The city of Jerusalem was packed with strangers during the Passover feast, so you could walk a long distance and never see anyone you recognized. He was counting on that, as he quickly moved along the streets with his head held low and his face covered. He moved from alleyway to alleyway, looking carefully in all directions before stepping into the openness of a street, making sure there was not someone who might recognize him. But while he tried to remain hidden, he had to be careful to not appear too suspicious and cause someone to think he might be a criminal. With the huge crowds in town for the festival, the centurions and other officials were on guard and watching closely for thieves and pickpockets hiding in the shadows. Even though he could quickly clear up any problem by showing them who he was, having to do that would create even bigger problems. So he had to be careful.

This story in today’s scripture raises a lot of questions for many people. At one point, Jesus says that God loved the world so much that he sent his only Son to save it, and then turns around and says that those people who do not believe in him will be condemned. We need to look at the full story, and learn what was actually going on, to see if that helps us make sense out of those things John tells us that Jesus said.

But before we listen to the story again, it might be helpful if we take a few minutes to remember how and why these stories were written. It might help us understand why there sometimes seem to be these confusing passages in the four gospels, and might help us hear the stories more clearly as they were intended to be heard.

Mark was the first “Jesus book” written, probably around 60 CE, some thirty years after the stories took place. It is brief, to the point, and tells the story of Jesus in a step-by-step process and in a very simple language. Originally it ended at chapter 16:8 when Mary ran from the tomb after the angel told her Jesus had been raised and that the disciples should go to meet him in Galilee. The rest of chapter 16 is written in a different style and language, added in perhaps the second or even fourth century.

Matthew was written sometime around 80 CE, after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE. The author was very familiar with Judaism and kept a clear focus on Jewish history and the law. It’s interesting to remember that the original writings had no chapters or verses or punctuation. To make it a bit more clear, Matthew divided his book into five major discourses, or sections, perhaps to compare to the five books of the Jewish Torah, called the Pentateuch. Matthew was most likely writing his book for Jewish readers, in an attempt to help them understand who Jesus was.

Luke was the storyteller. He borrowed a lot from the writings of Mark, much of it copied word for word. It was written perhaps around 85 CE, in a style used by the Greeks, suggesting that the goal was to present the story of Jesus to Gentile readers. Instead of focusing on the law, Luke wrote to present a theological argument to his readers. It tells much the same story as the other gospels, but in a more structured and logical manner, with an emphasis on Jesus’ compassion rather than a focus on the law like Matthew. Luke uses lots of colorful stories to paint a powerful picture of what Jesus did and who he was.

John was probably written sometime around 90 CE, in Ephesus in modern Turkey. The new Christian group was under increasing persecution by both the Romans and the Jews, so it was becoming extremely dangerous to be a Christian. While this book tells many of the same stories as the other gospels, John changes the order of many of the stories, and changes some of the details of stories as well. But it’s important to remember that John is not writing to simply retell stories but to make it very clear that a battle is taking place. Matthew, Mark, and Luke typically refer to Jesus as a teacher, preacher, and sometimes as a Son of God. John pulls no punches and describes him as Lord and Messiah, making it clear that what is actually going on is a full battle that will end in life or death. John writes in colorful language for the Greeks and Romans, using concepts like bread, water, shepherds, doors, light, and darkness. But his goal is to shine light on the freedom and the new life that comes from following Jesus’ commandment to love one another.

As we look at these books we call the gospels, we find that Mark is the first version, focusing on the basic and simple facts, told in a way that was easy to remember and retell, almost like an early news story about what has happened.

Matthew probably wrote next, directly addressing his stories to the Jewish readers as the early church was just beginning to take shape.

As the church began to grow, and the disciples moved around to avoid persecution, Luke was written in a Greek or Roman land, to introduce Jesus to people who did not know Jewish history or law, but were highly religious in other ways.

