There was a game show on television. Some of you may remember the 1970’s remake of it, and a few may even remember the original from the early 1950’s. It was one of those shows that keeps cycling back into our lives in different formats. Today, iTunes even has a version of the game. It is called “Name That Tune.” The rules were simple, the host would play a few notes from a popular song and the contestants tried to be the first to guess it. There are some songs that are easy to recognize from the first note and others that elude our memories up until that first word of the song.
Many of us do not have that kind of recall but there must be an equal amount of people that hear that first note on the radio and quickly turn up the volume because they know what is coming. Or they may switch the station to something else. This type of recall comes from the months of hearing it on the radio, on an iPod, or on a CD.
We learn many things through our ears. If we hear old Uncle Bill’s stories long enough, over enough years, we remember the stories and the details to a point where we can repeat them along with him. The oral teaching method works the same way. It was used in the time of Jesus when preparing young students to be rabbis and teachers. The mention of a line or the theme from a biblical passage would call to mind the entire passage, the teachings on it and the meaning. Jesus often used this method when dealing with the religious leaders of his day. In our gospel reading today, we covered well known verses. One of them, John 3:16, may have been the first verse you every memorized, except for the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept.” We’ve heard John 3:16 enough that we understand that it is the gospel message in miniature. But do we know the context, the story behind it and how Jesus taught Nicodemus, an aged Pharisee the truth of his coming?
It was after dark when Nicodemus found Jesus away from his disciples. Nicodemus traveled after the sun had gone down so he would not be detected. He had not gone on official business. He had not gone to test Jesus. He was there because he had questions. He knew the scriptures and what Jesus was saying in public was not against the teachings of the scriptures. In fact, his words brought new light to the passages. Nicodemus was inquisitive but he was cautious. If other Pharisees and religious leaders found out he had met with Jesus, there would have been a shadow on his own reputation. As the old saying goes, “Lie down with dogs and you come up with fleas.” So, Nicodemus was cautious and came at night in the cover of darkness.
The two had barely gotten into their conversation when Jesus threw out a line that would draw Nicodemus’ mind back to a great scriptural story. Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness.” Much like in the game “Name That Tune,” the moment Jesus said that the entire story would have rushed through Nicodemus’ mind.
In the book of Numbers 21:4-9, it reads, “They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”
Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” Moses prayed for the people.
The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.”
Nicodemus’s would have remembered this story. He would have pictured the bronze snake on the pole. He would have known the context of the passage, that the Jews were once again in rebellion against God. They complained once again that Moses had taken them out of their pleasant, peaceful life as slaves in abject poverty with little to eat and little to live for just for them to die in the desert. It amazes me and others how much the wandering Jews romanticized their lives in Egypt. They often wished to go back.
In the early 1980’s Keith Green became one of the leaders of the Christian rock movement. One of his classic songs was a parody of this desire to go back to Egypt. It was entitled “So You Wanna Go Back To Egypt.” It is worth a listen on YouTube and will help you understand the insanity of their wishes in a humorous light.
One of the best images Keith Green conjures up is about manna: eating manna morning, noon, and night. You should look up the lyrics. They are very catchy.
Nicodemus would have understood this story and the symbol for it was plain that the Savior was the serpent lifted up. It may have shocked the old rabbi that Jesus claimed his deity then explained very simply why he had come into this world in human form. He told Nicodemus that the Father had sent him to be lifted up so mankind could have eternal life.
Much like that serpent raised by Moses on a post, those who recognized they would die once bitten, had to look at it with belief in their hearts. Nicodemus struggled with this simple explanation. He struggled because he was in darkness.
Some have said that when Jesus illustrated that men do their deeds in the dark, that he was referring to Nicodemus coming at night in the veil of darkness. Although his approach to Jesus was not as the evil religious leaders would intend, it was still to mask his approach. He loved his position and the perks that came with it more than the answer he received. When Nicodemus heard he would need a new spiritual birth, he could not conceive it. He was a learned Rabbi, a religious leader of the Jewish people. Wasn’t that enough to prove his love for God?
It is the same question many people ask today. I go to church. I serve on a board. I give my tithe. I even visit the sick and the shut-ins. Isn’t that enough to prove that I am a believer? No, would be Jesus’ answer. It isn’t enough until we look upon the Son of Man lifted up on the cross and believe that he was offered up to pay for our sins. At that point your Lenten journey truly begins. For it all heads to that point where Jesus is nailed to cross, dies for us and then is resurrected on Easter. That is what this season is about. Look up at the Son of Man, believe and you will be saved.
Nicodemus continued to argue the point. He really didn’t get it at all. Jesus was quite direct. He let Nicodemus know that he couldn’t see the spiritual point because he was spiritually dead. Imagine how well that comment went over with Nicodemus. He was a “spiritual” leader of his people. He had studied the scriptures, the law, and all of the Old Testament, most likely twice as long as Jesus, and this young rabbi told the older, learned man that he was in spiritual darkness. He told him that he could not understand the spiritual implications of Jesus’ teachings because he was not born of the spirit. In other words, he was still spiritually dead.
It would be like, if you, after a few Bible studies, went to a cardinal or a bishop and told them they were seeing the scriptures wrong and you were going to straighten them out. Why would they believe you? At best they would dismiss you as a nut. At worst, they would argue your points with logic and verses. Nicodemus argued with logic. He wanted to know how he could be born again. He was a little too large to enter back into his mother’s womb and be born again. He missed the point. He did not see a need for a new birth. He did not see a need to have spiritual awakening. He saw it in worldly terms and Jesus was dealing spiritual reality.
Nicodemus was confusing his position within the synagogue and his religious duties with his spiritual life. He was putting the cart before the horse. He thought that if he did those things that meant he had a spiritual life. Jesus told him, no, you have to be born again spiritually for those things to mean anything. Having a spiritual life first comes before the labors of the faith.
Many historians believe that Nicodemus got the point and was later born again spiritually. Today we are looking at how this message of spiritual rebirth affects your Lenten journey. Are you relying on your position in the church or your service to the church as a substitute for a spiritual rebirth? If so, listen to the words of Jesus. “You must be born again.”
Amen.