The city darkness is very different from the hillside darkness. Out on the hillside, where the shepherds work, the darkness gently settles upon the landscape. It is a quiet dusk that melds into deeper shadows and finally, after so long a stretch of time, becomes the dark in which the stars are the only light. But in the city, the darkness comes as if some giant curtain was suddenly pulled tight, blocking out all illumination. It was in that darkness that Ely slowly made his way home through the maze of Jerusalem's streets. He had played too long, and too far from his home. Now two consequences lay ahead of him. One was the beating he would probably receive in arriving home so late. The other was the problem of getting there!

Ely turned onto cobbled streets that he thought were familiar, sometimes feeling his way along walls that he expected to end in doorways. The darkness was so complete that he imagined he was blindfolded, or that he was like the old blind Joseph that begged near the city gate. At one turn he saw a flicker of light coming toward him. It was light from a lamp held in the hand of a very large man. Ely crouched in a doorway and silently watched as the lamplight approached. The man walked with great care, partly because he did not know the street and partly so as to be as silent as possible. Ely held his breath as the man, lamp in hand, walked by.

When he had gone perhaps 20 paces further, the man hesitated a moment, and then very softly knocked upon a near door. Immediately the door was opened, casting light upon the nighttime visitor. Enough light shone to reveal the quality of robe he wore and a learned face. "He must be a scribe," Ely thought, "a scribe from the temple." The man crossed the doorway, the door shut quickly, leaving the street in that hard darkness of the city. Ely began his journey once again, trying to remember his way through the maze. He surely would remember this night. He did not like to contemplate it further!

So, too, would Nicodemus remember that night. John's gospel tells us of a nighttime visit to Jesus. His visit provides us with, perhaps, the major spiritual lesson taught by Jesus. "Nicodemus, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:5) Jesus ended his discussion with this ruler of the Jews with what has been titled, The Little Gospel. As John recounts the discussion, Jesus told Nicodemus, "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

Nicodemus' furtive meeting with Jesus has some important messages:

One message is that there is no age limit for learning deeper messages about life. Nor does community status have anything to do with it! Nicodemus was a "ruler of the people," a man of standing in that community! We assume he was also a man of some years, some maturity. Yet, something was brewing in his mind and heart, and that something took him in his maturity and social standing to Jesus in that evening hour.

Methodism's John Wesley was already 35 years old when he brought himself into contact with the Moravian missionaries in London. Many years earlier he had finished his studies. He had long ago learned history and philosophy and many languages. He had been ordained a priest years earlier. But now, at age 35, he first discovered his spirit-being "strangely warmed." The message of God's love had penetrated his mind in such a way that - with a third of his earthly life already over - he was now a changed person. That personal experience shaped the remaining two-thirds of his years upon this earth. That is what Jesus was talking about when he met with Nicodemus.

The deeper questions of life's meaning can be discussed when one is in the teenage years or the fifth, seventh or ninth decade of life. The deeper aspects of life's meaning can be questioned when one is newly married or much later. The facing of the deeper questions of life's meaning can come from some fiery event - like a plane's crash at takeoff - or can be part of life's routine growing. But questioning the meaning of life is part of every human life; it is part of our growing and deepening as human beings.

One nameless poet gave sly and humorous assent to this grappling with life's deeper meanings with these words:

King David and King Solomon

Led merry, merry lives,

With many, many lady friends

And many, many wives;

But when old age crept over them,

With many, many qualms,

King Solomon wrote the Proverbs

And King David wrote the Psalms!

Nicodemus must have been at that point in his life. He sought out Jesus to talk about important things. Jesus' word to Nicodemus was the invitation to begin living in a different world. Even as he talked with him about "new birth," he must have been looking at the fine robes that Nicodemus wore. He certainly knew of the social and political power that Nicodemus could wield. From a distant view, Nicodemus was a man of the world who had everything he could want!

But Nicodemus obviously didn't feel that way. And those feelings are not limited to ancient history. There are many persons of wealth, standing, power, education, good looks, who can see themselves in the sandals of this ancient Nicodemus. You may be such a person. You may be one who can sing with Peggy Lee about your life, "Is that all there is?"

