1. Coming out into the light- The consequences of following

The Journey to the Cross

17 February 2008

John 3:1-17

Tonight here in the Wesley Theatre in Sydney, we have shared in a service which has featured our Rise and Shine television ministry; the resident band have joined us and we have talked with some of the people who help to produce our weekly program.

What enormous steps have been taken in media ministry down the years. The world has changed radically since the early days of television ministry here at Wesley Mission. Over fifty years ago, Methodist ministers would be called into the studio for comment and take part in ‘Thought for the Day’ type programs. In those days, the ministers would be resplendent in a thick ‘dog collar’, formal suit and a specifically coloured shirt to suit broadcasting requirements. It was of course all in black and white.

As a young minister in 1982, I recall being asked to do a series of Epilogues for Westward Television, Plymouth in the West of England. On one occasion I arrived at the studio at 12.30 am (these programs were always live) and was told that the boxing match, which was being transmitted from the USA, had been delayed … and so, after the blood and guts, I then came on to talk about God.

Here at Wesley Mission, Alan Walker developed ‘Challenge the Minister’ which sometimes was broadcast from a Union headquarters or a factory canteen – and often from Bondi Beach. Gordon Moyes took it forward with the establishment of ‘Turn ’Round Australia’ and, because the requirements of the media and the viewers change so rapidly, we began Rise and Shine two years ago. The program is now broadcast in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and, through United Christian Broadcasters, across Europe and Africa. The world continues to shrink and more opportunities are being explored in India and the USA.

A set gospel for today is not out of place when it is John 3: 1-17. The Christian media is one way in which people find their way to Jesus. Let us look more closely at the account of Nicodemus and Jesus.

What we have is a conversation between a religious leader and Jesus. The leader came under the cover of darkness and the subject of their conversation from beginning to end is God. The issue is, ‘How do God and human beings relate so as to please God and redeem the world?’ Nicodemus’ problem was that he was almost totally a left brain thinker. He was used to living his life by clear-cut parameters and established and recognised rules. So for him everything is orderly and neat. In his conversation with Jesus, Nicodemus will discover the world is not quite like this.

First of all, let’s get to know Nicodemus a little: He is a member of the Sanhedrin, which is a very elite and significant group of religious people. In one sense they decided the rules for the rule-keepers. Nicodemus, then, was a religious man who would know the Law by memory and would be familiar with religious things. Now we might say, ‘Why is Nicodemus helpful to us in understanding the way of Jesus in relation to our media ministry?’ The fact is that despite his religion he is clearly missing the point. Surprising as it is, he is confused – and we also live in an age of many confused religious concepts.

Here in Australia, in the latest census, a very high percentage of our population affirmed that they are Christian. Even higher figures would be recorded for the US. Of course, people are affirming a certain value-base and tradition, which is vastly different from talking about really knowing God.

I receive letters from people who watch our television ministry; sometimes others reply to the correspondence, but I am always attracted to the challenge of a letter from someone who confesses to being very mixed up. The way people communicate today is so very different from the past. Our programs go out at all kinds of different times, which is why we never say, “Good morning”. This makes it impossible to contemplate receiving telephone responses as we did in the past, but that doesn’t indicate we are not receiving more electronic communication and, once we are up and running, SMS responses will become more normative. At that point we shall need the gift of interpretation!!

Let’s use the passage as a starting point in understanding what can happen when a person comes to Jesus Christ.

Nicodemus came under the cover of darkness

- Verse 2

Jesus is sought by Nicodemus under the cover of darkness, as he came to find out who Jesus was, but ended up finding out who he himself needed to become … that is a new person, born from above!

Perhaps Nicodemus had been on the edge of the crowd listening to Jesus – or more accurately pretending not to listen, whilst in conversation with someone else. He certainly would not want to publicly endorse what Jesus was about, so he decided to go under the cover of night.

He didn’t want to be seen

Nicodemus didn’t want to be embarrassed by being seen socialising with Jesus by his friends in the Sanhedrin. The fact that Nicodemus meets Jesus at night is an expression that designates a kind of time, rather than a point in time. Nicodemus would be dressed in a way which would be recognised by everyone; he was, if you like, a member of ‘the Supreme Court of Religion’.

