Nicodemus – a shadowy figure who comes to Jesus by night. We don’t know much about what happened to him after this encounter, but what we DO know is important: it was Nicodemus who argues with the Sanhedrin about Jesus’ trial. This was a body of 21 men – there was such a body in every town – which was responsible for law and order. Nicodemus points out to them that the accused had a right to speak – something they had omitted in Jesus’ trial. Nicodemus was also the one who took Jesus’ mutilated body down from the cross, anointed it with Myrrh and Aloes and placed it in a new tomb.
From this we must deduce that the encounter that this man had with Jesus had a huge effect on his life – he became a follower of Jesus and things would not have been straightforward with his friends anymore. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and he reminds us that the first followers of Jesus were all Jewish, although Jesus questioned and challenged all that was familiar and safe to them. The encounter which lead to the changes in Nicodemus’ life forms our Gospel passage for today and it isn’t easy to understand. It contains two famous passages which various people banter about, out of context and without much thought – you must be born from above (more famously translated as ‘you must be born again’) and the very last verse beginning ‘For God so loved the world.’ Some people make being born again like membership of a secret club formed of those who have secret knowledge. This is actually a heresy – Gnosticism. And where in Jesus’ life do you see him advocating special clubs and cliques which exclude people? Before you start looking, you’re wasting your time. Jesus was for inclusion, not exclusion and he had a special love for those who were out of favour. Those who hold what they perceive to be special knowledge seem to think that theirs is the only way of believing in Jesus which affects how they understand the last first in today’s Gospel. ‘Those who believe in him’ is much, much wider than some would have us believe.
Nicodemus comes to Jesus with a sort of statement of faith – he realises that Jesus is someone special – he sees God’s presence in him. Jesus replies ‘No one can see the Kingdom of God without being born from above – born again. This puzzles Nicodemus, althugh I think he has already seen this KIngdom, which is why he has this conversation with Jesus in the first place: he has already been born once when he left his mother’s womb and took his first breath. How can he do this again? Jesus tells him he must be born both of water and the spirit. We can take the first of these to mean birth from the waters of our mothers’ wombs – the amniotic fluid. Did anyone see the midwife getting a faceful of this last week on Call the Midwife? But thinking of this first birth for a minute, we need to look at what we are born into. All humans are born into a culture – in England it used to be said that if you were born here you were a Christian. People joked about the confusion between being English and being Christian.
These days it’s more complicated – you might be English and Muslim, Atheist, Hindu, Jewish and so on. Even though the situation is now more complex most children are born into a family which has beliefs, a culture, a way of being. For most of us, this sets the pattern of our lives to a large extent. For Nicodemus this meant he was born a Jew and grew up a Pharisee. He was a child of Abraham – the stories and myths of his Jewish inheritance formed a large part of who he was, what he did, how he behaved and what he believed. The same goes for us except ours has been a Christian heritage.
But what is this second birth Jesus talks of? Birth from the Spirit? Whatever it is it sounds a bit scary because Jesus goes on to say that the spirit blows where it wishes – it’s erratic, unpredictable and mysterious. This is made more confusing by the fact that our translation is not very adequate. What Jesus said was more like ‘you must be being born again’ – not just once but over and over again, every day, every minute.
Effectively, Jesus is asking Nicodemus to leave the security of his heritage, the things that give him his identity, and be open to new things – things he has no certainty about. I think this is why Jesus talks about the Spirit in terms of the wind blowing where it wills. If we are born of the Spirit, we have to
leave our certainties and listen to what God the Holy Spirit is saying to us. We must be being born again, day by day, as people of the Spirit of God. We can’t afford to be stuck in a rut, to do what we’ve always done, or to have a comfortable faith. Christianity isn’t simply there to be a comfort – we have to be prepared to feel uncomfortable and be be uncomfortable to those we meet – just as Jesus was with Nicodemus.
Christians are people of the Spirit. We are given the Spirit at our baptisms, and again at our Confirmation. But this is a gift, and like any gift it needs to be unwrapped and used. The Spirit is not to be parked on a shelf in a cupboard and left to gather dust. Leaving the Spirit to die in a cupboard is like crucifying Jesus all over again. We cannot assume that, because we are Christians Jesus’ words don’t apply to us – even if we have had a spiritual experience we might call being born again.
So, when we you last born again? When were you last prompted to leave your comfort zone, to be bold, to move forwards to something new, to embrace uncertainty? This sort of faith keeps us on our toes and makes us active and powerful Christians. This sort of faith has no room for apathy, for putting ourselves and our comforts first. Ultimately, this sort of faith keeps us faithful, like Nicodemus who really risked everything in his following of Jesus – someone whose life was forever changed after this strange encounter by night. Amen