In The Dark of Night

Summary

March 8, 2020
“In The Dark Of Night”
Seminarian Intern Ryon Herin
Scripture Text: John 3: 1-17

           Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘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.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘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. Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound 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 Spirit.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
          ‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
          ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
          ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

In the Peanuts comic strips, Snoopy often tries to be an author. In one particular strip He’s shown on his doghouse typing a novel. He begins his story with, “It was a dark and stormy night.” That’s the way he always begins his stories. Lucy comes and bluntly shouts, “You stupid dog! That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever read. Who ever heard of such a silly way to begin a story? Don’t you know that all good stories begin, ‘Once upon a time’?” So, the last frame shows Snoopy starting over. This time he types: “Once upon a time, it was a dark and stormy night.”
Usually, good things don’t come in the night. When the silence is broken, we are surprised if anything, but sudden, shocking news follows. A loud tap-tap knock on the door. A thump in the night. A shrill of the cellphone. All of these sounds knock us out of our deep sleep. They startle us and leave us in fear, anticipation, or both. When I was in undergrad, I had a psychology internship at the hospital for the chaplaincy department. One of my roles which I was to take on was a few on-call evenings and one on-call weekend a month, to help disperse the load in the department. This meant that if I was on-call, it was 4 am, and they needed a chaplain for an emergency situation, I was it. The first few nights that I was on-call, I barely could sleep. I was charged with anticipation over what scene I might be called into. And I had every reason too. The later in the night, the more serious and heartbreaking the call. Yet, what I learned from my mentors was that it makes all the difference if you meet these calls with unassuming presence and a willingness to wait for the “good,” even when God’s grace seems lightyears away. The good can be found even when darkness seems to be the only thing around.
When it comes to emergency middle-of-the-night calls, Nicodemus tops the list. Nicodemus plays a very important role. He is a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin, coming from a wealthy and prominent family. He is what the world expects out of a religious person, smart, by-the-book, knowledgeable, well-to-do, and respectable. So why is he seeing Jesus in the middle of the night?
Earlier the same day, Jesus had cleared the temple. It is around Passover. In the very temple where God is worshipped, Moneychangers are exchanging currencies for travelers. Livestock are being sold for sacrifice in the temple. The moneychangers are swindling travelers out of their hard-earned money. They are taking advantage of people wishing to worship, making money out of people’s need to approach God. What they are doing is not respectful either of God or those worshiping God. Not only did those running the market have no respect for God, they also had no respect for their fellow neighbor. So, Jesus drives everyone out, and things go amuck. The people confront him, asking “by who’s authority are you doing all of this?”
And now, hours later with darkness all around, Nicodemus is knocking on Jesus’ door. As a child, I always was told the story this way. Nicodemus approaches Jesus as the only Pharisee with a humble heart, coming in the middle of the night because he doesn’t want his buddies to know that he believes in this Jesus and his miracles. He is knocking on the door because he is having a heart change. Yet, stories are not always as we first remember them. Having reread this story, I now see the scene differently. This guy is not seeking Jesus with any inkling of conviction or feeling of conversion. The name Nicodemus means “conqueror of the people.” He is not used to others showing him how the temple should be operated. When he introduces himself, he says “We have become aware.” Representing not just himself, Nicodemus has shown up because he is ready to challenge Jesus. He and the other Pharisees he hangs out with don’t like that Jesus upended the temple, disturbing business as usual. This is a nighttime confrontation, not a nighttime confession. Nicodemus is setting up a challenge for Jesus by flattering him.
I think Nicodemus might have sounded something like this, “Rabi, you are so great, and we believe all these miracles you are doing, of course you must be from God.” Nicodemus intends to be sarcastic and trap Jesus. Yet, what he says is truly believed by the common people. Those who have been healed. Those who’s dire circumstances give them no other choice but to believe. But Nicodemus has not experienced what he is saying. Therefore, he does not hold it to be true. He is using his words as sarcastic flattery. Just hoping Jesus will trip up.
“No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Jesus knows that what Nicodemus is saying is not believed. Nicodemus’s whole role as a Pharisee would be toppled if he believed. It would take a truly unexpected event for Nicodemus to understand Jesus. But how many times have we found ourselves in this same position? We say we agree with someone just to end a fight, we mock someone because they offended our wounds and we want to get even. We might superficially agree with a person, yet our hearts and actions will do little to match our thoughts. It is in these times that we need the unexpected. Times in which we are ready for new birth, ready to see God in a different way. Ready to see our neighbors in a different way.
Nicodemus still does not understand. He thinks Jesus is speaking of childbirth. “I can’t be born again; I already came out of my mother’s womb once. It was painful enough for her the first time.” Once again, He is sarcastic, confused, maybe even disgusted. Nicodemus is not getting it. This is because Jesus is speaking of Spirit birth. He is speaking of the kind of birth in which God lets us look beyond ourselves and see the world in new ways.
