If you are not familiar with Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, I will tell you that the main character is a young lady named Elizabeth Bennett, who meets two young men, for whom she has opposing opinions. One, named Wickham, she considers quite charming. The other, Mr. Darcy, is revolting to her because of his pride. However, as the story unfolds, Elizabeth finds that Wickham is, in fact, a dangerous man and Darcy turns out to be the most amiable and respectable man she has ever known. The happy ending of the story is a direct result of the changes in her understanding concerning these two men.
I mention Austen’s story because it is a good example of the significant consequences that can attend the right or wrong understanding we may have of the important people in our lives and there is none more important in all of our lives than Jesus Christ. The colour of our lives on earth and the endings of our lives, whether they be happy or not, are dependent on who we think Jesus is.
If I were to ask you, “Who is Jesus?” would you say what Nicodemus said about him? You will recall his words from our reading of John 3: “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.” This opinion of Jesus, that he was a teacher from God was not untrue. No one has ever taught as well as Jesus taught. That he came from God was something he himself repeated over and over again. So far so good. But there is a problem with Nicodemus’ opinion of Jesus. The problem was that he did not consider Jesus to be anything else than this teacher from God when he was indeed more than that.
Jesus was not going to leave this problem alone. It demonstrated a defect in Nicodemus’ understanding of him that would bring devastating consequences. If Nicodemus were left to believe that Jesus was only a teacher from God, he would be no closer to the kingdom of God than those of any other religion with high moral ideals. He may be more civilized, but he would not have spiritual life, for spiritual life cannot come from religious and moral teaching.
So, Jesus confronts Nicodemus, and he does so in response to each of the three statements or questions that Nicodemus makes. Jesus confronts him about his spiritual condition, about his spiritual understanding, and finally about his source for spiritual authority. It is with this last point that Jesus confronts Nicodemus directly concerning his identity. As we will see, Jesus will not let Nicodemus think he is merely a teacher.
In response to Nicodemus’ statement about Jesus being a teacher from God, Jesus solemnly tells Nicodemus that a new birth, or a birth from above, from heaven, is a necessary condition to seeing the kingdom of God, that is, of understanding its nature and participating in its life and blessing. He is confronting Nicodemus about his spiritual condition – there is something he lacks. Jesus knows that the thing he lacks is the reason why Nicodemus thinks him only a teacher from God.
Jesus’ response puzzles Nicodemus, for, being a good Pharisee, he believed that he was destined for the kingdom of God because he was born in descent from Abraham. This new birth is something of which he was not aware. It is also confusing, because his perspective is too much of this earth. He imagines two physical, natural births, and he recognizes this as impossible. Therefore, he asks Jesus how a person can be born twice.
This question brings a confrontation from Jesus about his spiritual understanding. Jesus speaks of the operation of the Spirit of God upon a human soul. He tells Nicodemus that there are two births for those who would see the kingdom: one’s natural birth, being born of the flesh, and a spiritual birth, which comes through the water of baptism and the operation of the Holy Spirit.
So then, Jesus brings to Nicodemus’s attention a birth that he does not have, he explains the spiritual nature of that birth, but, then, Nicodemus seems to question whether or not such things could actually exist. He raises the issue of the believability of Jesus’ teaching concerning the new birth and thus the issue of his authority.
In response, Jesus basically rebukes Nicodemus for not already knowing what he has been talking about, and, as Nicodemus appealed to his fellows concerning his opinion of Jesus, Jesus refers to all his fellows regarding the truth he has been teaching. He then begins to refer to the knowledge that comes from heaven and it is at this point that Jesus directly confronts Nicodemus concerning who he really is. He will not give Nicodemus the option of believing him merely another religious teacher, whose authority he may have reason to doubt. Jesus tells Nicodemus that the reason he can teach him heavenly things is because he is the Son of Man, who came from heaven and is in heaven.
The name Son of Man would have been familiar to Nicodemus. It comes from a passage in the prophet Daniel famous among the Jews for its messianic reference. The passage is in chapter 7 and reads: 13: I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14: And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
Now the meaning of the name Son of Man is somewhat ambiguous. He seems in Daniel to be a divine figure, because He receives the kind of glory, devotion, and rule that is only appropriate for God. Yet, son of man, in Hebrew or Aramaic, is another way of saying human being. While a messianic title, the divinity of this Son of Man in Daniel could be disputed. But Jesus’ description of him here in John 3 is unmistakable. He comes from heaven, yet remains in heaven. In other words, he is omnipresent, and only God is omnipresent. The Son of Man is thus a divine figure and Jesus is telling Nicodemus that his teaching is to be trusted because it carries the authority of the divine. Jesus speaks to Nicodemus as God Himself.
