Nicodemus was intelligent and respected. He was a leader, “a ruler of the Jews.”1 He had heard that Jesus was upsetting his colleagues with his pious words about the temple. Jesus had caused an uproar there by overturning tables and driving everyone out. He was speaking disrespectfully to the Jews and creating confusion. Nicodemus had heard about Jesus’ miracles and how people were following him and how his popularity was rapidly growing. Although his associates were intimidated by Jesus, Nicodemus was curious.
He went to visit Jesus one evening to decide for himself who this man really was. He greeted him respectfully and acknowledged that he must be a gifted man of God. Jesus’ response? “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”2 Which really seems off topic to me. His words confused Nick, too. He responded with the equivalent of What are you talking about? So, Jesus repeated, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”3 Nick was not used to being perplexed about spiritual things, and the look on his face must have revealed to Jesus that he was bewildered, so for the third time Jesus said, “You must be born again.”4 All Nick could do was ask, “How can these things be?”5
And oddly enough, Jesus reprimanded him by saying, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?”6 If Nick was a proud man, he was suddenly humbled. He had probably never been talked to like that. But he was stumped by Jesus’ words and did not say anything else. Jesus kept talking, and I think Nick listened intently.
Nick was a religious man, a good man—but not a spiritual one. Jesus was talking about spiritual things: believing in God instead of works, acting on faith instead of knowledge, having God’s approval rather than his condemnation. Nick had never heard anything like it. He thought he knew how to gain God’s favor. Jesus’ command that he had to be born again was indication that he had to start over and unlearn everything he thought to be true. Nick left that night with much on his mind, mulling over Jesus’ strange and yet inviting words.
I like this story because Nick was brave enough to have a private conversation with Jesus instead of simply going along with the others in his religious circle. I like this story because Nick was not too proud to tell Jesus that he did not understand what he was saying. I like this story because Jesus did not pressure Nick to be born again right then and there. Nick was a contemplative man and Jesus knew he needed to ponder these things. I like a contemplative person.
I like this story because Jesus points out to Nick (and to us) the most essential thing about our lives is that God loves us not because of what we have done (or not done) but because of what Jesus has done for us. I like this story because I need to hear that “whoever believes in him is not condemned.”7 Because I feel like a failure sometimes, lost, lonely, helpless and hopeless. I’m sure that beneath Nick’s righteous exterior he felt the same way or else why would he have visited Jesus?
The end of Nick’s story can be loosely constructed based on a few short verses. He came to Jesus’ defense later on when he asked the chief priests, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?”8 And again after he was crucified, “Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight.”9
We, like Nicodemus, often think we need to understand everything about God before we decide to “be born again,”—which sounds like an impossible and eccentric thing to do. Thomas, who had followed Jesus for three years, had trouble understanding everything too. He required physical proof of Jesus’ resurrection. So when Jesus showed up, he spoke to Thomas about it and reprimanded him, too, He told him, “Do not disbelieve, but believe.”10 Jesus requires that we have faith in him. You know, faith, “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”11
Some would believe that we should question and ponder and research and “google” everything until we have all the answers about God. But that is not how it works at all. Nicodemus was an intelligent, righteous, godly man, a leader and “a ruler of the Jews.” And he had to unlearn all that and start over, and “be born again” in order to be a man of faith.
Because “without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”12 What “rewards” are we talking about? So many things, the greatest of which is everlasting life. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”13
“How can these things be?” Just have faith.
1John 3:1 2John 3:3 3John 3:5 4John 3:7 5John 3:9 6John 3:10 7John 3:18 8John 7:50 9John 19:39 10John 20:27 11Hebrews 11:1 12Hebrews 11:6 13John 3:16
