Encounter with a Saint

There are millions of people in this world who turn to organized religion in order to fill the hole in their hearts. They believe that by observing certain rituals and by following special religious rules and regulations, they will achieve spiritual enlightenment and right standing with God. And they believe that the deeper a person goes into that commitment, the more exalted status he or she will attain.

In the Gospel of John, we have seen how Jesus encountered various types of people. In John 1, he encountered a group of men who were spiritual seekers – they were looking for truth and meaning in life. In John 4, he encountered a woman who had been labelled a “sinner”, because in her search for acceptance and love, she had made a number of dubious lifestyle choices that raised eyebrows in her community. In John 9, Jesus encountered a sufferer; a man who had been born blind, and who had spent his whole life trapped in that condition.

Now we come to John 3, where Jesus meets a man who had reached the pinnacle of organized religion in his day. If anyone could be labeled a “saint”, surely this man would have earned that title. Let’s read his resume, in John 3:1…

John 3:1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council.

The first thing we need to understand about him was that he was a Pharisee.

In Canada today on the national level, we have five major political parties – the Liberals, the Canadian Alliance, the Progressive Conservatives, the New Democratic Party, and the Bloc Quebecois.

In 1^(st) century Judea, at the time of Jesus, there were four major parties. They weren’t political parties per se; they didn’t have candidates who ran for seats in an election. Remember, Judea was under the occupation of the Roman Empire.

But these four Jewish parties represented four different religious viewpoints (Jewish society was religious from top to bottom!). And their religious views determined their political views.

1. The Sadducees - represented the politics of accomodation. The Sadducees were religious liberals. They were urbane and sophisticated, the highly educated and refined Jews of their time. They were very interested in Greek culture and Greek thought, and wanted to introduce those humanistic ideas to their fellow Jews.

   They read the Hebrew Scriptures with an anti-supernatural bias. For example, they didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead. They were naturalists, believing that this world was pretty much all that there was. So their philosophy was simply to make the best of it.

   When it came to getting along with the Romans, their motto was “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” The Sadducees cooperated with the Romans, and the Romans, in turn, rewarded them by giving them power and influence in the running of the province of Judea.

   The only problem with the Sadducees was that they were never popular with the common people. Their religious views and their political views didn’t win them too many friends, even though they held many powerful positions on the Jewish ruling council.

2. The Essenes - represented the politics of isolation. The Essenes were at the opposite end of the spectrum from the Sadducees. They were deeply religious: so much so that they turned their back on the world. They were convinced that their Judea was so sinful and worldly that it was beyond saving. The only option for a true Jew was to withdraw from such a society.

   So, the Essenes headed for the wilderness, where they built communes. Living together in these isolated and forbidding places, they waited for the coming Messiah who, they believed, would overthrow the Romans, judge the sinful and worldly Jews, and set up a new kingdom with faithful ones like themselves in the chief places.

   Archaeologists have uncovered one of these Essene communes in a place called Qumran on the shores of the Dead Sea. Today, if you visit Israel, you can go to this settlement to see how they lived. You will see the remains of rooms where they carefully copied the scrolls of Scripture. Dried ink still sits in the inkwells after 2000 years. They hid their precious scrolls in caves in the surrounding cliffs. In 1947, a young shepherd boy playing among these caves stumbled onto the scrolls - the Dead Sea Scrolls, which not only gave us our earliest manuscripts of the OT, but gave us some understanding of this strange group.

3. The Zealots – stood for the politics of confrontation. They were the Al-Qaeda of their day. For them, Rome was the “Great Satan”, and they were willing to go to any lengths to get rid of the Romans. They did not hesitate to use terror and violence to harrass the Roman occupation government.

   They saw themselves as freedom fighters doing God’s work by assassinating people. They refused to pay taxes, they refused to cooperate in any way with the government, they refused to use the Greek language of trade and commerce, and they attacked anyone who did.

   One of Jesus’ own disciples, Simon, had been a Zealot. We can only imagine the conversations he must have had around the campfire with someone like Matthew, who had been a tax-collector for the Romans!

4. The Pharisees – represented the policitics of endurance. They believed that the Roman occupation was a judgment from God on the nation’s sin. And they believed that the way for the Jews to regain God’s favor was to redouble their efforts to observe the Jewish Law. If they could but endure the occupation and keep the Law, God would ultimately intervene and save them.

   So the Pharisees made it their business to study the Law, to interpret the Law, to keep the Law, and to enforce the Law. Josephus calls them “the most accurate exegetes of the Law.”

