June 15, 2003

Mindekirken June 15, 2003
Pastor Jens Arne Dale

For the most part we see Jesus surrounded by ordinary people. In today’s text we see Jesus in contact with one of the aristocracy of Jerusalem. What do we know about this Nicodemus?

He belonged to one of the most distinguished families in Jerusalem. He must have been wealthy. When Jesus died, Nicodemus bought for his body

"a mixture of myrrh and aloes about a hundred pound weight." John 19.39.

That shows that Nicodemus must have been well off.

It’s very interesting that we get to know what happened after Jesus death. The fact that Nicodemus acted as a mortician when Jesus died leads us to the conclusion that the conversation we read about today bore rich fruit. Something decisive happened to Nicodemus in the darkness when he met with Jesus.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee. In our language it could mean something like a hypocrite. Our understanding is built on Jesus’ criticism of the Pharisees.

But in many ways the Pharisees were the best people in the whole country. There were never more than 6000 of them. It’s really amazing when we think of their reputation until this day.

A Pharisee belonged to a brotherhood to which he entered by a certain pledge in front of three witnesses. He promised to observe every detail of the scribal law. That was their moral advantage and the source of the lack of self-criticism which later caused Jesus to call them hypocrites.

But in general it would be right to consider the Pharisees as good people who lived their life dedicated to please God.

Nicodemus was also a ruler of the Jews. He was a member of the High Counsel of the Jews, the Shanedrin. This was the Supreme Court, which had 70 members. They had religious jurisdiction over every Jew in the world, and at that time they were numerous in the Roman Empire. The High Counsel also had a limited right under the Romans to be the government of the Jews.

Taking all this into consideration, it’s amazing that an aristocrat like Nicodemus would come to the carpenter from Nazareth by night to talk to him about his soul. Why did he come by night?

The Pharisees considered nighttime the best time for studying the law.

Then it could take place undisturbed.

However, it’s more likely to think it was an act of caution. For a man in his position it would be a high-risk project to visit with a man whom they considered so dangerous that they later wanted to kill him.

But the ultimate reason for Nicodemus to come to Jesus was to seek the answer to the most important questions in life. Even though he was a man with many honors, something was lacking in his life.

He came to Jesus in the darkness of the night to find light.

Who are you? You are probably quite far from being a Pharisee.

But you have your relations, your background and your culture.

In this church we like to think of ourselves as having an extra position of culture. To some extent our heritage makes us who we are, for better or for worse.

We have visitors from Valdres, Norway today. According to former bishop Georg Hille, Valdres has some of the strongest religious traditions in Norway. If I remember right, he said the traditions were no where stronger than in Oystre Slidre. Maybe we could have a point of view on this at the coffee hour in the fellowship hall today.

Traditions help us to pass on our values. They maintain patterns of life. Traditions are beneficial for a society. On the other hand, they might be a hindrance to renewal. On a personal level they may prevent us from developing new points of view. Nicodemus represented a kind of person who questioned his upbringing and traditions.

He was willing to risk a lot to find the truth.

He didn’t take things for granted.

He overcame prejudice and experienced a new inner freedom.

The strange conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus brings us to the most important things in our Christian heritage. It’s a talk about living. And the unpleasant statement Jesus presents Nicodemus with is, is that he is not alive.

He’s spiritually dead. How could Jesus say that? Wasn’t the curious, well-to-do and orderly Nicodemus very much alive? In order to understand what Jesus meant, I think we ought to go back to Gen 2.17 where we read about the Garden of Eden. God had strictly forbidden Adam and Eve to eat of a certain tree. Do you remember the consequences they would face if they ate of the forbidden tree? On that day you would certainly die, the Lord had said.

But did they eat? Yes, they did. But did they die? No, at least not in the way we normally think of death. But in a sense they died. They were expelled from the garden. They lost their good conscience and the close, frank relationship with God. They died spiritually.

Sin is a state of being separated from God, a lack of confidence in him.

As a result we don’t love him and our neighbor as ourselves.

This is our spiritual heritage as human beings. Do you think it sometimes might be worth questioning parts of our own heritage?

Sin is the kind of heritage it’s worth being freed from.

Jesus speaks of receiving the things we lack, eternal life. In English sometimes the expression everlasting life is used. That might be misleading. A life, which is going on forever, could just as easily be hell as be heaven.

The idea behind eternal life is the idea of a certain quality of life. What kind? It’s the kind of life God lives. God is love. Eternal life is to be part of the loving God. Jesus talks in John 17.3 about eternal life as knowing him.

It’s a matter of citizenship in the kingdom of God. In order to enter this kingdom we have to experience the new birth, Jesus says to Nicodemus.

He took it literally, but Jesus explained that the new birth had to do with water and spirit.

Obviously Jesus is thinking of baptism where the water works together with the word and God comes near with his spirit in a mysterious way.

Paul says: God saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Tit 3.5.

This confirms that salvation and new life is the gift of baptism. We can’t overestimate what happens in our baptism. It is to go from spiritual death to spiritual life. It’s to connect to God, have a relationship with him as our heavenly father. We are a new creation.

But I don’t feel like that, you may say.

Today’s text gives us a great example of what it means to live the life of baptism. Jesus talks about the snakes that attacked the Israelites in the desert. In their despair they went to Moses and asked for help.

According to God’s guidance he held up a copper serpent on a pole, and whoever looked at it would live, even if a snake bit him or her.

In the same way the Son of Man would be lifted up, so that every one who believe in him would not die, but have eternal life. This is a prediction of Jesus on the cross.

Snakes represent all the sin we do. It would normally separate us from God. But in his love he let Jesus die on the cross. To look at him gives us life, to believe in him gives forgiveness of sin.

That was what Nicodemus experienced. That’s what we got in our baptism. And this life in faith is the new life of freedom that God invites us all to live.

Glory be to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.

The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church ·  924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 ·  (612)874-0716