The Woman at the Well

Mentmore – Lent 3 – 19 March 2017

Gospel John 4:5—42

⁵ He came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, ‘Will you give me a drink?’ ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?’ (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.’

¹¹ ‘Sir,’ the woman said, ‘you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?’

¹³ Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’

¹⁵ The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.’

¹⁶ He told her, ‘Go, call your husband and come back.’

¹⁷ ‘I have no husband,’ she replied.

Jesus said to her, ‘You are right when you say you have no husband.¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.’

¹⁹ ‘Sir,’ the woman said, ‘I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.’

²¹ ‘Woman,’ Jesus replied, ‘believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.’

²⁵ The woman said, ‘I know that Messiah’ (called Christ) ‘is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’

²⁶ Then Jesus declared, ‘I, the one speaking to you – I am he.’

²⁷ Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, ‘What do you want?’ or ‘Why are you talking with her?’

²⁸ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ²⁹ ‘Come, see a man who told me everything I’ve ever done. Could this be the Messiah?’ ³⁰ They came out of the town and made their way towards him.

³¹ Meanwhile his disciples urged him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’

³² But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you know nothing about.’

³³ Then his disciples said to each other, ‘Could someone have brought him food?’

³⁴ ‘My food,’ said Jesus, ‘is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. ³⁵ Don’t you have a saying, “It’s still four months until harvest”? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. ³⁶ Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. ³⁷ Thus the saying “One sows and another reaps” is true. ³⁸ I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labour.’

³⁹ Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I’ve ever done.’ ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. ⁴¹ And because of his words many more became believers.

⁴² They said to the woman, ‘We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.’

Sermon

Last Sunday, I was taking a service of HC at Stoke Hammond. The lectionary reading was from John 3: the visit of Nicodemus to Jesus by night. Jesus tells Nicodemus he must be born again, in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

After I finished the sermon, I received a letter from the Rector, John Waller, telling me he had designed a special Lent Course for the benefice. The gospel reading would be from John 6: Jesus after feeding the 5,000, crossed the Sea of Galilee walking on the water, and when the crowds who had been fed caught up with him again, he told them they must seek out the Bread of Life, which he represented.

I tore up my original sermon, and rewrote it. As I started to look again at the Bread of Life, I remember being struck by how similar the exchange was to Jesus’s conversation with the Woman at the Well. Then Gill got in touch and asked me to cover today for her absence in Burundi, so I get the chance to enlarge on what I said last Sunday at Stoke Hammond.

I bet you have a picture in your mind of the Woman at the Well, which you have developed over the years. You probably think this Samaritan was a fallen woman, who had lived with 5 different men, and was a model of sinfulness used by Jesus to illustrate that salvation could come to everyone, regardless of their condition or behaviour.

My picture of the Woman at the Well is rather different. Firstly, I have a picture in my mind of the time when Vicky and I walked across the Sinai with 7 camels, and came across a woman with a flock of goats, sitting on a well cover, shocked and immoveable, having been surprised by a group of western walkers as she prepared to water her goats from the ancient well. She was dressed head to foot in black, and did not move a muscle until we had filled our water bottles and continued our trek.

Secondly, and here I put my cards on the table, I don’t think she was a fallen woman, or even particularly sinful: in fact, over the centuries, we seem to have read between the lines and, like Mary Magdalene and other women in the gospels assumed an interpretation which may be completely unjustified.

Read the passage again, and you will see Jesus does not accuse her of anything, does not call for repentance, does not forgive her, but makes a statement about her history which is purely factual. She may have been sent away from her husband by divorce. Her next husband may have died, and she may have been taken in by his family. If childless, she may have married her dead husband’s brother. This was called a Levirate marriage. There could be all sorts of reasons. To be widowed 5 times might be heart breaking; it was certainly not impossible. We can imagine this woman’s story was more tragic than necessarily scandalous.

The difficulty with jumping to conclusions from what Jesus said to her is that our judgement colours the rest of the encounter, and makes it hard for us to understand the teaching. Immediately after Jesus mentions her history, the Samaritan woman says: “I see you are a prophet.” In John, the word “see” means to observe and note, but also has a deeper meaning—to believe. What the woman is saying is that Jesus’s knowledge of her past leads to her belief he is a prophet.

