Reflection on John 3:1-17

The beginning of the gospel of John declares, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” 

The light is, indeed, shining in the darkness as the old man, Nicodemus slowly works his way through the darkness to seek out Jesus, the light.  He has questions for Jesus, questions that could only be asked in the dark.  You see, Nicodemus has heard of the amazing signs that Jesus has done.  He knows that God has started something new, and he has questions.  He peers out of the darkness, looking at Jesus for an answer. 

Jesus looks into the shadows and shares the light; he shares the truth with Nicodemus.  Jesus tells him that you cannot see God’s new kingdom…you cannot understand what God is up to…unless you are reborn, or born again, or born from above. 

Still sitting in the shadows, Nicodemus asks, "How can anyone be born after having grown old?”

And, there it is.  There is the heart of his dilemma.  The signs and wonders that Jesus is bringing into the world on behalf of God is something new, something beyond his understanding.  And he, Nicodemus, has grown old. 

How can you start over after having grown old?  How can you scrap what you have come to know after years and start all over again?  Jesus, “how can anyone be born after having grown old?” 

Jesus and Nicodemus banter back and forth lightheartedly about grown men exiting their mother’s wombs, but the real issue has been exposed.  Nicodemus is old.  God is doing something new in Jesus.  Is Nicodemus too old to start all over again?  Maybe, he is too tired.

Nicodemus is not the first person to be urged by the Spirit of God to do something new, not by a long shot.  Abram was the son of a powerful war lord who was wealthy, who controlled a vast amount of land, and who had soldiers under his control.  All of this wealth and power would be Abram’s. 

Yet, the Spirit of God blows like the wind and does what it wants.  The Spirit of God goes where it chooses.  It chose to fall of Abram.  The Spirit of God encouraged him to leave his home and leave his kindred.  Abram was encouraged to leave everything and everyone…to leave the safety of all he had grown to trust…in order to follow a relatively unknown God into unknown regions of the world…unknown to him anyway.  The Spirit of God was encouraging him to do something new. 

Can you imagine the enormity of what God is asking of Abram?  Can you imagine leaving everything you have ever known and striking out on a life that is completely new?  For some inexplicable reason, Abram chooses to try this crazy plan. 

We do not know why Abram does it, but we do know why God does it.  God wants to bless the entire world through Abram and his descendants.  God does it because God desires to bless the world.

That desire should sound awfully familiar.  Jumping back to the story of Jesus and Nicodemus; Jesus speaks into the darkness and there, in the shadows, Nicodemus hears God’s desire.  Jesus declares:

"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.”

Why is God encouraging an old man who is stuck in his ways and too old to do anything new to be reborn?  It is for the same reason that Abram was asked to leave all that he knew and trusted.  God desires to bless the world.  God does not desire that the word be condemned, rather God desires that the world might have eternal life.

There is no such thing as too old, or too learned, or too mature, or too set in your ways for God.  The Spirit is like the wind and it will blow new life wherever it chooses.

I think of the Rev. Kay Wold.  She is a fabulous pastor who graduated from seminary the same year that I graduated.  She has a heart filled with mercy and compassion.  She is simply the best. 

She was also retired when she joined us young ones at seminary.  She could have spent her remaining retirement years traveling the world or relaxing next to a pond in a small cabin.  She could have done any of those things, but the Spirit was blowing.  The Spirit saw in her someone through whom the world could be blessed. 

So, the Spirit blew her right up the hill into the seminary in order to study Greek and Hebrew and Theology and Church History and everything else, because age has nothing to do with blessing and has nothing to do with salvation.  Kay was born from above, and so are you.

I think of a little church in Texas who had only14 aged members remaining.  It was time to close the doors.  It was time to retire the faith of that church.  It was time to die. 

But, Jesus is funny about that sort of thing.  Jesus does not like to stay in the grave.  When people write death certificates, Jesus like to blow a strong wind and tear them up.  

Do you know what Jesus led those 14 aged members to realized? 

First, they realized that they loved Jesus. 

Second, they realized that Jesus loved the world. 

Third, they realized that they loved the world, and their church. 

Forth, they realized that they loved their grandchildren. 

Fifth, they realized that there were children in the area who did not have grandparents around. 

Sixth, they realized that they could rebirth their church in such a way that they could be grandparents to those children in the community. 

Seventh?  What did they do on the seventh day?  They did not rest, but they did worship.  They started inviting those children to church and worshiping with those children in ways that spoke to the hearts of those children.  They took them out to ice cream and attended their games.  They allowed the Spirit of God to blow them out of the shadows of their community and into the light of Jesus’ desire that the world might be saved. 

After-all, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  And, God did not send his church into the world in order to live in the shadows.  He sent us into the world that we might be a blessing to the world in Jesus’ name. 

Is that the wind I hear?  Jesus must be up to something new.  Jesus must be breathing new life into these old rafters.  Jesus must love the world.