It is this kind of thing, this kind of instruction by Jesus about himself, that C. S. Lewis refers to in his book Mere Christianity when he says that the idea of Jesus being merely a teacher from God is nonsense. You may recall the passage where Lewis tries to prevent anyone from saying Jesus was merely a teacher and nothing more. He knows that usually, when people refer to Jesus’ teaching, they refer to his ethical and religious instruction. But Lewis reminds us that, among these other things, Jesus also taught us that he was God incarnate. That being the case, if we take all of Jesus’ teachings as a whole, including his claim to be God, we must recognize that the one thing we must not say is that Jesus was a great moral teacher but not God. In claiming to be God, if that claim were not true, Jesus was either insane, and thus incapable of sound teaching, or he was the devil himself – which precludes his teaching being good. Lewis ends the chapter by saying, “But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
We have an excellent example of this intention of Christ in his dialogue with Nicodemus. He will not allow Nicodemus to leave without confronting him with his deity. He will not be merely a good teacher for he will not leave Nicodemus or anyone else in the world with the consequences of thinking such a thing. The wrong idea about him would leave them in their death. He wants them to have eternal life. To have it, they must understand who he really is.
But there is also more. In order for Nicodemus, or for you and I, to have eternal life, we must not only know Jesus to be the Son of God from heaven, we must also understand that he, the Son of Man, was lifted up on the cross for our sins and that, if we will believe in him as the one who has done all that needs to be done for our salvation, we may then have eternal life. This is just what Jesus tells Nicodemus. He not only tells Nicodemus that the Son of Man is the omnipresent God, but that he must be lifted up, like Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness, and that he alone is the object of the faith of those who live forever, whose lives have that happy ending for which they long. Knowledge of the mere fact of Jesus' deity does not bring life. He is not only a divine teacher but the divine Redeemer. It is not intellectual assent to His identity but faith in Him as our Saviour that brings life.
We are not told what happened between Nicodemus and Jesus after this confrontation. It would not be surprising if Nicodemus simply walked away in silence. He certainly had a lot to consider. Hopefully, he went away with the realization that he really had been mistaken about who Jesus was and what he was like and that, in the changing of his opinion, he believed in him. We do know that Nicodemus appears later in the gospel coming to Jesus’ defense in opposition to those who he had previously grouped himself, those holding the opinion of Jesus being a teacher from God. He also aided Joseph of Arimathea in the disposition of Jesus’ body. There are hints that Nicodemus did get the point and did believe, and that, like a happy ending to a book, is a comfort to us.
But what about ourselves? What do we think of Jesus? Do we know Him? Do we believe in Him, the divine Son of Man? If so, let us hold to this faith and hope, as we await the time when He who went back to heaven will come again and receive us to himself, forever, and the story of our lives will really have only begun.
Amen.
I mention Austen’s story because it is a good example of the significant consequences that can attend the right or wrong understanding we may have of the important people in our lives and there is none more important in all of our lives than Jesus Christ. The colour of our lives on earth and the endings of our lives, whether they be happy or not, are dependent on who we think Jesus is.
If I were to ask you, “Who is Jesus?” would you say what Nicodemus said about him? You will recall his words from our reading of John 3: “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.” This opinion of Jesus, that he was a teacher from God was not untrue. No one has ever taught as well as Jesus taught. That he came from God was something he himself repeated over and over again. So far so good. But there is a problem with Nicodemus’ opinion of Jesus. The problem was that he did not consider Jesus to be anything else than this teacher from God when he was indeed more than that.
Jesus was not going to leave this problem alone. It demonstrated a defect in Nicodemus’ understanding of him that would bring devastating consequences. If Nicodemus were left to believe that Jesus was only a teacher from God, he would be no closer to the kingdom of God than those of any other religion with high moral ideals. He may be more civilized, but he would not have spiritual life, for spiritual life cannot come from religious and moral teaching.
So, Jesus confronts Nicodemus, and he does so in response to each of the three statements or questions that Nicodemus makes. Jesus confronts him about his spiritual condition, about his spiritual understanding, and finally about his source for spiritual authority. It is with this last point that Jesus confronts Nicodemus directly concerning his identity. As we will see, Jesus will not let Nicodemus think he is merely a teacher.
In response to Nicodemus’ statement about Jesus being a teacher from God, Jesus solemnly tells Nicodemus that a new birth, or a birth from above, from heaven, is a necessary condition to seeing the kingdom of God, that is, of understanding its nature and participating in its life and blessing. He is confronting Nicodemus about his spiritual condition – there is something he lacks. Jesus knows that the thing he lacks is the reason why Nicodemus thinks him only a teacher from God.
Jesus’ response puzzles Nicodemus, for, being a good Pharisee, he believed that he was destined for the kingdom of God because he was born in descent from Abraham. This new birth is something of which he was not aware. It is also confusing, because his perspective is too much of this earth. He imagines two physical, natural births, and he recognizes this as impossible. Therefore, he asks Jesus how a person can be born twice.