Jesus has recognised the woman’s plight—how dependent she is on men for her survival. He recognises and accepts that she has little alternative but to adopt a dependent lifestyle, or face penury and immorality. Jesus “sees” into her soul.

Can this man be the long awaited Messiah? The woman wonders. Jesus confirms he is. At this point, the disciples return with food and water. They are shocked to see Jesus conversing with a woman, and a Samaritan one at that. The woman, having “seen” Jesus’s identity, leaves her water jar (an authentic detail in the account) and goes to announce in the village that she has “seen” the Messiah. ‘He told me everything I’ve ever done’ she tells her friends and neighbours.

This woman—this early Christian evangelist—was not endowed with fancy words and cogent evidence. She just told people of her own experience. Many of her friends and neighbours became believers. They tell us why, in the last verse:

⁴² They said to the woman, ‘We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.’

This is where I felt the eco of other passages. Nicodemus coming to Jesus secretly, and later on openly helping with embalming his body and arguing with the Sanhedrin. Andrew who was told by Jesus to “come and see” then seeks out his brother Peter. Philip who tells Nathaniel. And this nameless Samaritan woman—the least likely of all—who just relates what she has “seen.”

Next on the list of missioners might be you or me. Isn’t this what John the Evangelist wants us to see? The Samaritan woman is seen by Jesus, and loved by Jesus. She has the capacity to bear witness to the one who comes to enlighten our lives. He is the one who will give us living water to satisfy even our deepest thirst. What she can do, so can we. Amen

Believing the Impossible

Lent 2 – Stoke Hammond – 12 March 2017

Readings Genesis 12

The call of Abram

12

The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

² ‘I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.
³ I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.’

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. 

Reading Romans 4

Abraham justified by faith

4

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? ² If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about – but not before God. ³ What does Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’

⁴ Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. ⁵ However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.

¹³ It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. ¹⁴ For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, ¹⁵ because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶ Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring – not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. ¹⁷ As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’^[c] He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed – the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

Gospel John 3

Jesus teaches Nicodemus

3

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.’

³ Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’

⁴ ‘How can someone be born when they are old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!’

⁵ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, “You must be born again.” 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.’

⁹ ‘How can this be?’ Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰ ‘You are Israel’s teacher,’ said Jesus, ‘and do you not understand these things? ¹¹ Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.¹² I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven – the Son of Man. ¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.’

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 

Sermon

In Genesis 12, Abram is in no doubt about what God said to him. It’s almost as if God was walking with him and speaking to him, just as God did to Adam in the garden of Eden.

In Romans 4, Abraham is made righteous through his faith, not by what good things he did. The promises given to him are seemingly impossible, yet Abraham believes and trusts God, who does not let him down.

Impossibility
In John 3, Nicodemus protests to Jesus at the impossibility of his promise. A well known religious leader, a member of the Sanhedrin, a man with a reputation to preserve, Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night, alone. He recognises no one could perform the signs that Jesus did, unless God were with him. This is the level of faith he showed—and it grew.

Nicodemus appears three times in John’s gospel, and nowhere else. After his clandestine visit, John describes how Nicodemus reminds the Sanhedrin that a man must be heard before judgement is passed (John 7:50). His third appearance was after the crucifixion, when Nicodemus provided 45kg of embalming spices to anoint Jesus’ body, and assisted Joseph of Arimathea in preparing for his burial.

Meaning
But on the night of his first encounter with Nicodemus, what did Jesus mean by using the words “born again.” To us, the words are familiar. How many times have we been asked if we are born again? But to one hearing the words for the first time, what was Nicodemus to make of it?

The Greek word ανωθεν does not only mean “born again” but can also be translated “born from above.” Nicodemus clearly thought Jesus meant “born again.” Perhaps Jesus actually meant “born from above.” So Nicodemus was not being deliberately obtuse when he asked how one might physically be born again at his age.