John wrote to that same very logical Gentile audience, but at a time when the early church was really beginning to feel the pressures of persecution. In John’s community there were more and more attempts to discredit Christianity and argue that Jesus was merely a good preacher who ended up being killed. John’s goal was to change the minds of his enemies.

Remember that our story today is being told by John, and at least part of the message the storyteller wants us to hear is that there is a battle taking place, for our very lives. Let’s hear the story again.

The city of Jerusalem was packed with strangers during the Passover feast, so you could walk a long distance and never see anyone you recognized. Jesus’ mysterious visitor was counting on that, as he quickly moved along the streets with this head held low and his face covered. He moved from alleyway to alleyway, looking carefully in all directions before stepping into the openness of a street, making sure there was not someone there who might recognize him.

Finally, he came to the end of his search, walked up to a certain house, and knocked on the door. We’re not told who answered the door but we can be certain that whoever it was, the expression on their face when they saw the visitor would have been the same look of amazement, mixed with pure terror. Even without his robes, they would have recognized this man, a Pharisee. More than that, this man was one of the key leaders of the community, a member of the Sanhedrin itself. The Sanhedrin was an exclusive group of 23 men who made up the official religious court of the Jewish faith in Jerusalem. They were the judges of the faith with powers that no other Jewish court had, and with such tight connections with the temple that their court building, called the Hall of Hewn Stones, was built into the side of the temple mount itself. Whoever it was, this is probably what went through their mind during that first fraction of a second after they opened the door and recognized Nicodemus standing there:

It was the Pharisees who opposed John the Baptist and ended up getting him arrested and killed. Then they were after Jesus. After all, he went into their temple and tore things up. He argued with them in front of everyone, called them names and made them look really bad. Because of that, many people ended up turning away from the Pharisees and following him. Jesus had become so popular there was no way they could arrest him publicly without causing a riot. So here they were, coming at night to take him away and shut him up.

We can only imagine what happened in the next few minutes, but based on other stories we have about the disciples, it probably went something like this: The disciple at the door told Nicodemus to wait and went inside to tell another disciple and figure out what they should do. They ended up telling a couple of others, and they quickly ended up in a full-blown panic, arguing about the best way to get Jesus out of the house and make a run for Galilee where they might be safe. At some point Jesus heard the noise, asked what was going on, and was told about Nicodemus standing out in the street. Jesus looked at them calmly, probably shook his head a bit, and told them to let him in.

Can you picture what took place after that? There is Jesus sitting on a mat on the floor, and sitting on a mat next to him is one of the top religious leaders of the nation, one of the most powerful men in the country. We’ll just ignore all of the disciples standing around the edges watching: Peter trying to figure out the quickest escape route from the house and Judas keeping one hand on the sword he has tucked under his tunic. Instead, we’ll focus on the conversation between the two men sitting on the floor.

John tells us that Nicodemus started the conversation with “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God...” (v. 2). These are great setup words, spoken to sound like you are paying someone a compliment to get them off-guard just before you move in for the kill. When Nicodemus said these words, I can see Peter rolling his eyes and mumbling to Judas, “Okay, here it comes.” But instead of using his authority as a leader of the Jewish faith to attack Jesus, Nicodemus’ voice lowered a bit, and even seemed to take on the sound of true respect, as he said: “I tell you, no one can do the things you do apart from the presence of God” (v. 2).

Peter and the others were completely confused and began looking around at each other hoping someone could make sense of what was going on. Instead of attacking Jesus, Nicodemus was talking to him as a student talks with a teacher. It slowly began to dawn on them that Nicodemus hadn’t come here in the middle of the night to hide from the crowds and arrest Jesus, but he had come at night to hide from his fellow Pharisees in order to ask questions that no good Pharisee would ask, especially not a member of the Sanhedrin. Nicodemus was trying to understand.

