would, perhaps, ding his sterling reputation.

But I think there might be more to it than that.  Nicodemus came to Jesus with questions – big, deep, cosmic questions.  They were the kind of questions that do keep one up at night.  I don’t know about you, but I have spent many a night restlessly wrestling with problems that seemed to my mind devoid of a satisfactory resolution – big questions, deep questions, existential questions.  The day keeps me busy; the busyness keeps the questions and concerns, the anxieties and worries, at bay.  But then the sun sets, and the cozy blankets call, and the lights go out, and my head hits the pillow and begins to spin.  And some nights there is just no turning off the noise.  And wouldn’t be nice, on those especially frustrating sleepless nights, to be able to get some answers, and then get some sleep. 

In Nicodemus’ case, he had that opportunity.  He went to Jesus, on that sleepless night, to get the answers to his biggest, most perplexing questions.

In the Gospel of John, conversations tend to be a bit unusual.  Most every conversation feels a bit like a press conference.  This conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus, in today’s Gospel passage, is no exception.  What I mean by that is that typically in this Gospel, Jesus is asked a question by a curious seeker, but then rather than answer the question he is asked, he answers the question he wishes he had been asked.  And then usually, at some point in the awkward exchange, Jesus insults the person, launches into a monologue, and at the completion of his speech, everyone disperses.  All very much like a press conference.

If Nicodemus came to have his scattered thoughts put to rest by Jesus, I am afraid this visit was entirely unsatisfactory.  But if he came to have his mind blown, his theological frontiers expanded, I suspect his darkened journey was successful.  Although, sleep was likely more elusive than ever before.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus rarely answers the questions presented to him, but that is because the questions are always the wrong questions; they are always too small.  Jesus offers Nicodemus a glimpse into the great spiritual mysteries surrounding salvation.  Nicodemus cannot figure out how an old man can re-enter his mother’s womb.  The two were clearly not on the same page.

And during this conversation they never do get there.  Jesus ends their encounter with a long monologue – one which includes one of the most well-known verses in the entire Bible: For God so loved the world…  And Nicodemus says nothing – perhaps because the last time he spoke Jesus replied, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?”  His silence is, I suppose, understandable.  But not only do we not get a reply, the Gospel narrative simply ends at Jesus’ final world.  Jesus then moves on; Nicodemus disappears from the chapter.  Where he went from there or what he did after the encounter is pure speculation.

Until, that is, Nicodemus rejoins the story in the seventh chapter.  Given his unceremonious disappearance in chapter three, his reappearance is a surprise.  In this second presentation, Nicodemus is meeting with an agitated group of fellow religious leaders.  They are contemplating Jesus’ arrest.  Bothered by the way Jesus is stirring up trouble among the common masses, they plot to remove him from public view.  Nicodemus, rather timidly, suggests that this hasty decision might be a bit of an overreach.  His one line in this scene is, “Does our law condemn a person before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?”  You can feel the eyes of those present direct their gaze in his direction rather suspiciously.  I imagine a confused and annoyed silence falling over the gathering.  The reader can almost hear the collective sigh travel through the centuries.  And then the response: “What?  Are you from Galilee too?  Look, those hill people are worthless.  This guy is cannot be a prophet.  Prophets don’t come from backwater villages like Galilee.”  And then probably they laughed.  Nicodemus blushed.  And they moved on to the next agenda item. Nicodemus disappears from the chapter.  Where he went from there or what he did after the encounter is pure speculation.  Although, he almost certainly went home and complained about his co-workers to his wife.

Just when it seems his role in this Gospel is over, Nicodemus appears one final time.  At the end of the Gospel, in the shadows of the sorrow of the cross, Nicodemus, the same man who once visited Jesus under the cover of night, who timidly invoked legal process to prevent Jesus’ arrest, returns to care for Jesus’ body – to care for the body of a condemned criminal, and to do so very openly in the light of day.

With the help of Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus buried Jesus in a tomb.  He washed the dead body and, with the costly spices Nicodemus brought to this place of death, he tenderly prepared the body of Jesus for burial. 

We don’t know how many sleepless nights it took for the words of Jesus to burrow into Nicodemus’ heart.  But something happened that night; something took root in the darkness, on the night he heard Jesus say, “For God so loved the world...”  The change wasn’t immediate.  Not every new birth happens in an instant.  Sometimes the process of transformation takes time.  His encounter with Jesus, set Nicodemus on a journey, one that changed his life, even if not immediately.   

Jesus did not demand a confession from Nicodemus on their first encounter.  Jesus trusted that the Spirit was at work in his life.  Because that is how love works; love is patient.  And God is love.  And, no matter where you are in your spiritual journey, the Spirit is working in you and love is waiting for you.