In fact, theologians argued their cases by routinely trying to discover the impossible and eliminate it, as a means of arriving at what they believed to be the truth. After all, there was nothing to prefer one meaning over the other.

Whatever Jesus intended, he proceeded to propose the impossibility of anyone seeing the Kingdom of Heaven unless they had been reborn.

Faith
Just like Abram, Nicodemus is being asked to believe the impossible. In verse 7, Jesus tells him he should not be surprised at what he is asked to believe. That’s all very well, but Nicodemus still does not know what Jesus means.

Spirit
In order to elucidate, Jesus treats Nicodemus to a ‘play on words.’ He says there are two types of birth: one “of the flesh” and one “of the spirit.” In Greek, the word πνευμα means both “spirit” and “wind”.

The spirit is like the wind, Jesus says. You can feel the wind on your skin, but not see it. You can hear the wind, but not know where it is coming from, or where it is going. So it is with the Spirit, and everyone born of the Spirit.

Lifted up
Nicodemus still fails to understand. Jesus continues to play. He refers to the venomous snakes that plagued Israel in the Sinai (Numbers 21). As an antidote, Moses was told to cast a bronze replica of a snake and mount it on a pole. Everyone who had been bitten could look at the bronze snake lifted high and be cured.

The word “pole” is the same word as “sign” in Greek. Nicodemus had started his discussion by praising the “signs” that Jesus performed, which could only be done through God. In the same way as the snake was “lifted up” as a “sign” to the people, so Jesus would be “lifted up” at his crucifixion, to the end that all who believe in him might have eternal life.

The passage ends with one of the most familiar verses in the whole of Scripture—John 3:16. What Nicodemus struggles to understand is revealed to us, through the grace of God.

The words “lifted up” describe a cruel and shameful death, but the same word for “lifted up” also means “glorified” or “exalted.” Jesus—the One sent from God—was to be “lifted up” on the cross, but the real meaning for all who believe the seeming impossibility is that he is glorified and exalted. All who believe will not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save the world through him.

So let us rededicate ourselves to live by this truth, come into the light so that others may see that what has been done has been done in the sight of God. What to us seems impossible is not impossible for God.

Amen

Jesus the Bread of Life

REVISED SERVICE – Stoke Hammond – 12 March 2017

Readings Exodus 3:1—15

Moses and the burning bush

3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³ So Moses thought, ‘I will go over and see this strange sight – why the bush does not burn up.’

⁴ When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’

And Moses said, ‘Here I am.’

⁵ ‘Do not come any closer,’ God said. ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’ ⁶ Then he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

⁷ The Lord said, ‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. ⁸ So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey – the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ⁹ And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰ So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.’

¹¹ But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’

¹² And God said, ‘I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you^[b] will worship God on this mountain.’

¹³ Moses said to God, ‘Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they ask me, “What is his name?” Then what shall I tell them?’

¹⁴ God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: “I am has sent me to you.”’

¹⁵ God also said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites, “The Lord, the God of your fathers – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob – has sent me to you.”

‘This is my name for ever,
    the name you shall call me
    from generation to generation.

Reading Hebrews 3:1—6

Jesus greater than Moses

3 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. ² He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. ³ Jesus has been found worthy of greater honour than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honour than the house itself. ⁴ For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. ⁵ ‘Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,’ bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. ⁶ But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

Gospel John 6:25—35

Jesus the bread of life

²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, ‘Rabbi, when did you get here?’

²⁶ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. ²⁷ Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.’

²⁸ Then they asked him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’

²⁹ Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.’

³⁰ So they asked him, ‘What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”’

³² Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’

³⁴ ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘always give us this bread.’

³⁵ Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Sermon

A week or so ago, I thought I would be talking to you about Nicodemus, who visited Jesus at night. He was told he must be ‘born again.’ To us, the words sound reasonable. We know what being ‘born again’ means, or we think we do. To Nicodemus, the whole thing sounded impossible. Yet he was told to believe in the seemingly impossible, just as Abram was told to believe he would become the ancestor of many peoples. In Scripture, God walks and talks with the patriarchs, and somehow believing the impossible is easier when you are that close to the divine.