Jesus then spoke and told Nicodemus the reason he was having a hard time understanding what Jesus was doing, saying: “Very truly I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above” (v. 3). I would love to see the look on Nicodemus’ face. You see, Nicodemus was a logical man. His entire life as a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin was based on interpreting the stacks of books filled with religious laws and making decisions that impacted people’s lives. Nicodemus was used to dealing in facts, in concrete matters, interpreting laws to make decisions between black and white, good and evil, right and wrong. So we need to feel some sympathy for him as he looked back at Jesus and asked, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” (v. 4).

To Nicodemus, being born again meant exactly that: being physically born again. He wasn’t trying to argue or disagree with Jesus, he was just completely lost and befuddled, with some pretty ludicrous images going through his mind as he tried to make sense of it all.

This is where our piece of scripture picks up the story today. It is as if we’re standing against the wall in that room listening to the conversation as Jesus tried to help Nicodemus understand.

Over the next few minutes, Jesus explained that he wasn’t talking about another physical birth, but something else, a birth that occurred in the spirit, a birth that changed what was inside the person more than what was outside. He told Nicodemus that the way to have this second birth was to believe in what Jesus was saying about God, that God loved the world so much that he sent his own Son to deliver the message and to give his life to make sure it was understood.

He explained the idea of being born again using terms that Nicodemus would clearly understand, by comparing what he was offering with what Nicodemus and the Sanhedrin were offering. He said that God’s goal was not to condemn the world, not to hold some holy session of court, find people guilty of things, and condemn them to some eternal punishment. They already had that. There were so many religious laws that it was impossible for anyone to follow them all, which meant that everyone was already condemned. What Jesus was offering was an opportunity to start a new life in which no one was doomed to be condemned. Jesus explained that God saw every person as having value, loved as much as every other person. Jesus was offering light to replace the darkness of the old way.

We’re not told what went through Nicodemus’ mind or how the conversation ended. John immediately takes us back to Galilee for more stories.

In my imagination, I watch Nicodemus as he sat there listening to the things Jesus was saying. I suspect he was almost in shock, as he slowly began to understand the truth of what Jesus was telling him. He had lived his entire life studying and enforcing laws and knew it was true that no person could ever follow them all, not even himself. And if the truth was known, every person, even those Sanhedrin members themselves, would be found guilty of breaking religious laws and would be condemned. He knew that the only reason this did not happen was that they hid their sins, they covered them in darkness and pretended that they did not exist. They lived a life that was not true, a life that was just an act, constantly in fear of someone shining a light into their dark places and revealing who they really were. If a person could truly believe that God loved them regardless of their mistakes, instead of condemning them, that would truly be like being born a second time. And at that moment, something began to change inside Nicodemus. Some spark of a new hope, a new life, as if he actually was born again.

Being born again is sometimes a difficult concept today and it has many interpretations. Too often, we end up creating rules and laws about what it means to be born again. We create tests for people to pass in order to prove they are born again and we use it as a yardstick to judge someone’s value to us. As a result, it turns out to be just another way of creating darkness in people’s lives. That’s not what being born again is all about. If we want to understand what Jesus meant when he said that a person needed to be born a second time, all we need to do is look at Nicodemus.

How do I know that? Although John ends this story and moves on, this is not the last time we see and hear from Nicodemus. During another visit to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, the temple police saw Jesus in the temple and ran to the authorities to come up with a plan to arrest him and see that he was silenced once and for all. One of those authorities was Nicodemus, and as the group plotted about how to trap Jesus, Nicodemus spoke up saying, “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?” Although they all turned on him and called him names, the result was that Jesus was safe.

We see Nicodemus once more, this time in a very different role than as a religious authority. John tells us that after the crucifixion, two men found a tomb for Jesus’ burial, purchased and carried one hundred pounds of oils and spices to the tomb, and wrapped the body to give it a proper burial. One of those men was Joseph of Arimathea. The other was Nicodemus.

According to tradition, Nicodemus ended up being killed as a martyr, by the very laws he had once lived for. Today there are religious holidays and churches named for him and he is considered a saint.

That, my friends, is what it means to be born again.