   This perspective was very popular among the common people. They looked up to the Pharisees as holy men, as leaders of the Jewish people. And because they did, the Pharisees became very influential in politics. They weren’t collaborators like the Sadducees, they weren’t monastics like the Essenes, and they weren’t fanatics like the Zealots. They were scholars who took the Bible seriously. They spent a lot of time developing interpretations of the Law to apply to every conceivable situation of life. They lived life “by the book”.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee. And he must have been a very learned, influential Pharisee, because down in verse 10, Jesus says to him “You are Israel’s teacher…” and in the Greek, Jesus uses the article before the word teacher – literally, “You are the teacher of Israel.”

Nicodemus was also a member of the Jewish ruling council, a group known as the Sanhedrin. The word Sanhedrin comes from the Greek term for a place where people sit together.

The Sanhedrin was made up of 70 men (the number 70 was quite significant in Jewish history) who served as elders or councilors for the nation. The high priest presided over the Sanhedrin. The men who served on the Sanhedrin were from the most influential families of Judea. Many of them were priests and Sadducees, but increasingly the Pharisees came to have a powerful presence on this body. Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin.

Let’s read on…

John 3:2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

I want you to notice three things about Nicodemus coming to Jesus:

1. When he came – he came at night. He came under cover of darkness. Is that significant? Yes. It tells us that Nicodemus didn’t want to be seen talking to Jesus. There was ample opportunity to approach Jesus during the day. But Nicodemus wanted this interview to be private, discreet, “off the record”. Why?

   Because a man like Nicodemus, who was a prominent member of the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin, had a lot to lose if he were to be seen meeting with such a controversial figure as Jesus. Back in chapter 2, don’t forget, Jesus cleared the Temple – he threw out the money-changers and merchants. In doing that, Jesus aroused the ire of the Jewish authorities who had sanctioned such activity in the first place. So Nicodemus didn’t want it getting around that he was meeting with Jesus.

   Notice that Jesus was willing to meet with Nicodemus at night. He was available, he was accessible, even after a long day of teaching and healing and being with people. In John 3, Jesus meets with a Pharisee at night; in John 4, he meets with the woman at the well at noon. Jesus is willing to meet people where they are and when they choose.

2. How Nicodemus came – he came alone. There are many instances in the Gospels of the Pharisees coming to Jesus, but they always come in a group, and they always come with confrontation in mind. You read “The Pharisees came to test Jesus…”

   But here’s a Pharisee who comes to Jesus alone. He comes, not to test Jesus, or to trap him with trick questions. He comes with no demand for a miraculous sign, with no sense of superiority. He simply comes alone, out of genuine personal interest.

3. Why Nicodemus came – he came because there was a spiritual hunger in his heart. He had achieved the highest possible position for anyone to achieve in his religion. He was highly educated and highly respected by all the people. But there was something missing in his heart.

   Religion hadn’t met his need; it hadn’t filled that void – but there was something about Jesus that attracted him, and so he came – risking his reputation, risking his position – in order to find out what it was.

   Nicodemus came in physical darkness, but he also came in spiritual darkness. But he came!

He says to Jesus: “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

Notice three things about what he says:

1. “We know…” – that’s a typical starting place for a religious Jew to begin. He begins with knowledge – his own knowledge and that of his fellow Pharisees. Rabbinic Judaism placed the highest premium on human knowledge and scholarship – on the ability of man to reason and think and interpret reality.

   Nicodemus says “We’ve been watching you, Jesus. We’ve been observing you. And we have come to certain conclusions about you.” And then he goes on to share them…

2. He says: “We know that you are a teacher who has come from God.” Almost, but not quite correct! Jesus was not a teacher come from God; he was God come to teach.

   Nicodemus’ religion did what all religions do: they give you a partial answer, but in reality, they miss the truth by a mile! Jesus was not just a teacher come from God, he was God himself, in person. But Nicodemus’ religion didn’t allow him to see that.

3. Nicodemus says “For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.” Nicodemus has assumed that Jesus is just a man, and because he is doing such extraordinary things, he must be a man who has the blessing of God on his life. Once again, that’s true as far as it goes, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough.

   The truth is that Jesus is the God-man. But Nicodemus’ religion doesn’t let him see that.

Religion can point you to God, but it can’t reveal him. Religion can point you to heaven, but it can’t get you there. Religion can hint at spiritual reality, but it can’t bring you into the truth. And this is what we see in this encounter with Nicodemus. He was a smart man, he was a religious man, but he was a lost man.

He didn’t need religion, he needed to be reborn.

John 3:3 In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

“Truly, truly…” says Jesus. If you want the truth, you have to come to Jesus. No one can see – the word means apprehend, perceive – no one can understand the kingdom of God – that’s where God is at work, where God is king – unless he is born again. And the word “again” can also mean “from above”.