This question brings a confrontation from Jesus about his spiritual understanding. Jesus speaks of the operation of the Spirit of God upon a human soul. He tells Nicodemus that there are two births for those who would see the kingdom: one’s natural birth, being born of the flesh, and a spiritual birth, which comes through the water of baptism and the operation of the Holy Spirit.
So then, Jesus brings to Nicodemus’s attention a birth that he does not have, he explains the spiritual nature of that birth, but, then, Nicodemus seems to question whether or not such things could actually exist. He raises the issue of the believability of Jesus’ teaching concerning the new birth and thus the issue of his authority.
In response, Jesus basically rebukes Nicodemus for not already knowing what he has been talking about, and, as Nicodemus appealed to his fellows concerning his opinion of Jesus, Jesus refers to all his fellows regarding the truth he has been teaching. He then begins to refer to the knowledge that comes from heaven and it is at this point that Jesus directly confronts Nicodemus concerning who he really is. He will not give Nicodemus the option of believing him merely another religious teacher, whose authority he may have reason to doubt. Jesus tells Nicodemus that the reason he can teach him heavenly things is because he is the Son of Man, who came from heaven and is in heaven.
The name Son of Man would have been familiar to Nicodemus. It comes from a passage in the prophet Daniel famous among the Jews for its messianic reference. The passage is in chapter 7 and reads: 13: I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14: And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
Now the meaning of the name Son of Man is somewhat ambiguous. He seems in Daniel to be a divine figure, because He receives the kind of glory, devotion, and rule that is only appropriate for God. Yet, son of man, in Hebrew or Aramaic, is another way of saying human being. While a messianic title, the divinity of this Son of Man in Daniel could be disputed. But Jesus’ description of him here in John 3 is unmistakable. He comes from heaven, yet remains in heaven. In other words, he is omnipresent, and only God is omnipresent. The Son of Man is thus a divine figure and Jesus is telling Nicodemus that his teaching is to be trusted because it carries the authority of the divine. Jesus speaks to Nicodemus as God Himself.
It is this kind of thing, this kind of instruction by Jesus about himself, that C. S. Lewis refers to in his book Mere Christianity when he says that the idea of Jesus being merely a teacher from God is nonsense. You may recall the passage where Lewis tries to prevent anyone from saying Jesus was merely a teacher and nothing more. He knows that usually, when people refer to Jesus’ teaching, they refer to his ethical and religious instruction. But Lewis reminds us that, among these other things, Jesus also taught us that he was God incarnate. That being the case, if we take all of Jesus’ teachings as a whole, including his claim to be God, we must recognize that the one thing we must not say is that Jesus was a great moral teacher but not God. In claiming to be God, if that claim were not true, Jesus was either insane, and thus incapable of sound teaching, or he was the devil himself – which precludes his teaching being good. Lewis ends the chapter by saying, “But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
We have an excellent example of this intention of Christ in his dialogue with Nicodemus. He will not allow Nicodemus to leave without confronting him with his deity. He will not be merely a good teacher for he will not leave Nicodemus or anyone else in the world with the consequences of thinking such a thing. The wrong idea about him would leave them in their death. He wants them to have eternal life. To have it, they must understand who he really is.
But there is also more. In order for Nicodemus, or for you and I, to have eternal life, we must not only know Jesus to be the Son of God from heaven, we must also understand that he, the Son of Man, was lifted up on the cross for our sins and that, if we will believe in him as the one who has done all that needs to be done for our salvation, we may then have eternal life. This is just what Jesus tells Nicodemus. He not only tells Nicodemus that the Son of Man is the omnipresent God, but that he must be lifted up, like Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness, and that he alone is the object of the faith of those who live forever, whose lives have that happy ending for which they long. Knowledge of the mere fact of Jesus' deity does not bring life. He is not only a divine teacher but the divine Redeemer. It is not intellectual assent to His identity but faith in Him as our Saviour that brings life.
We are not told what happened between Nicodemus and Jesus after this confrontation. It would not be surprising if Nicodemus simply walked away in silence. He certainly had a lot to consider. Hopefully, he went away with the realization that he really had been mistaken about who Jesus was and what he was like and that, in the changing of his opinion, he believed in him. We do know that Nicodemus appears later in the gospel coming to Jesus’ defense in opposition to those who he had previously grouped himself, those holding the opinion of Jesus being a teacher from God. He also aided Joseph of Arimathea in the disposition of Jesus’ body. There are hints that Nicodemus did get the point and did believe, and that, like a happy ending to a book, is a comfort to us.
But what about ourselves? What do we think of Jesus? Do we know Him? Do we believe in Him, the divine Son of Man? If so, let us hold to this faith and hope, as we await the time when He who went back to heaven will come again and receive us to himself, forever, and the story of our lives will really have only begun.
Amen.
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