“No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and Spirit.” God’s Spirit hovered over the waters to form the earth at the beginning of time. We are baptized in water and The Spirit as infants. Our parents then promise to raise us up in Christian faith and spiritual understanding. But it is the Holy Spirit which enlivens us, which guides our own spirit. We can have an understanding of what it means to be a Christian, yet it is not until the Holy Spirit captures us that we are living examples of our faith. We not only see the neighbor in need but do something to help that neighbor. Even when our flesh is unwilling.
“The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.” I believe that this is the hardest part of this passage for us to accept. Our line of thinking goes something like this. “I am the bearer of my own actions. I decide to do what is right and wrong. Whether what I say is what I mean is up to me… Yet, Jesus is saying that his power is beyond us. It is God’s goodness which blows like the wind, not ours. We do not get to decide the moment when God speaks to us. It just happens, and once it has happened, we can only rejoice!
One of the seminary courses I am currently taking is on pastoral care through the lens of William James, an early 20th century psychologist. He believed that there are two types of people, once born and twice born. Once born people have always had a happy religious attitude from day one. They always find the good in the world. The twice born are those troubled by the suffering and reality in the world to the point where they can barely get up in the morning and live. For the twice born, this then leads to a crisis in which they feel an unexpected joy which breaks through and totally changes their outlook. However, not everyone experiences the Holy Spirit as suddenly breaking through. For most of us the Spirit is a gradual mover, coming and going as it chooses. Certain, small moments in our lives are evident of God’s presence, changing us little by little.
Jesus offers Nicodemus the chance for a new outlook on life through the Spirit, yet he is still clueless. “How can this be?” Nicodemus, replies. This is the last that we hear of Nicodemus in this passage. I am left wondering; did he get it? Was his perspective changed? Did the Holy Spirit come in and change his life? Rereading this passage, I felt like I was left hanging on a thread. Yet, there are two more instances in which Nicodemus is mentioned in John.
In John Ch 7 Verses 50 through 51, Nicodemus defends Jesus before the other Pharisees, telling them that they should hear him out before they condemn him. He is now open to hearing Jesus out, not just shrugging it off. In John Ch 19 verses 39 through 42 we see an even more obvious change. Nicodemus, a Pharisee, is preparing Jesus’ body for burial along with Joseph of Arimathea. The Spirit is working in Nicodemus. One of the last people you would expect is preparing Jesus’s body, doing work that he would have previously thought as below his status. And he brings 75 pounds of myrrh. That is a lot of precious incense to buy for a teacher which one did not understand before. His expectations and outlook have changed.
The first verse I ever learned to memorize as a child was John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” We are often taught to memorize this verse but without connection to Nicodemus’s story from which it comes. This story enhances our understanding of John 3:16. For believing goes beyond our head knowledge. It includes our willingness to let the Spirit come in and change our lives. To be open to change and revelation even when we think we have already received the Word. Nicodemus comes in the night confessing he suddenly knows who Jesus is. Yet, the Spirit works as it pleases. God works through Nicodemus gradually, not suddenly.
Nicodemus comes shrouded in night, misunderstanding Jesus. It is only with the light of each new day in which he begins to see Jesus as the Christ. In the nighttime, our troubles seem so near to us, grief and trauma abound. Yet, in the light we see that Christ is working even in our hurt. His presence does not condemn us or open our wounds. Instead, we are saved by his presence. Healing and learning to live in this broken world might take a lifetime, but this comes easier when we let the Spirit do its thing. We are revealed a new path, breaking out of old habits and forming new ones.
During this Lenten season, I invite you not to force your spiritual habits. Do not force your prayers or fasting or giving, because it is what the law has commanded of you. Don’t believe because that is what is expected out of you. Instead, let the Spirit come when and where it may. Pray because your relationship with God rejuvenates you. Fast because it opens your perspective and expresses your need for God. Give because Christ gives to us. Believing becomes doing.
We are all on unique spiritual journeys. Times of joy and times of sorrow come and go. Yet, for the trained hearer, the Spirit is never out of ear shot. The echoes of the Spirit all point to Christ. For without Christ we are still sinners. Without Christ, we believe it is right to care for our neighbors, but we don’t follow through. With Christ, darkness becomes light. And this is grace. We did nothing to earn it. Yet we receive it, nonetheless. The light might not come all at once, but it will come, each new ray bursting through an ever-larger crack.
Lifting up Christ is not easy. It requires practice as much as witness. We must be open to new workings of the Spirit. It is not only telling people about Christ. It is living life in a way that we love our neighbor and do good, even when we cannot see the good. It is hoping for the good to show up when we visit a sick neighbor. It is hoping that the few dollars we give will shine light on someone’s day. Not because we did anything good, but because the Spirit working in us transforms our actions despite our intentions. When we are open to the Spirit, that is when Grace abounds. That is when Christ is lifted up. We catch a glimpse of Christ’s promise of eternal life when we wait for The Spirit and witness a good which we never before would have expected. For sometimes, even good stories start with “It was a dark and stormy night.”

Let us Pray, Dear Lord, May we be open to the moving of your Spirit this Lenten season. Help us to be patient even when it is hard to find the good around us. Even in the desert, your grace can be found. Guide us in our thoughts and actions. May we seek you ever more. Amen.