Seeking Understanding
John 3:1–17
February 17, 2008
University Christian Church, Seattle, WA
Rev. Sandy Messick

• A man developed a sudden interest in sailing so he set out to learn all he could about the subject. He ordered books from Amazon.com, he went to exhibits on sailing at the local maritime museum. He studied boats, and waves, and different kinds of fabrics, and how to judge wind speeds. He watched videos of people sailing, and took field trips out to the water to watch people sailing. Finally, one day, he turned to his wife, and said, “You know, I guess if I’m going to really learn sailing, sooner or later, I’ll have to actually sail.”
• Nicodemus was a religious leader, a Pharisee. In the dark of night, he came to see Jesus.
• There’s lots of speculation about why he came at night. Some think he was afraid and didn’t want to be seen. Others think this is John’s way of telling us he was clueless. He was literally and figuratively “in the dark.” But still others remember that Jewish scholars were encouraged in those days to study at night, because at night it was quieter, more focused. Perhaps Nicodemus came to Jesus at night as part of his education. He was attending a night class with the master.
• Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night and says, “Rabbi, we know you have come from God because we have seen the signs that you do. And we know that no one can do those signs unless they have come from God.” If A, then B. It’s a logical conclusion.
• But Jesus, who did you notice doesn’t even respond to that, confounds Nicodemus. “Truly I tell you, no one can experience the kingdom of God unless they are born from above.” Other translations read, “Born anew” which is how we get the whole “Born again” thing. But the NRSV translates it, “Born from above.”
• Nicodemus, though, is a literalist, at least in this case. He’s confused and confounded and can’t get his head around this. “Say what? What are you talking about Jesus? How can I be born anew? I’m an old man. What am I supposed to do, crawl back into my mother’s womb and be born a second time?” Jesus’ statements make no sense to one who is trying to think things through logically and intellectually, and literally. But Nicodemus is trying! He’s asking questions. Trying to clarify, confirm, make sense.
• Jesus just continues to muddy the waters. “The wind blows where it chooses and you can hear the sound of it but you don’t know where it comes from or where it goes. That’s what life is like for those who are in the spirit, who have been born from above.”
• Nicodemus throws up his hands in despair. “I don’t get it. How can this be?”
• Nicodemus and Jesus are having a conversation, but they’re not communicating. It’s a conversation between the head and the heart; between thinking and feeling. Nicodemus is trying with all his intellect, all his head, to grasp this understanding of Spirit that moves where it will and affects us as it will. Jesus, on the other hand, isn’t interested in providing theological doctrine. Instead, he’s proclaiming a Spirit that flows where it will, bestowing love upon the whole world, for God so loves the whole world. A spirit that is embodied in the person of Jesus who is called Christ, but not confined within him. A spirit that has to be experienced, not just analyzed.
• Some have likened this conversation to that between the systematic theologian and the mystic. There are different languages at work here.
• And while it might be easy to say that this passage is painting Nicodemus as the blind, unseeing, intellectual, that would miss the point. Jesus never tells us to give up our thinking minds, but here, I think, he is saying, faith is more than that which we can decide in our heads, it’s also a matter of the heart.
• It’s not enough for Nicodemus just to look at the signs and come to the logical conclusion that Jesus is of God. He also needs to be born from above, to experience the presence of God in his very being in order to experience the Kingdom of God in his midst. Nicodemus needs to let go of his logic and feel. He needs to go sailing.
• Fred Craddock, noted Disciples preacher, in his commentary on this passage, wrote “Life in God’s realm is not achieved, calculated, or safely fixed on a faith that has been proven by signs. Rather, life is given of God, as free from our control as the whence and whither of the wind.”
• We in the mainline churches, particularly in the liberal, well-educated, mainline churches are really good at the thinking about part. We can analyze, and study and research until our efforts are exhausted and no angle is left unexplored. But at some point, we need to set that piece down, and experience. Experience the winds of the spirit that blow through this place, experience the gift of the Holy Spirit that draws diverse people together. We need to drink of the new wine that Christ offers and savor the taste of the bread that is the body of Christ. We need to do more than study about our faith, we have to live it. For only in that way will we fully experience the Kingdom of God that is in our midst.
• Larry was a truck driver who always dreamed of flying. He joined the Air Force, but poor eyesight kept him from flying. So, after being discharged, he sat in his back yard near L.A. and watched the jets flying overhead. Sitting there, he hatched his plan. He went to the army surplus store and bought 45 weather balloons and attached them to his armchair. He packed a lightweight cooler with beer and sandwiches, slung a shotgun over his arm and had his friends cut the tethers that tied him to the ground. His plan was to float maybe 30 feet in the air and then when it was time to come down he’d use the shotgun to shoot the balloons one by one. But when his friends cut the tethers he shot up into the air, not 30 feet but something like 16,000 feet right into the flightpath of LAX. He was too afraid to shoot any of the balloons so he floated for the next 14 hours until finally he worked up the nerve to shoot a few balloons. Eventually he got tangled in some wires and climbed his way to safety. Once on the ground he was arrested by the local police. As they led him away, a reporter called out, asking him why. His response, “Well you can’t just sit there.” “Were you scared?” “Yes, wonderfully so.”
• Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh tells the story of Buddha, lecturing to a group of people. Suddenly, Buddha held up a flower. Just held it out there, saying nothing. Around the room, people were thinking hard about the flower, about it’s meaning, about why Buddha was holding it up. Then, near the back of the room, one person smiled. Buddha responded with a nod, and another smile. Buddha then spoke: “Most of you were thinking about the flower, but only one of you was truly able to experience the flower, and when that person experienced the flower, he smiled.”
• I always appreciate the writing of Thom Shuman, a Presbyterian pastor in Cincinnati who wrote this reflection on the passage of Nicodemus:

At the bar where he’d been nursing his wounds after a long bored meeting, Nick pushes himself to his feet, wandering over to the cigarette-scarred piano where Jesus is slowly plinking out “In the still of the night.”

Putting a dollar in the chipped glass, he begins to chat with the guy who can do wonders with just a few notes;

Nodding slowly, listening carefully Jesus looks up and smiles:

“My man, you need a new dance partner,” nodding to the corner;

As Nick turns, he sees Spirit waiting with open arms

“But Nick.” Jesus whispers, “You gotta let her lead…”