Today in the Lent course John Waller has devised, our readings are about Moses, who sees the impossible and is sent to try and negotiate the unlikely release of his people from Pharaoh. The Hebrews reading tells us that Jesus is greater than Moses, just as the designer and builder of a house is greater than the house itself. The gospel passage chosen by John Waller brings these two together in an extended metaphor about the Bread of Life.

The background to the conversation between Jesus and the crowd of those who had followed him round the Lake of Galilee is the ‘Feeding of the 5,000.’ The people had been miraculously fed, and they followed Jesus wanting more. The bread was like a kind of manna, not the one that fell from the sky, but even better: it landed in their laps.

After the ‘Feeding of the 5,000’ Jesus evaded the people and went off on his own. He sent his close disciples ahead in a boat. When they encountered a dangerous storm, Jesus miraculously appeared, walking on the surface of the water. What had happened must have surely been spread around the crowd, who had rounded the lake in search of another free lunch.

It’s tempting for the preacher to try and explain the feeding miracles in some detail, but as you will no doubt learn from the Lent Course, that misses the point. After the feeding of the 5,000, many people wanted to have Jesus as their King, one who would take up arms against the Romans and make Israel great again. That reminds me of Donald Trump’s campaign aims, hopefully this time more believable. The point, though, is not about what Jesus did, but who Jesus is. The ‘sign’ is not about people being fed, but the nature of the divine.

I don’t know if you noticed, but as I read the gospel passage the conversation sounded very similar to the woman at the well. That was about living water and not the physical water in the well. This time the extended metaphor is not about bread, and what it represents for us. In the end, both are about who Jesus is.

These events have a lot in common. Both include references to the ancestors: first Jacob, provider of the well; second Moses and the manna in the wilderness. Both ask for Jesus go on providing a permanent supply of bread or water freely. These are understandable physical desires, but both call for correction by Jesus, who explains the signs refer to himself, not bread or water.

This theme is what theologians refer to as ‘Christological’ — they are centred on Christ. When we look at the questions posed by the people and Jesus’s answers, they are told not to work for bread that spoils, but the bread that has God’s seal of approval, the kind Jesus provides. This sounds good. The crowd want the username and password. How can they work for this bread? Jesus tells them God’s work is to believe in Him—the One God sends.

The people want a ‘sign.’ They want another feeding miracle. They want to see more manna falling into their laps, just like Moses in the wilderness. Jesus explains this is not the true bread. Another sign won’t help. Only the true bread is sent by God and comes down from heaven.

Finally Jesus given them the key to the metaphor. The true bread comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world. OK, the people say, give us this bread then. Jesus replies:

…‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’

Just as the preacher is tempted to explain the details of the feeding miracles, so this preacher is tempted to say something more about who Christ is. What does ‘living water’ mean? What about the ‘bread of life?’

The ‘signs’ in John’s gospel, like the parables, speak to each one of us differently. Even the locks are not consistent, and the meaning seems to vary whenever we try and access it. So all I have to do is invite you to contemplate Who Jesus is for yourself and myself. Perhaps Lent is an opportunity for us all to ponder on this aspect of our faith?

The starting point could not however be clearer. The only food that can last for all time is the bread that Jesus himself is, the true gift from God. The key to unlocking this bread is to believe in Jesus, the One God sent. Now the hard bit—what follows from that? Amen

Believing the impossible

Lent 2 – Nicodemus visits Jesus at night – Stoke Hammond

12 March 2017

Readings Genesis 12

The call of Abram

12

The Lord had said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.

² ‘I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
    and you will be a blessing.
³ I will bless those who bless you,
    and whoever curses you I will curse;
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.’

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. 

Reading Romans 4

Abraham justified by faith

4

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? ² If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about – but not before God. ³ What does Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’

⁴ Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. ⁵ However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.

¹³ It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. ¹⁴ For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, ¹⁵ because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

¹⁶ Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring – not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. ¹⁷ As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’^[c] He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed – the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

Gospel John 3

Jesus teaches Nicodemus

3

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.’

