LA, Second Sunday in Lent, February 17, 2008

“Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” These are the words of Jesus to Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee, a leader of the Jews. The Pharisees knew the Law backwards and forwards. What they did not understand was the Spirit of the Law.

For the Pharisees, it was important to follow every tiny bit of the Law without understanding the purpose of the Law as a gift from God. God gave the Law to Moses in order for the people to become holy through the observance of the Law. Yet, holiness could never come without a change in the people’s hearts. As Jesus taught, “God is spirit, and those who worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth.”                                                                           

Because the Pharisees obeyed God’s Law for outward prestige and not as an act of submission of their hearts to God, Jesus was constantly attacking the Pharisees for being hypocrites. In Luke chapter 6, verses 41 and 42, Jesus says to the Pharisees, “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s^* eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? ⁴²Or how can you say to your neighbor,^* “Friend,^* let me take out the speck in your eye”, when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s^* eye.” Then in Matthew chapter 23, verse 27, Jesus describes the Pharisees with the following words, “‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth.’”

What is fascinating is that the Pharisees, in spite of Jesus’ public criticism of them, continued to show up in the crowds that came to hear Jesus speak. They were not there because they wanted to learn about the Kingdom of Heaven, but rather to try and trick Jesus with questions. Unlike the true seekers of the Kingdom, the Pharisees’ goal was to publicly humiliate and bring Jesus down in front of the crowds.  Kind of like those who go to church today to find something in the pastor’s sermon to criticize. These people like the Pharisees of old are not coming to church to worship the Lord, but to be seen by others.  They are the ones who desire to sit on the councils of the Church, not to serve others, but to be held in high esteem as being important.  Jesus is clear in His teaching about this type of behavior when He says, “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.”  

They had received their reward, because the reward they sought was not to please God, but to please men. With all of this animosity between Jesus and the Pharisees, it is surprising that Nicodemus, a Pharisee, even comes to see Jesus at all. It is also surprising the greeting that Nicodemus says to Jesus, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” If Nicodemus’ greeting is true, than the Pharisees are in judgment of hellfire, because they publicly ridicule and condemn a Teacher whom they know and believe is from God.    

When Jesus preached, He upset the establishment. Even though they knew Jesus was a godly man, they hated what He had to say. They hated it, because it hit home. Jesus’ teaching made them uncomfortable, because they did not want to change. In their eyes they were already doing all they needed to do to get to heaven, then along comes this carpenter who upsets their applecart with his upside down teaching.  The Pharisees wished Jesus would just go back to Nazareth and do carpentry. 

There are some denominations that can fire a minister if they do not like what the minister is preaching. In the Episcopal Church, when a priest is made a Rector that priest is given the same authority as a bishop to preach as he or she believes is needed to spiritually guide a congregation. This authority is given to allow the priest to preach on unpopular topics for the spiritual benefit of the parishioners under his or her charge.

In the gospel reading for today, the Pharisee Nicodemus came to Jesus at night, not because he was so busy that there was no other time to see Jesus. No, Nicodemus came under the cloak of darkness, because he did not want word getting back to the other Pharisees that he had been with Jesus. This would cause Nicodemus problems with his peers. He would be seen as a turncoat. Yet, in his heart, Nicodemus believed that Jesus was the One who could lead him into the Truth.  So he goes to Jesus to learn the way to eternal life.

Jesus gives Nicodemus an unexpected answer when He tells him, “No one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.” This teaching from Jesus baffles Nicodemus. Being a Pharisee, Nicodemus sees things from a literal view. So his response of going back into the womb a second time is not a surprise. Jesus replies that a person “must be born from above’. Yet, Nicodemus still does not get it. 

Today, there are many who call themselves Christians who have not been born of the Spirit. They have been reborn through the waters of baptism, but their hearts do not belong to God. Not because they have not been made into new creations, but rather because they are like stillborn children. Outwardly they appear to be Christians, but inwardly they have not been reborn in the Spirit.

The best example we have of this happening is Judas Iscariot. Judas was one of the Twelve Disciples of Christ. He had been born anew in the waters of baptism and had probably even baptized other new believers. Yet, Judas’ heart was not right with God.

It wasn’t that Judas didn’t want to believe in Jesus. In fact, Judas did believe that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah. The problem with Judas is that even though he walked daily with Jesus, Judas never accepted Jesus has his Lord. In fact, Judas tried to manipulate Jesus to do what he wanted Jesus to do and that was to defeat the Romans and kick them out of Judea. This was why Judas betrayed Jesus. It was to force Jesus to declare Himself as an earthly king.  When this did not happen, Judas committed suicide.

This is why St. Paul emphasized the continual renewing of our minds in Christ. In his letter to the Ephesians he writes, “You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, ²³and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

It is through the waters of baptism that we are spiritually born as new creations in Christ. Then through the continual renewal of our minds, we become Christ like within our spirits. Only by living in Christ can our spirits become like Christ. To do this we must believe that only through Christ we can be saved and receive eternal life.