Lent: Coming to Jesus by Night

Sermon by the Revd Dr Brutus Green

To be a Christian is to have a sort of double vision on the world. The world is natural. It’s governed by laws of nature, tested by repeatability – Most early scientists were priests who delighted in seeing the glory of God in the rational, ordered creation. And so we look at the world of physics – of bodies in motion – Governing the observable, the working of minds and bodies and societies.

But to the Christian the world is also super-natural. A world in which we have responsibility for our actions; Where there is a struggle in society and in our souls between good and evil; A world which touches eternity, so that moments that are transitory have an eternal weight; A world in which grace, forgiveness, sacrifice and love can lift us out of the ordinary; A world in which hope, even in the face of impossibility, shines in the darkness, A world in which you are not just a collection of atoms, genes, synapses, but a creation, a little lower than the angels, godlike in capability and reflection.

John’s Gospel is written in double vision, double speak; Where the literal and the metaphoric harmonise.

So Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night. Now, in a book where the main character is described as the light of the world, if you say someone comes to visit him ‘by night’, you’re making a point. It’s like Chekhov’s gun – if you show a loaded gun in the first act, it’s got to be fired in Act 2. And twelve chapters later, at the betrayal, we’re told – ‘Judas went out, and it was night.’ The literal night is pregnant with the inner meaning of spiritual darkness, ignorance, and the absence of God. But, equally, Nicodemus comes by night because he’s afraid, he doesn’t want to be seen; Perhaps he’s embarrassed, perhaps it’s dangerous: the literal and metaphoric travel together.

And then we have this conversation; Nicodemus is playing the straight man, he interprets naturally, almost comically. Jesus is speaking in metaphor, supernaturally. Unfortunately, we lose the ambiguity of the Greek – Jesus says ‘we must be born again, which could equally mean born anew or born from above; Which we know is meant spiritually; Nicodemus interprets it naturally, with all that climbing inside your mother nonsense.

Jesus, addressing this misunderstanding, clarifies that you must be born of the Spirit. Again, we have a translation problem: in the Biblical languages the words for Spirit and Wind are the same. Somewhat misleadingly English translations switch between Wind and Spirit when the same word is used – from pneuma– like pneumatic. The same word also means ‘breath’ – so when Jesus dies, he breathes his last, and gives up his Spirit – or in the old words – gives up the ghost. But this play on words, breath, spirit, wind doesn’t come across in English. It’s harder for us to appreciate John’s double speak – Our translation switches between ‘wind’ and ‘spirit’, dividing the natural from the supernatural. And with this the Greek has more wordplay as the word phonê – from which we get phonetics – means both ‘sound’ and ‘voice’. So we have: ‘The wind/spirit blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound/voice of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the wind/Spirit.’ The wind/spirit bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound/voice thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit/wind. The natural and supernatural speaking in one sentence.

Incidentally, I like the sound of ‘born of the wind’ – it sounds tremendously more free than being born of the Spirit. It also gives a lovely spiritual interpretation to the 70s rock classic by Kansas: ‘Dust in the Wind’.

But my point in all of this is that St John’s Gospel is written in double-speak: a language that is natural and supernatural, Physics and metaphysics. And if that isn’t enough ambiguity look at the passage again. There are no quotation marks in Greek. Is this Jesus speaking as this translation suggests? It’s equally possible to read from “No one has ascended…” as the evangelist speaking to us the reader – after all it’s all a bit out of order at this point in the Gospel.

In any case, this double-speak matters, because Jesus is trying to get us to think again. Like a parable, it’s not just that this story means this; It’s meant to get you thinking; Above all it wants you to change – to snap out of your complacent faith; So here, we must be born anew, born again, born from above – Which is to say, we need to start again, look afresh! Question our preconceptions with the new thought God is ready to surprise us – And the nearer to the centre we are, the more familiar this all is, the more comfortable I am, the more I am likely to be like Nicodemus.

I think we can put our hands up and say there’s a little bit of anti-semitism going on here. Nicodemus is a Jewish leader, and, despite the obvious, we’re always tempted to think of Jesus as a Christian. These two men are the same religion. And presumably, if you’re with Jesus, you’re the same religion. So Nicodemus is exactly akin to, say me, going to Jesus.

Now, as you may well know, this episode is the first in a trilogy. Anne is preaching on the sequel next week, the more exciting ‘Empire Strikes Back’ of John’s Gospel, aka ‘The Samaritan woman’. The final part of the trilogy is the healing of the Gentile official’s son. The overarching structure of the trilogy is that, as we move away from the centre – from the Jewish man through the Samaritan woman to the Gentile – the foreign enemy – So we encounter more faith and a more immediate response of faith.

Now I’d say we all tend to identify with the Gentile. We’re not Jews, and Samaritans are a bit like the Jehovah’s Witnesses of the day. But we’re really like Nicodemus, the insider. He’s the person that should get it – should recognise Jesus; Already religious; in the right faith, which he himself teaches; with the right education and parents. But he doesn’t – he misses the whole point of his faith when it’s right in front of him.

So actually, if you like me have been coming to church some time; If you’re an insider, the conventional Christian, Then perhaps you’re the one coming to Jesus at night. Thinking you know the situation, how to be a person of faith, but interpreting Jesus’ words in natural ways, while the supernatural challenge flies over your head. Perhaps, you’re a little reticent, embarrassed to speak about matters of faith – Preferring the anonymity of arriving at night. Do we have the Spirit? Are we living this life as people of faith?

There’s no denial of the natural, the scientific in Christianity. You can still believe in dinosaurs, and the ordinary processes of the observable world. But we’re asked here to begin again, in seeing the world theologically. In our relationships, asking how can I be more like Jesus? By expecting, being excited to find God in worship, in reading Scripture, in being with other Christians, in our walk through this world.

John is saying – yes, that is a cluster of atoms, a strange coincidence, an Easterly wind bringing cold from Siberia, the noise of a once thriving city; But also – that is the handwork of God, the sign you have been waiting for, the Spirit ushering in the kingdom of God, the voice that is calling you.

 As Christians we must learn this double-vision, double-speak. We see the world in its beauty, its rationality, its order; But we live in the Spirit with which it was created, whose character is revealed as love.

Nicodemus is an open-ended story. He pops up a couple more times and we’re never quite sure whether he’s crossed over; He defends Jesus’ right to a trial; he helps bury Jesus’ body. Perhaps he remains fixated on the natural. Perhaps as a witness to these things he is born from above. There’s a good deal in the life of faith that is a natural good; Large fancy buildings, Music, friendship, time to reflect, community, coffee – But can we also cross over and hear the voice of the Spirit bringing something to birth in us?x Can we be in-spired, can we breathe in this faith that leads from the natural to the supernatural? xFrom earthly things to heavenly things? From time to eternity? Amen.