You Just Know

Based on John 3:1-17

    I wonder what was going on inside Nicodemus? Something must have been stirring in his heart that he was moved to get a message to Jesus so that the two of them could meet privately under the cover of darkness. He knew that meeting with Jesus in a public way might stir up some controversy. People may have started wondering about Nicodemus. Is he becoming a disciple? That could hurt his standing with the rest of the Sanhedrin. But there was something about Jesus that was pulling on his heart. Listening to Jesus from a distance wasn’t enough. Nicodemus was compelled to come closer to Jesus. It was more than mere curiosity. Something was drawing him to Jesus.

Nicodemus says that he and the rest of the Sanhedrin know that Jesus must have come from God because of the signs he has performed. I think Nicodemus said that just to let Jesus know that he is meeting with him from a supportive place. He isn’t meeting Jesus to accuse him or warn him to stop teaching, any of that. He wants Jesus to know that he is potentially willing to stand with him. He just needs to know more, get some assurances, because of the controversy Jesus has been stirring up. In other words, Nicodemus is coming to Jesus in peace, not to fight, but to understand. Jesus could trust him.

However, we already know that for Jesus, those who believe him because of the signs are missing the point.  Just above in 2:23-25 we read:

When Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone.

What we learn here is that believing in Jesus because of the signs was not enough. Jesus knows that this kind of belief based on external things like miracles is not permanent. We have all heard the phrase, “What have you done for me lately?” It’s that idea that if you are highly skilled then you have to keep producing impressive work. Once that starts to fade people start to doubt you. This is definitely the case in sports. A baseball player can go on an amazing hitting streak, have a few seasons where he is putting up amazing stats and scoring lots of runs. But then he has a bad year, and then another. All of a sudden people are doubting his skills and there is talk of trading him. Putting trust in people based on externals is inherently unstable. And, in Jesus’ case, will these same people keep believing in him when he is hanging on a cross? Probably not. Jesus knows what is in the heart of everyone. So, when Nicodemus starts off by saying everyone in the Sanhedrin knows that Jesus is from God because of the signs, that does not impress Jesus. He knows better.

Jesus wasn’t going to waste his time talking about those signs that Nicodemus is referring to. Instead, Jesus cuts to the chase. He goes straight to the heart of his message. “No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born again from above.” That word in Greek Jesus ends with is a word that has two meanings: born again and born from above. Jesus means for that word to be understood in its fullness. To enter the kingdom of God requires being born again from above. We can look back to 1:12-13 to understand what Jesus is saying here:

To all who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of humans, but of God.

In other words, to be born again from above means becoming a child of God, which is what happens when someone believes Jesus is who he says he is, not because of the signs, but because of an inner heart knowing that is not dependent on externals. It reminds me of when my sister asked me how I knew that Kim was the right person for me to marry. I was at a loss. I couldn’t give any specific examples or proofs. All I could say was, “I just know.” That’s what this is about. This kind of belief in Jesus is not based on external signs or proofs. You just know in your heart that it’s true. You take that leap of faith.

This is where Nicodemus gets all mixed up. It reveals where he is blocked. He is feeling drawn toward Jesus but he is getting in his own way. He wants Jesus to explain himself by saying, “That’s ridiculous. How is someone supposed to be born again? No one can enter a second time into their mother’s womb.” Does Nicodemus really not get the word Jesus used? Does he miss the double meaning? Maybe he is stumbling over the practicalities of being born a second time. He’s trying to take Jesus in a literal sense and that’s getting him all mixed up.

The bottom line is this. Nicodemus is having this meeting with Jesus because he wants to better understand where Jesus is coming from before he is willing to believe Jesus is who he says he is. He needs to understand before he will believe. He is not going to take that risky step and claim his belief in Jesus until he has a full understanding of what Jesus is about.

But that’s not how this is going to work. There are some things in life that we won’t ever understand but we believe anyway. Jesus gives an example. He points back to that story when the Israelites were being killed by snakes and they pleaded for help. So, God told Moses to make a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Then if anyone was bitten by a snake all they had to do was gaze upon the bronze snake and they would live. They didn’t know how that worked. But they believed what Moses told them to do and it worked. They didn’t have to understand. They just had to believe. In the same way, we don’t understand how it works, that by gazing on Jesus the crucified one that we are healed from the poison of sin. We don’t have to understand how salvation works. We just believe it to be so. We don’t have to understand how the Spirit of God moves about the earth. Like wind the Spirit moves here and there. We sense the presence of the Spirit, but we don’t know where the Spirit comes from or where it is going. We believe in the Spirit anyway. We know the Spirit is real even though we can’t physically see it.

This is what Jesus is getting at. When we come to believe in Jesus as the savior, not based on external signs, not based on understanding how this works, but with an inner knowing and trust, taking it on faith, it is like being born again. We are born again as children of God. No longer only the child of your mom and dad, you also come to realize that you are a child of God. It’s an expanded identity. You present yourself in the world differently. Indeed, you see the world in a new way. For not only are you a child of God, you are surrounded by children of God. You belong to a larger family. Yes, you are living your life within a community comprised of the children of God, what Jesus refers to as the kingdom of God. When you come to that belief in Jesus as your savior, everything changes.

I wouldn’t say I saw signs or miracles, but I did hear the teachings of Jesus in a way that opened my eyes and softened my heart. I was at a youth retreat. During the retreat we watched the movie version of Godspell. In that movie, the gospel and the teachings of Jesus were presented in a way that really spoke to me. I did not know that was what the message of Jesus was about. I was smitten. And then, one evening, we were told of how Jesus died on the cross for our sins so that we could live forever with God, who loves us and has a purpose for our lives. That did it. At that moment I fell in love with Jesus. No miracles. No rational arguments. No explanation of how this salvation thing works. It was an experience of an inner knowing that I was loved by God. I just knew that it was true. And my life changed. I was filled with love. I felt so free inside. It seemed I had an abundance of love that had to be shared with everyone around me. For a good month I was on an emotional high. Of course, as the months went by there were highs and lows. My new found faith had to be tested and seasoned. But I can tell you that on that night when I came to believe that Jesus died for my sins so that I could live forever with God who loves me and has a purpose for my life, I haven’t been the same. It was as if I had been born again from above.

You know, it’s probably a good thing that our job is not to convince anyone about who Jesus is. Working miracles or explaining how it works are not methods we need to use to get people to believe in Jesus. As we learn in the scripture reading today, Jesus was not impressed with people who said they believed in him because of the miracles he performed. Jesus didn’t answer Nicodemus’ “how” questions. Jesus just lived his life, sharing his teachings, loving people well, and fulfilling the purpose God had given him to perform. That’s our roadmap as those who have fallen in love with Jesus and believe he is who he says he is. We just live our lives. We share the teachings of Jesus as we love others well, knowing that the Spirit of God that wooed us into belief is still moving about the world, still drawing people to Jesus, still leading people to belief.