He was a powerful man and power can be seductive. We remember how, when Jesus is tempted by the devil in Matthew 4, power is used as one of the ways in which he is tempted. Nicodemus would not want to give up power or bring that power into a place of vulnerability if he was not absolutely certain of what he was doing.

So this deeply religious man, one of the leaders, needed a strong character to respond to what he had seen in Jesus. He calls Jesus ‘Rabbi’ which in itself tells you a great deal; many of Jesus’ contemporaries would disregard him as ‘untaught’ – but Nicodemus, a man of standing, had far more wisdom … he knew that Jesus was saying, doing and being something and someone which he needed discover for himself.

When people are ‘searching’ they are often reluctant to be identified and it is so important to respect their anonymity and not to abuse such a relationship.

He had conflicting priorities

Nicodemus was not just a religious man, but a person who exercised great power and judgement. It is very likely that Nicodemus came from an established family and was almost certainly a wealthy man.

Nicodemus is not skulking in the darkness; he has chosen this approach because he is curious. He is a man of pedigree who wants to maintain his dignity.

I recall a man who had a high position; his name was recognisable to huge numbers of people. He made an appointment one day to talk in my office and I realised that he came in very much the way Nicodemus did. His hesitations lay in the fact that he had many responsibilities and priorities in his life. If he was to embrace the Christian truth which he met in the Person of Jesus, it would have all kinds of implications for him.

He showed moral strength

It would require courage to seek out the wisdom of a teacher such as Jesus if you belonged to the Sanhedrin, not least because he was an unrecognised teacher. Far too much is made about the way Nicodemus came … it is the fact he came that is most important.

When we broadcast week-by-week, we never really know what’s going on in the mind of people who are sharing with us. But we do know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is challenging and calls people to a place of recognition, which is costly. We live in a community that seems to want cost-free ethics; cheap, undemanding religion; and a world where everything can be placed in neat compartments.

If we are to do what is right in life, it will always have a costly aspect to it. John’s Gospel uses light and darkness in a quite specific manner. Darkness is perceived as the realm of evil, untruth and unbelief (cf. 9:4, 11:10). The only other person to appear at night in the gospel is Judas Iscariot, who departs into the night to betray Jesus (13:30). Nicodemus, however, has made a choice. He stepped into the light to seek out Jesus.

He clearly had a longing for truth – Verse 9.

The kind of information we don’t have in the Bible is what relationship Nicodemus had with Jesus before this event. The fact that he gives Jesus an honoured title would indicate that he recognised Jesus as a teacher. Had he been on the edge of the crowd, listening to him? Had he sat in the Sanhedrin and listened to the conversations about him? It is clear that stirring within him was a longing that could ultimately only be satisfied by the Holy Spirit.

He recognised that Jesus Christ was special

In the previous chapter in John 2: 23, we can see that many people saw the miraculous signs of Jesus, but Nicodemus was on a quest and he wanted an answer to his deep longing.

We must be careful not to underestimate the fact that many people begin to recognise something long before they find it. Huge numbers of people talk about ‘overhearing the gospel’ before embracing it. This is one of the reasons why the interview is so important in our television work. On Rise and Shine we use the interview as a method of enabling people to explore the gospel for themselves. It is not for me, as the interviewer, to tell the person what to say or to give their answers for them, but to allow them to say what is really most important and to seek to guide for the best response. Much of our learning is by overhearing. The viewer is free to reflect, accept, reject or resolve; the viewer can take some responsibility for how they feel, in relation to what they hear, understand or are challenged by.

He was impressed by what he heard

Now this is a difficult point, because it is possible to be impressed and do nothing about it, simply remaining a distant admirer.

I can remember working in a context where I had a colleague who supported a different football team from mine – and on Monday mornings regularly he would say to me, “I see your lot lost on Saturday!” It was rather infuriating because ‘his lot’ used to do impressively well. I was, however, taken aback when one day he said he had never been to see his team … he was merely a distant admirer.

Nicodemus took an important step. Nicodemus wasn’t a bad person in any sense. He was a product of his religious and political culture … and he is to be commended for the fact that he sought out Jesus.

