He Came to Jesus by Night

Jesus answered, “I assure you, unless someone is born anew, it’s not possible to see God’s kingdom.” Nicodemus asked, “How is it possible for an adult to be born? It’s impossible to enter the mother’s womb for a second time and be born, isn’t it?” (John 3:3-4, CEB)

I’ve always found the biblical character Nicodemus interesting. Here we meet someone who should have the answers, who should have wisdom and understanding. He is a Pharisee, a seasoned Jewish leader, and yet he arranges to meet Jesus as night. We assume they met at night because Nicodemus didn’t want anyone else to know about the meeting.

Nicodemus was a person with some social status in Jewish circles, and his initial motives for meeting with Jesus are somewhat unclear. However, no matter what Nicodemus’ goal is for his meeting with Jesus, John reports to us that Jesus throws a curveball right from the start.

Nicodemus makes a comment about Jesus status as a teacher and he acknowledges “no one could do these miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him.” Next thing we know Jesus starts talking about being “born anew” or “born from above.” In modern Christian lingo we’ve summarized this conversation as John describing how someone needing to be “born again.”

But I wonder if along with Nicodemus if we sometimes miss what Jesus is actually saying. We hear the phrase “born again” and we assume Jesus is referring to someone praying to receive Jesus in their heart. Nicodemus too seems to assume something similar; he initially assumes salvation is mostly about what we humans do.  But, Jesus points Nicodemus to a truth we can also miss. The truth is that salvation isn’t just a new direction starting from where we are, it is a radical “restart,” a completely new beginning, as radical as being born a second time.

This sort of radical restart is not something we can do on our own, it is only something God can do for us. This is best summarized when Jesus says we must be, “born from above.” This new birth belongs in a completely different category than human, physical, birth. This birth can only be accomplished through the work of the Spirit of God.

In the Gospel of John this interaction between Jesus and Nicodemus starts its conclusion with the well-known verse sixteen, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life” (CEB). So, in the context of this conversation, the word “believes” take on a different emphasis. Often, we hear this word “believe” and we focus on a sense of mental ascent or mental agreement with the existence of Jesus and even who he is. Yet for Nicodemus the belief Jesus called him to was more than just some agreement with Jesus’ teaching. For Nicodemus to believe, he must also seek this radical restart, like one who is born a second time.

Don’t hear me saying something I am not; I’m not saying that praying to receive Jesus into our hearts as Lord and savior is a bad thing. What I am saying is that this sort of “belief” is only a starting point to the type of radical restart Jesus is calling Nicodemus and each of us to experience. This does not mean we need to have some dramatic conversion experience, but that we need to understand our salvation is not just about our mental agreement with some set of ideas. Salvation is about receiving and participating fully in God’s new work in our lives through the Holy Spirit.

Will you pray with me? Lord thank you for making a way for us to experience new life in you. Thank you for Nicodemus’ honest questions about Jesus’ teachings. Show us what it means for each to be born again from above. I pray each of us may experience the sort of radical restart a new birth requires. Thank you that sent your Son that we may experience eternal life in you. Amen