You can’t get into the kingdom of God by being religious. You can’t get in through obeying a set of rules and regulations, or by going through certain religious ceremonies. It requires you to be born again. You need to have a new beginning; a new start to your life. And that new beginning isn’t a physical thing, or an emotional thing, it isn’t something you can do for yourself. Look at verse 4…

John 3:4 “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”

Nicodemus is thinking physically, humanly, literally. But Jesus clarifies for him…

John 3:5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

John 3:6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

John 3:7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’

This birth that Jesus is talking about is a spiritual birth. It is a new creative work of God. And only God can do it.

Many people look at verse 5 and wonder what the water means? There have been many suggestions.

Some have seen Christian water baptism here, and they make water baptism a requirement for becoming a Christian.

Others say that it refers to physical birth, which is accompanied by the waters of the amniotic sac. So in that view, Jesus is saying “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born physically and spiritually.”

Yet others say that it refers to the water of the Word – the Word of God is sometimes referred to as “water”. So on that view, Jesus is saying that we must be born again according to the truth of the Word of God, and through the regenerating power of the Spirit of God.

But I think that the best explanation is the one that Nicodemus would have probably thought of when he heard Jesus say this. We know that John the Baptist’s ministry immediately preceded Jesus’ ministry. And this encounter with Nicodemus happened early in Jesus’ ministry. So the ministry of John the Baptist would have been fresh in everyone’s mind.

What was John’s ministry? He baptized people who wanted to repent of their sins. His water baptism was a symbol of a person’s inner change of heart, and their desire to receive God’s forgiveness for their sin. John’s baptism didn’t give them that forgiveness, it merely indicated that they realized their need for that forgiveness.

And all sorts of people went to John for baptism, but one group of people didn’t – the Pharisees. There is a striking verse in Luke…

Luke 7:30 But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.

They didn’t go through the water because they didn’t think they needed to.

So if this is what Jesus meant in v. 5, what he was saying to Nicodemus was this. “You cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you do what John urged you to do - repent of your sin and realize your need for God’s forgiveness. Then and only then can the Spirit of God gives you a new birth.”

Nicodemus, and all the other religious Jews were assuming that because they were Jews, they were going to go to heaven. The Israelites regarded themselves to be children of God by covenant from birth because they were descended from Abraham.

But Jesus said “No – just because you are physical descendants from Abraham doesn’t mean that you will gain entry into the kingdom of God. You need to be born of the Spirit.

John 3:6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.

John 3:7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’

John 3:8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

The spiritual birth that Jesus is talking about is a lot like the wind. That’s appropriate, because the word for Spirit in both Greek and Hebrew is the word for breath, or wind.

The wind is invisible, but it produces obvious effects. In the same way, spiritual birth is not something we can see, but it produces results that we can see in a person’s life.

The Spirit makes us alive to God, gives us a new desire to know God and to obey God - a new hunger for God. The Spirit begins to make changes in our behavior, taking away old habits and sins and replacing them with the fruit of the Spirit. He renews us.

Titus 3:5-6 God saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit

What must Nicodemus have thought of all this? The idea of becoming like a baby again, spiritually speaking – being born again – must have seemed pretty daunting to a man who had advanced so far in his religion.

You see, religion is an adult enterprise – it’s full of duties and obligations, responsibilities and rules. In order to be religious, you have to be a very conscientious person. It’s just plain hard work to be religious!

But the message of Jesus to the most religious man of his generation is that we need to be reborn – to become babies again. Jesus said “Except you become like a child – with all the trust, and helplessness and dependence of a child – you cannot see the kingdom of God.”

How did Nicodemus process this truth that Jesus gave him?

We do not know what happened to Nicodemus on this night of his eternal encounter with Jesus. However we do know what happened to him eventually. He turns up again in John 7, where we read about a controversy among the Pharisees over what to do about Jesus. Some wanted to arrest him and lock him up, or worse. But we read that Nicodemus stands up and says that, according to the Law, Jesus should be given a hearing before being condemned. His colleagues turn on him and say “What? Are you from Galilee too?” Had Nicodemus decided to be a follower of Jesus at this point? We don’t know.

But we see him in Scripture one final time. It is at the Cross.

John 19:39ff Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

So Nicodemus must have become a follower of Jesus! How else to explain the fact that a leading member of the Jewish council, a prominent Pharisee, took it upon himself to provide for the proper burial of a man who had been executed as a common criminal?

There are early church traditions about Nicodemus, and an apocryphal gospel bears his name. Legend has it that he was persecuted for being a Christian and ultimately banished from Jerusalem. Though you never hear much about it, you would think that he would have been one of the key witnesses concerning the facts of the Resurrection, since along with Joseph, he helped bury Jesus. Wouldn’t the Pharisees have been interested in interviewing him to establish just how and where this missing body had been buried?

Whatever Nicodemus’ ultimate fate, I believe that we’ll meet him in heaven - a religious man who had been born again.

Religion may point you to heaven…but only spiritual rebirth can get you there.

John 1:11 Jesus came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

John 1:12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God —

John 1:13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.