Pictures from times of war remain in people’s minds. One of the most striking from World War II was not a picture of conflict, but one of compassion. George VI is inspecting a bombed out section of London during the Blitz. He stopped to talk to a little boy, who is sloppily dressed with his cap on crooked. The King is bending on one knee and looking directly into the face of the child. Even though it is a profile shot of the King, you can see that his expression is one of compassion. That child would never forget the look – and once a person sees and hears Jesus Christ, they are never the same.

He perceived enough to want to make a move

Conversation in itself would never stir a person. Just listening to what others said would not be enough to move a man or woman. What is happening in Nicodemus is the work of God. Within him there is a wistful longing; a man who longs to be set free from his own feelings of confinement. He fulfilled a role in the community which seems to have taken hold of him, but now he was going to break free and the first step is the most difficult.

Nicodemus had the privilege of distance when he first heard about Jesus, but he now makes an important choice – and that is to move into a place of the personal interview. Only he can make that decision.

He is given an explanation of what coming into the light will mean for him – Verses 5-8

When Jesus talks about being born again, Nicodemus just doesn’t get it – and he interprets the words of Jesus literally. Jesus uses the illustration of the wind to speak of the Spirit. Nicodemus lived in a one dimensional world and the only way he could be changed would be if he was able to move into the place of the Spirit.

This clear-cut character found the business of ‘the wind blowing where it will’ hard to grasp. And there are many people like this.

Jesus appeals to his heart and will

For a person to be changed, both aspects have to be engaged. He reminds Nicodemus of the power of both wind and water. This takes the conversation into a new area. Some writers have complicated the matter by making complex theological points that muddy the water. For me, it speaks quite clearly of the ‘disturbance’ and ‘refreshment’ of God’s presence in our lives. You feel it, you know it and you will never be the same again!

Returning to Bob Dylan again … in the 1960s he wrote “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind; the answer is blowin’ n the wind.”

Jesus points out the need for a new beginning

When Jesus talks about ‘a new birth’, he is making clear that our own efforts, skills, religion or ability are not enough. Jesus talks about being born again and twice challenges his special visitor (v.v.3 and 7). One word is worthy of closer examination – and it is the Greek word ‘anothen’ which can mean either ‘again’ or more usually ‘from above’ (see also 3:31; 19:11, 23).

Jesus is spelling out the fact that what Nicodemus requires is not part of his life repairing, but a new life!

Have you noticed how many television programs are about makeovers? Some of us are well past redemption in that area! In one series people are helped to lose ten years: their hair is restyled, their facial features are addressed, their whole fashion sense is improved – but it’s still the same person! What Jesus is offering to Nicodemus is a brand new beginning.

Jesus helps him to see the bigger picture

After Jesus had spoken to him about this new beginning, Nicodemus asked, “How can this be?” (v.11) Is he baffled? Is he so disturbed that he cannot understand? – or does he want to know quite quickly what must happen for him?

There is a sense of irony in that Jesus addresses Nicodemus in a way that is similar to the way Nicodemus had earlier addressed him. It is useful to compare 3:2 and 3:10.

Jesus then refers to an Old Testament story from Numbers 21 in which Moses build a serpent of bronze and elevated it among the Israelites, so that anyone who gazed upon it would be healed. This serpent required lifting up to be of benefit. In the same way, Jesus will be lifted high (3:14; 8:28; 12:32, 34). This is a clear reference to the Cross.

Then we have the commentary written by John which has become the text of texts (3:16-17). This is what television can never do … we can only bring a person to a place of hearing; it is then the work of the grace of God to open a heart to receive the good news.

Nicodemus was a respected and accomplished member of his community. It could be said that he was living life to the optimum. One writer described him as being at “the pinnacle of power and piety”. It is for this reason that Jesus’ words are so challenging. He will need to abandon any prideful notions and let God remake him.

Napoleon believed the fate of every battle was decided in the space of five minutes. All his manoeuvering and planning led to that strategic moment of decision – a moment of action and choice. That is exactly what happens when God speaks to Nicodemus … and when he speaks to you!

Christian Life