The young man had coded three times within 12 hours from drug related causes. As I entered his room, he wiped his eyes and took a drink of water. Then he told his story …Following the first two resuscitations, he just assumed "this is it for me" and was resigned to continuing his life of drug use upon release from the hospital. That was, until the third time he coded and awoke to find the doctor and nurses standing over him – crying and telling him the miracle that had just occurred. He shared that he had always considered himself an atheist, believing that all existence was merely a random coincidence. His belief had changed between the 2nd and 3rd resuscitation - he couldn't explain why, but just "knew" that there was a God responsible for all of this and that his life now had a purpose. He asked about Baptism…about receiving the Spirit…about being born again. We read John 3. He then asked me to pray for him and with him. He took another drink of water and then, despite being afraid to fall asleep for fear of not waking again, he fell asleep peacefully, comforted by Contemporary Christian music.
They met at night – in a secret private meeting place away from the daytime crowds. It was safe to ask questions, questions of life, death, heaven – with the one who seemed to know the answers.
But when Nicodemus actually came to Jesus that night, he didn't bring questions. He brought his own answer and told Jesus who he thought he was. Nicodemus a Pharisee, a Jewish leader and teacher came to Jesus and told him "I know of the miracles you have done; I know you have come from God". Jesus answered him "No you don't. Yes, you may have heard or seen the miracles…turning water into wine...but you can't use these things as evidence. Faith does not need evidence…it involves committing to believe in the unbelievable - risking to ask these questions in the daylight without any prepared answers. And, that's not the question you wanted to ask me anyway – you want to know how one enters the kingdom of God. And that, my friend, can't be done without being born from above."
Not quite understanding but still curious, Nicodemus asks "How can someone be born after living?" Jesus answers Nicodemus "No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit". Jesus realized that Nicodemus was searching and answered the questions that Nicodemus didn't know how to ask.
Are we much different from Nicodemus? We come week after week to proclaim our understanding of who God is and to ask God to fix things for us, to give us grace and eternal life. We ask for ourselves and others and go on and on and on. Yes, we are much like Nicodemus…doing all this in the stealth of the night.. in private safe places like our own church…seeking to get answers to questions we don't even know how to ask. Yes, as we struggle to figure it all out, God gives us new birth, of water and the Spirit. God breathes life into us. God pushes us out into the world to publicly live in God's presence. Nothing that we can do or say will do what God can do for us to be born of water and spirit. But Nicodemus keeps asking…he just doesn't seem to get it.
Nicodemus is mentioned three times in the Bible – all in the Gospel of John. The first is in this story when Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the night and questions him hesitantly, unknowingly about being born again.
The second time he is present in the Pharisee's discussion of punishing Jesus for being guilty of being the Messiah. Nicodemus is a little more public in his support of Jesus when he states to his fellow Pharisees that "Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?"
The final appearance of Nicodemus in the Gospel of John is in the burial scene of Jesus. After receiving permission from Pontius Pilate, he goes with Joseph of Arimathea to prepare Jesus' body for burial in the tomb. This time, his support of Jesus is done in public, in the light of day and with a very obvious load - he takes about 100 pounds of myrrh and aloes for the traditional Jewish death preparation.
In antiquity, organized religion liked to keep things under appropriate authority. Jesus came as a new river running through the land that the Pharisees could not control.
Quoting from a Lenten poem titled "O Sea, Mystic Source" by Susan Palo Cherwien:
O River, fair Stream
O Earth-bounded Wanderer,
You seek the low place.
Last month we celebrated the baptism of our Lord as he was baptized by his cousin John the Baptist at the River Jordan. Two weeks ago, we were on the mountaintop witnessing the transfiguration of Jesus the Christ with Peter, James and John. Now, we are in our second week of Len and have started our journey down that mountaintop just like the rains of springtime. Our lives have been filled with the waters of Christ and now the waters begin to fill the cracks and crevices of the dry and dying riverbeds with life. Christ, the mighty river carries us into the low places…takes us where we may not want to go. We flow into, next to and around one another…watching for and bumping into rocks, shooting the rapids, etc. of life.
We are encouraged to ask… How do we seek the low place?
How can we become more conscious of the people in our midst who are unknown to us? Those who are invisible to us?
In what ways do we resist Christ the river by trying to stop it, redirect it, control it?
It takes courage to simply let the river flow…
To speak with someone new, someone different than us
To call out the injustices of hunger, homelessness and those in poor health
To spend time with those who society disregards "the invisibles"
To share gifts of time & talent beyond our community..with the greater church
It takes courage to let go and flow with the river of Christ…to take Christ with us everywhere we go out in the world. To publicly proclaim that we are not totally in control but that we are guided by Christ.
Let us be as public as Nicodemus is at the end of the Gospel of John. Let us give the river of Christ the control of our lives. Let us have the courage to embrace the truth about Jesus as the Son of God. Let us give thanks for the gift of life that he brings to us as children of God.
