"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."
Nicodemus comes to
Jesus at night.
He comes stating
what he knows, what he understands about Jesus.
Nicodemus says “We know”.
We know.
Nicodemus thinks he
is being positive and complimentary to Jesus by saying what he does.
He thinks he is
showing an awareness of what is happening.
He thinks he is
showing an awareness of who Jesus is and where he is from.
Jesus’ answer shows
him how far off he is:
"Very
truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from
above."
Jesus has heard
what Nicodemus has said.
He hears the long
struggle Nicodemus has had with his thoughts to get to this point.
Jesus sees that
Nicodemus has reached a certain point of understanding.
It’s not that
Nicodemus is wrong.
Not at all.
Rather it is just
that his understanding is at a certain stage.
Jesus’ reply
reveals the greater depth that Nicodemus is ready for.
This is how this
Jesus stuff works.
We come along
thinking we understand it, or have some idea of what it is we are doing, only
to have our concepts changed or altered or enhanced.
It never is how we
think it is.
Our understandings
of
who Jesus is,
where he is from
and what he did,
and what he will do
in our lives
is always different
than what we discover when we open ourselves to listen and be present
rather than
insisting on our understanding and ideas.
And it is like that
when we come to church. “We know this is what goes on here. We know that Jesus
is here. We know…..”
And when we do
approach church or our faith in such a way and don’t allow ourselves to be
present to what is really going on, we may miss what is really happening. We
are like Nicodemus.
But Jesus is like
Jesus in the passage we heard.
We think you have
got it, we understand what it is all about and our place in it, and then Jesus
comes along with something that will make us realise that our understanding is
only a pale reflection of what it will be.
This is the way of
faith.
This is the way of
the journey.
We learn to a
certain point and feel our way around that and feel comfortable in it and then
can state it with some certainty.
Then it is revealed
to us that it actually goes deeper.
This is how faith
works.
Whether you have
been doing this for 70 years or this is your first time here.
Words or phrases we
think we understand are all of a sudden shown to have a meaning far beyond what
we thought. And that is a wonderful thing.
Faith is journey,
not an on and off, not a left or right, not an up or down, not a dark or light.
It is all those things. We stumble run jump and crawl our way through it all.
As Jesus pulls
Niocodemus out of his understanding into a place where it can grow even
further,
he does the same
with us.
When we say, “we
know” Jesus listens and invites us to go deeper.
And the way we are
asked will always depend on where we are, and how ready we are.
And how the asking
happens will depend on how present we are to what is happening.
It may come from
being at church,
or it may come
while watching some rubbishy thing on the telly.
It may come from a sound a baby makes,
or it may come from
the way the wind feels.
As Jesus says to
Nicodemus:
"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."
Being present to
God does not mean understanding what it all means. It is rather a state of
gentle readiness.
Saying “we know” is
really saying “we are ready to know more.”
