I Don't Understand

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

June 3, 2012

I Don’t Understand

John 3:1-10

Nicodemus was a Pharisee,

a leader in the religious community,

trained in the law of the Hebrews,

knowledgeable, intelligent,

a man who knew his Scripture,

a man who knew the Lord God.

As a Pharisee, he would have been a man of stature,

of position,

of authority,

respected,

a leader held in the highest esteem.

                            

But as Nicodemus listened to Jesus,

the two of them talking furtively in the darkness,

it is clear he didn’t get it.

For as smart as Nicodemus must have been,

he didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about.

As Jesus put it to him so bluntly:

“Are you a teacher of Israel,

and yet you do not understand these things?”

        

We probably should have a little sympathy

for Nicodemus, though.

Jesus’ words would likely have confused

anyone listening to them:

“No one can see the kingdom of God

without being born from above.”

What could Jesus have possibly meant by that -

“To be born from above”?

Nicodemus responded with amazement

grounded in the rough biology of birth.

As he asked Jesus,

“How can anyone be born having grown old?”

Had any woman been listening to the conversation

she would surely have winced as Nicodemus asked,

“Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb

and be born?”

Nicodemus did not understand

that Jesus was speaking figuratively,

speaking in metaphor,

as Jesus often did to make his point.

Jesus didn’t intend for Nicodemus to take him literally.

But Nicodemus was a man of rule,
a man of doctrine,

a man of clear, imperative words.

He was unable to shake the grip of literalism

that trapped him.  

His eyes, his very expression,

said what his mind was thinking,

“I don’t understand.”

Nicodemus the Pharisee was all mind, all intellect,

no heart,

and clearly, no spirit.

He didn’t understand what Jesus was talking about

when he said,

“What is born of the flesh is flesh,

and what is born of the Spirit is spirit,”

because Nicodemus was all flesh,

and no spirit.

Nicodemus had not yet been born from above.

                 

Not “born again”,

but “born from above”.

This is an important distinction.

Jesus didn’t say “born again”.

This passage has been rather badly muddled over the centuries,

Jesus’ words mistranslated.

For some Christians this has become a litmus test:

“when were you born again?”,

meaning, “When was your conversion?”

“When was that precise moment

when you came to faith through Christ?”

If you cannot identify a precise moment,

a place, a time,

then for some Christians,

you have not truly been born again,

you have not truly become a disciple of Jesus Christ.

While some of us may well have had a conversion moment,

a time we can point to and say that the light shined,

this is a still an unfortunate misinterpretation

of our Lord’s words.

It isn’t what Jesus said,

and it also reflects a bad misunderstanding

of the biology of birth.

Is birth something that happens in a moment?

In a flash?

Something quick, almost rapturous?

“If only!”   

is probably what most women

who have given birth are thinking!

The reality is that birth is a long, arduous process;

it is hard work, and it can go on for hours,

with all its attendant excruciating pain.

To be born is to be literally turned upside down,

to be pushed from a place of security,

a place of certainty,

of warmth and comfort,

to a place the newborn hasn’t chosen

and knows nothing about,

and where the newborn’s reaction,

the newborn’s initial response to the new reality

is a loud, frightened cry in shock!

And birth is of course, just the start,

the beginning of a life’s journey.

Following the exhaustion and shock of the birth itself

comes the hard work of growing,

mind and heart,

body and soul.

Of learning that life brings joy and pain,

plenty and want,

hope and despair,

success and failure.

To be born from above as Jesus speaks of it

is to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit from God,

and then to begin a lifelong journey

of growing in and with the Spirit,

to walk with what Jesus calls our Advocate,

our Helper.

Nicodemus did not understand this.

Nicodemus didn’t understand

because although he was a religious man,

he had not yet become a spiritual man.

To be born from above,

to live in the Spirit,

is to live balancing heart and mind,

logic and emotion,

not too much of one,

nor too little of the other.

Too much emotion,

and we risk being reduced to snake handlers,

speaking gibberish and calling it tongues,

using passages from the Bible to judge and condemn others,

turning the written word of God into little more

than a measuring stick to hold up against others.

Too much intellect,

and we literalize,

looking upon the written word as a rule book,

everything black and white.

no nuance,

no shades of gray;

no compassion,

no mercy

no forgiveness.

no wisdom,

no grace.

Too much emotion and we say breezily,

“God will provide”

forgetting that God works through us

in all places and all times.

Too much intellect

and we look upon a sea of hungry people,

then look to the few loaves and fish we have

and conclude that we cannot possibly

feed the hungry throng.

But when we combine heart and mind,

when we live and think and act in the Spirit,

all things become possible.

Combining heart and mind,

living fully in the Spirit,

the Helper opens our eyes

so we can see how we might feed the hungry

even when the food on our table looks wholly inadequate.

Combining heart and mind,

living fully in the Spirit,

is to live the possibilities

to live in the energy and strength of the Spirit,

to live in grace.             

To be born from above is not to answer an altar call,

for our spiritual rebirth is God’s doing, not ours.

Nicodemus shows us the pattern,

what to expect:

He first comes to Jesus under cover of darkness

so no one else can see him.

Then a little while later,

when other Pharisees seek to arrest Jesus,

Nicodemus stands up for him,

saying to his brother Pharisees,

“Our law does not judge people

without first giving them a hearing

 to find out what they are doing, does it?”

(John 7:51)

And then we see Nicodemus filled completely

with the breath of God

when he comes with Joseph of Arimathea

to take Jesus down from the cross,

and prepare Jesus’ body for burial,

his every move no longer hidden by the night,

but now in full view of everyone:

Pharisees, Romans, and followers of Jesus alike.

There is no hesitancy, no doubt, no weakness;

nothing but confidence, assurance, strength.

To be born from above is to be transformed,

to be turned upside down

as we respond to the call to live in and through the Spirit,

and not the flesh,

To be born from above is to know joy,

to live in grace,

to live fully in the circle of love,

giving and receiving.

To be born from above is

no longer to say “I don’t understand”,

but to walk confidently in the Spirit,

walk confidently with the Helper,

to be like Nicodemus,

filled with the very breath of God.

AMEN