First Presbyterian Church
March 5, 2023, Lent 2A
Born of the Spirit
There it is. That Verse.
I'm going to guess that a lot of ears paid extra attention when we got to, well, That Verse. It's extremely well known, even outside of church circles. You used to see mention of it at, of all places, football games, where some crazy-looking guy in a rainbow wig had positioned himself right behind one of the goalposts, so that when a team lined up to kick an extra point or field goal, you saw his sign very prominently, a sign reading simply "JOHN 3:16." After a time the reference moved to the field itself, where you might see a player on the sideline with his helmet off wearing eye black marked with "JOHN" under one eye and "3:16" under the other.
Such demonstrations depended for their effect on one simple presumption: that everybody knows what John 3:16 says. While I'm sure there were a few here and there who didn't, you can guess a lot of people reflexively started reciting in their head "for God so loved the world...". As for those who didn't know the reference, the hope was that they would go look it up.
In short, this is about as famous a verse of the Bible as there is. I suppose maybe that first verse of Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want," might come close, but really, verse 16 from this reading is about as widespread as a Bible verse gets.
There are two problems for us preacher types when the lectionary offers up such an overwhelmingly well-known verse. One is that sometimes such verses get weaponized. Some Christian types take that phrase "that whosoever believeth in him" (to acknowledge the King James Version in which so many people have the verse memorized) and turn it into a cudgel with which to batter those outside the church, or maybe even those inside the church whose faith is somehow judged lacking or in error. Sometimes it's as little as a "nyah nyah nyah" taunting - "I'm going to heaven and you aren't" or some equally childish sentiment, or sometimes it becomes part of a more serious assault on another's beliefs or even basic right to exist. This isn't good, and it's pretty clearly contrary to the spirit of the verse in its biblical context.
That points to the other problem for us preacher types; a verse that stands out so famously on its own is rather frequently stripped of its context, and its public interpretation goes far astray from a reading of it in context. That context - that is, all the verses around it that make up the story of which it is a part - gets forgotten or ignored.
And in the case of this passage of scripture that's indeed unfortunate, as there is much in this passage that should instruct us about being children of God and followers of Jesus. And as much as it might sound blasphemous to say, verse 16 might not even be the most important verse in this reading.
If we remember anything else about this passage besides verse 16, there's a good chance it's Nicodemus. Clearly he's one of the higher-ups in Jewish life, so his coming to talk to Jesus is, as we might say, kind of a big deal. Nicodemus showing up in the typical clothing of Pharisee would be intriguing enough; that he does so at night only heightens the intrigue. Is he trying not to be noticed? Is he coming against the wishes of his religious order, or is he doing so on their behalf? Is he actually genuinely curious about this Jesus fellow, or is he there to warn him against getting out of line with the religious leadership, or is it something else?
About the only coherent thing that Nicodemus gets to say, though, is his opening statement, which at least reads as a gesture of respect for Jesus and what Jesus has done so far in his brief ministry. Jesus's answer apparently sounded to Nicodemus like gibberish, and things only got worse from there.
As we've already noted, Nicodemus was a member of the religious sect known as the Pharisees; that carried with it a particular emphasis on Mosaic Law and in some cases particular and very scrupulous interpretation and following of that Law; in verse 10 Jesus also acknowledges him as "a teacher of Israel." It's hard not to suspect that Nicodemus's purpose in visiting Jesus was somehow related to this role he played; whether it was to try to suss out Jesus's understanding of the Law or perhaps to correct Jesus on some such point we can't know. But it seems awfully likely that Nicodemus was there to talk about Law, and Jesus came at Nicodemus with something different.
Being "born from above" clearly didn't fit into Nicodemus's framework of studying the Law, and then being "born of water and Spirit" doesn't seem to fare much better. When Nicodemus fumbles around about being born from the mother's womb a second time, it's clear these two have no point of connection.
Jesus's construction of being "born of water and Spirit" is an interesting one to unpack. The "water" part can be read many different ways; some take it as a reference to physical birth, some to the water of the earth as a reminder of our earthliness, and some jump ahead and read it as a reference to the waters of baptism. It seems, though, that the part about being "born of ... Spirit" was maybe even more flummoxing to Nicodemus. His helpless response "How can these things be?" makes it pretty clear that he is completely uncomprehending of anything Jesus has said.
Our existence is physical. We are earthly creatures. We get reminded of this often enough, I suspect, particularly when those earthly bodies let us down in some way, from the aches and pains of getting out of bed in the morning to the exertion of exercise or participating in some game or sport, to the more destructive effects of any number of illnesses or injuries that harm the human body. Our existence is physical.
Our existence is physical, but it is not only physical. We are also creatures of spirit, tied up with and inseparable from that physical existence as that may be. And while the Law might well govern and regulate that physical life, if that's all we're governed by then we're missing something. To be "born of the Spirit" is a different kind of governing; it is not predictable, it is as capricious and unpredictable as the wind. The Spirit guides us in ways the Law cannot comprehend.
At this point Nicodemus has more or less disappeared; Jesus's teaching has moved from dialogue to monologue. It also shifts from the talk of being "born of the Spirit" into Jesus's own purpose on earth. Slipping into the language of descending from heaven and "the Son of Man" Jesus has now turned to things to come. Borrowing from the account in Numbers 21 of the bronze serpent that Moses had fashioned in the wilderness at God's command (for the healing of those bitten by poisonous snakes over complaining against Moses - it's a long story...), he now speaks of how the Son of Man must be "lifted up," which is hard to separate from the image of Jesus's crucifixion.
And finally, that brings us to That Verse. Again, I suspect a lot of folks have it memorized, albeit in the King James Version, but it still works so well even in a more modern translation like the New Revised Standard Version. It is decisive, it is hopeful, it is all about God's love for us and eternal life and all sorts of good stuff. If any verse of scripture needs to be That Verse, this one is definitely a good choice.
However, you will notice that That Verse is not the last word. One can read verse 16 and get something not quite right if one isn't careful. It's too easy to read that phrase about "everyone who believes in him" and turn that into limitation, into exclusion. This is where too often that "weaponizing" of this verse comes in. It's too easy for too many people to make the leap from "everyone who believes in him" to some kind of presumption that only certain people can believe in him. The account of Peter and the Roman centurion Cornelius in Acts 10 (and 11) is just one example of how Jesus's followers, even his closest followers, had to learn for themselves that "everyone" really does mean everyone, or as you might hear it expressed further south of here, "y'all means all."
This is where verse 17 comes in, making the vitally necessary point that this Son of Man's coming into the world is not about condemnation. The point of Jesus's coming, of all of the talk about being "born of the Spirit" and being "lifted up" and God so loving the world is that it is not limited in any way. These things can be received and accepted and confessed by anyone, no exceptions. The point really is that the world, the whole world, "might be saved through him."
The whole world. Not just the people who look like us. Not just the people who talk like us, or dress like we do, or who are part of the same country or club or whatever little places of privilege or belonging we carve out for ourselves. The whole world. And when we Christians fail to act as if that's true, we're at cross purposes with the God who really does that the whole world be saved. And we would not want to do that, would we?
"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."
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Hymns (from Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal): #634, To God Be the Glory; #321, The Church's One Foundation; #720, Jesus Calls Us