Even as the door was opened for the finely robed Nicodemus, so Jesus opened another door for him - a spiritual door, a door opening to a wider world. We are invited to understand that life upon this world is not the full story of life! "Nicodemus, you must be born again. You must be born into the new life, this spiritual understanding of life." I imagine Jesus going on to say that life for Nicodemus is more than temple meetings, more than the rituals of Sabbath, more than the accolades of the crowds that watch the priestly processions, more than many years of age, more than the busyness of life from sunrise to sunset. "Nicodemus, you must start your life again, only in a new realm!"

But this great ruler of the people was so mired in the patterns of sunup to sundown that he didn't understand. "Jesus, look at the size of me? How can I be born again?" You can see Jesus shake his head in disbelief.

God has created us to be more than creatures of earth. God has breathed into us spirits that hunger to be part of the spirit world. It is mystery, like the wind that blows through the trees. We don't understand the wind, where it comes from, where it goes, but we know it is present! It is mystery, this spirit world in which we may be born. Nicodemus, you must enter that new world. Be born again!

Don't fear the term. It has been misused, narrowed and emotionalized beyond helpfulness. James Fowler, as a professor of theology and human development at Emory University in Atlanta, wrote Becoming Adult, Becoming Christian. In very helpful ways he writes about Christian conversion:

"Conversion means accepting, at a depth of the heart that is truly liberating, that our worth, our value, our grounding as children of God is given as our birthright. It means embracing the conviction that we are known, loved, supported and invited to partnership in being with One, who from all eternity intended us and who desires our love and friendship. Conversion means a recentering of our passion.... a realignment of our affections, the restructuring of our virtues.... Conversion is not so much a negation of our human development as it is a transformation and fulfillment of it." (P. 140)

Nicodemus, you have to move into this new life as a spiritual being, sensing your eternal value to God!

Then the scripture changes into a preaching mode, as if it is no longer a conversation between two persons in a dimly lit room. Now the conversation is a witness, a preaching, an affirmation of faith. It is the witness that Jesus is present in order to be the doorway into that new life. Jesus is the means whereby Nicodemus - and all of us walking with him - can enter into the heavenly realm of God's eternal love and care! It is a realm of such love because "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish" - should not be limited to earth and time - "but should have eternal life."

Nicodemus was on the road moving into that spirit world. He had sought Jesus, even if in secret. The gospel story tells more. Nicodemus continued on that spiritual road, for John mentions Nicodemus twice more. Once this nighttime student defended Jesus before his fellow Pharisees. It was a bold stand, taken in the beginning of the plot to have Jesus silenced. And later, as the body of Jesus is removed from the cross, it is Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus who care for the burial. John says, "Nicodemus, who had at first come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, according to the burial custom of the Jews." Yes, the record is there. Nicodemus was born again.

It may be that you today are walking with Nicodemus, and you are standing within the shadowed doorway, seeking to move from what has been your style of living to a new plane of life. It may be that you are now ready to accept the invitation to a much more personal relationship to Jesus Christ. To be "born again" has sometimes been arrogantly used, as a badge of self-righteousness. But when Jesus was talking with Nicodemus he did not mean it that way. And so, we should not accept it that way. To be "born again" is to recognize our spiritual character, and to claim Christ as the One who shapes that character. It is that step which personalizes Jesus Christ for each of us. Jesus Christ is my Lord! He has meaning for me. That meaning shapes my life now and for eternity.

I would be so bold as to say that this may be the day when Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus is really his conversation with you! We know the response that Nicodemus made. What about you? I invite you to use the remaining moments of this service for thought and prayer about that conversation. Perhaps you now pray for God's acceptance of you in new ways. Perhaps you now open your life to Christ's leading in ways that you never have before. Perhaps now is a moment when you are "born again," as you choose to understand that phrase.

If this is that moment, I invite you to mark this moment in your mind and heart. Perhaps the marking will all be inside you and we will not know it until your journey is published - as was John Wesley's description that his "heart was strangely warmed" during the meeting on Aldersgate Street. Perhaps you will choose to remain in the pew when the service ends for further quiet meditation. Or, to come close to the altar at the close of the service. Perhaps only to close your eyes and be alone in spirit with Christ Jesus.

Nicodemus is beyond our reach. But Christ Jesus is not. His word is still fresh, "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." That word to Nicodemus is shared with each one of us, to bless us, to save us. Amen.