Walking around in the darkness is so confusing. It is so easy to get disoriented in the dark. It is so hard to make heads or tails of the world when living in the dark.
Some people say that we live in dark times. I just heard it again this week from some people that I dearly love. And, I get it. The division and hate in the world right now all prove that people are not guided by the light.
But, this is not the first time our world has encountered such darkness. The constant uptick of deaths of brave souls blaring from the television screens during the Vietnam War convinced the world then that we were in dark times.
The destruction and death on D-Day and the crumbling cities of Europe had another generation of people thrust into the darkness in an era past.
The black plague, which sucked the life out of so many people, had entire nations convinced in those times that the darkness had won.
Dark times have been so persistent in the world throughout the years, that one could almost assume that darkness is simply the way the world is. Is that too pessimistic?
If you think so, I would like to point you to John 3:19 which reads, “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” So, it appears that darkness is indeed the place into which we are born. Not that joy refuses to exist; it does. Not that goodness is completely hidden; it is not. But, as a whole, we in a world that chooses to set our own courses and chooses to get to our own destinations, using headlights, when the sun would be so much better.
With that said, it is good news then to hear that in the darkness, Jesus is present. The Son of God, the light of the world, the one born from above, exits eternity and steps into the world in order to be a light even for those who choose to drive their own dark routes.
Darkness is the setting for today’s Bible reading. It is not just a fact of history. It is not just a literary device used by the author. It is the reality of the world. It is the dark of the night when a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews, comes to Jesus. We get to see something quite remarkable: Jesus is very present in the darkness of the night. The darkness does not mean the lack of the holy. Maybe, when the eternal chooses to enter into the dark world, some light will shine?
The discussion between Nicodemus and Jesus is about being raised up out of the dark ways of world. To be born from a kingdom that exists above the darkness. To be born again, into this new, eternal reality.
“Very truly, I tell you,” Jesus says, “no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”
Nicodemus replies, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus answers, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
We are born into this dark world, and we come to understand the ways of this dark world, and we try to navigate this dark world the best that we can. But, the point of life, Jesus is trying to convince us, is not to become really, really good in the ways of this dark world.
The point is not to be born to be the most successful. The point is not to be born to be the most loved by those around. The point is not to be the most listened to, or the most agreed with. These are all ways of darkness, yet they proliferate our culture.
Work harder. Do more. Be more. Be the best. If you are not the best, you are not trying hard enough. Be loved. Be richer. These are all highways that lead off into the dark night, and almost all of us have been on one of these roads at one time or another.
But, you are not born into this world, O people of God. Through water and God’s Spirit, breaking into this dark world and breaking into your lives, you have been born again. Not through the womb of your mother though, but through the womb of the Spirit. You are children of the Spirit. You are children of the light of Jesus. You are children who walk, not the ways of the world, but the ways of the Lord.
Let me get something straight here though. Living in the darkness does not make you bad. This is not about condemnation. In fact, there are a lot of great things that happen in the darkness. Jesus is born in the darkness. It is in the darkness where people are able to see a great light, Jesus Christ. Jesus shines that light of truth upon Nicodemus in the middle of the dark night. Jesus is raised from the dead in the middle of the night. Lots of great things can happen in the darkness.
Living in the darkness does not make you bad. Living in the darkness just makes you lost.
But this is the point: where we choose to simply take the darkness for granted, “It will be what it will be,” Jesus, instead, chooses to fill the darkness with heavenly light and truth and presence.
Our Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, steps out of eternity and enters into the darkness of the world; a world that would otherwise continue to live in its own ways. Jesus becomes flesh and steps into the darkness to shine a light.
Even today, the Spirit blows wherever it wants in the darkness of the night. It infects whomever it chooses with eternal light. It infects us and we blow with it, through the darkness. We blow across men and women and children and creatures and trees and nations as if we were born from above and filled with the light of God. And, the words on our lips sound a lot like loving the world, and trusting in the Lord. Our lips repeatedly bear the words:
“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.’”
And, those words are our reality. Those are the words emblazoned in the hearts of us, who are born from above. Trusting in the Son; loving the world; entering into the world; saving the world; refusing to condemn the world; this is what being born from above is all about. This is what living in the kingdom is all about.
Those born of the flesh, will just choose to live in the darkness. They do not know any better. But, those born from above, born from eternity, born into a new life trusting the Lord, live in the light of God’s saving love for the world.
Wow! So how will tomorrow look different from yesterday, knowing now that you live in the light of God’s saving love? What choices from yesterday would be different if made from the heart of Jesus’ saving love for the world? What if we looked up a little more?
Go ahead; have your heads in the clouds. Be accused of reaching too high or placing your trust too far up. After-all, you are a people who have been reborn from above.
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