³ Jesus replied, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.’

⁴ ‘How can someone be born when they are old?’ Nicodemus asked. ‘Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!’

⁵ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, “You must be born again.” 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.’

⁹ ‘How can this be?’ Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰ ‘You are Israel’s teacher,’ said Jesus, ‘and do you not understand these things? ¹¹ Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.¹² I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven – the Son of Man. ¹⁴ Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.’

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 

Sermon

In Genesis 12, Abram is in no doubt about what God said to him. It’s almost as if God was walking with him and speaking to him, just as God did to Adam in the garden of Eden.

In Romans 4, Abraham is made righteous through his faith, not by what good things he did. The promises given to him are seemingly impossible, yet Abraham believes and trusts God, who does not let him down.

Impossibility
In John 3, Nicodemus protests to Jesus at the impossibility of his promise. A well known religious leader, a member of the Sanhedrin, a man with a reputation to preserve, Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night, alone. He recognises no one could perform the signs that Jesus did, unless God were with him. This is the level of faith he showed—and it grew.

Nicodemus appears three times in John’s gospel, and nowhere else. After his clandestine visit, John describes how Nicodemus reminds the Sanhedrin that a man must be heard before judgement is passed (John 7:50). His third appearance was after the crucifixion, when Nicodemus provided 45kg of embalming spices to anoint Jesus’ body, and assisted Joseph of Arimathea in preparing for his burial.

Meaning
But on the night of his first encounter with Nicodemus, what did Jesus mean by using the words “born again.” To us, the words are familiar. How many times have we been asked if we are born again? But to one hearing the words for the first time, what was Nicodemus to make of it?

The Greek word ανωθεν does not only mean “born again” but can also be translated “born from above.” Nicodemus clearly thought Jesus meant “born again.” Perhaps Jesus actually meant “born from above.” So Nicodemus was not being deliberately obtuse when he asked how one might physically be born again at his age.

In fact, theologians argued their cases by routinely trying to discover the impossible and eliminate it, as a means of arriving at what they believed to be the truth. After all, there was nothing to prefer one meaning over the other.

Whatever Jesus intended, he proceeded to propose the impossibility of anyone seeing the Kingdom of Heaven unless they had been reborn.

Faith
Just like Abram, Nicodemus is being asked to believe the impossible. In verse 7, Jesus tells him he should not be surprised at what he is asked to believe. That’s all very well, but Nicodemus still does not know what Jesus means.

Spirit
In order to elucidate, Jesus treats Nicodemus to a ‘play on words.’ He says there are two types of birth: one “of the flesh” and one “of the spirit.” In Greek, the word πνευμα means both “spirit” and “wind”.

The spirit is like the wind, Jesus says. You can feel the wind on your skin, but not see it. You can hear the wind, but not know where it is coming from, or where it is going. So it is with the Spirit, and everyone born of the Spirit.

Lifted up
Nicodemus still fails to understand. Jesus continues to play. He refers to the venomous snakes that plagued Israel in the Sinai (Numbers 21). As an antidote, Moses was told to cast a bronze replica of a snake and mount it on a pole. Everyone who had been bitten could look at the bronze snake lifted high and be cured.

The word “pole” is the same word as “sign” in Greek. Nicodemus had started his discussion by praising the “signs” that Jesus performed, which could only be done through God. In the same way as the snake was “lifted up” as a “sign” to the people, so Jesus would be “lifted up” at his crucifixion, to the end that all who believe in him might have eternal life.

The passage ends with one of the most familiar verses in the whole of Scripture—John 3:16. What Nicodemus struggles to understand is revealed to us, through the grace of God.

The words “lifted up” describe a cruel and shameful death, but the same word for “lifted up” also means “glorified” or “exalted.” Jesus—the One sent from God—was to be “lifted up” on the cross, but the real meaning for all who believe the seeming impossibility is that he is glorified and exalted. All who believe will not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save the world through him.

So let us rededicate ourselves to live by this truth, come into the light so that others may see that what has been done has been done in the sight of God. What to us seems impossible is not impossible for God.

Amen