A Stretch of Mind, Heart, and Soul
When the Spirit Moves • Sermon • Submitted
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Nic at Night
John 3:1-17
What Does the Text Say?
In this text, Jesus responds to Nicodemus' greeting by immediately cutting to the heart of the issue that concerns Nicodemus — the coming kingdom of God. In verse 3, the unique requirement for entrance into the kingdom? One must be born again. In Greek, this term means both "from above" and "again, anew." While most translations choose one of these meanings and then relegate the second meaning to a footnote, it is more theologically correct to maintain this double meaning. Just as the kingdom is often referred to as both now and yet-to-come, entering this kingdom requires one to be born anew (into a new life and a new identity) and to be born "from above" (that is from the heavenly place the kingdom generates from). Both the "kingdom of God" and being born anew have spatial as well as temporal components. Jesus’ tone becomes perceptively crisper. By verse 7, he is warning Nicodemus, "Do not be astonished …" and cautioning his nighttime visitor that he cannot restrict the approaching pneuma/Spirit. Nicodemus' pitiful comeback ("How can these things be?") now changes the focus of Jesus' message. Jesus grows resigned to the ignorance and stubborn refusal of his listener and uses Nicodemus as one example of the kind of attitude that will ultimately lead to the cross by using a familiar biblical image — Moses lifting the bronze serpent on a pole in the desert — to describe what will be the work of the cross.
What Is One Possible Approach to the Text?
Identity Acquisition. For a good article on identity theft, see the story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution ("Hackers find new ways to steal your identity") about Barry Sweitzer's experience. The same article says that hackers are ingenious when finding ways to figure out who you are and what your password might be. "For example, by revealing your dog's name, hometown and date of birth on your Facebook page, a persistent hacker could reasonably guess potential passwords and use computer programs to run millions of iterations of possibilities … If your dog is named Fido, maybe your password is F1D0, fydough or phydo." Identity theft, then, is a good hook for the preacher for both today's epistle (slave/child identities) and gospel readings. In the gospel reading, however, the concern is not about identity theft, but identity acquisition. We don't need to steal an identity to become a child of God. Such an identity is readily and freely available.