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"Shaken, Not Stirred"
Trinity Sunday June 7, 2009 John 3:1-17 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! My name is Nicodemus. I am a Pharisee, a word that means “separated” and indeed we are separated, separated by choice. It has a bad connotation nowadays, but it wasn’t always like that. Pharisees rigidly adhere to the Law given to Moses. We follow the law and all the precepts and interpretations that have been built up over the years to help a person keep the law. We acknowledge the Torah, the five books of Moses, the Prophets and the Writings. We believe the Spirit, resurrection from the dead, even in angels. Sadducees, on the other hand, only adhere to Torah, the Law. They don’t believe in resurrection, the Spirit or much of what we Pharisees believe – they think that this life is all there is, when a person dies, it’s all over. I am also a member of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of 70 or 71 men. We decide all that happens in Israel, whether religious, civil or political. Most of us in the Sanhedrin are either Pharisees or Sadducees; I guess in some ways you might describe us as “political parties,” but in reality we are much more than just political. I am also a teacher of Israel; I interpret and explain the Scriptures. Indeed, I think I am as knowledgeable about Scripture as anyone is Israel. Now, I tell you these things, not to brag, but so you will understand my background. Knowing this will help you understand the journey I’ve been on, how I came to be standing under a cross, looking up. We began hearing of a man named “John,” sometimes he was called “the Baptizer.” Most of those in my party discounted what they knew about him; after all, he wore a camel tunic, ate locusts and honey, and lived in the wilderness around the Jordan; so he must not amount to much! But I, and my circle of friends, we were intrigued. John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin, and, quoting from Isaiah, said he was “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord…’” It struck me, us, that John might be Elijah, or the new Elijah, who was to come before the Messiah. Many Scribes and Pharisees were going to see and hear John, so we went with them. He was indeed baptizing for repentance. When he saw us, he immediately said “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? Even now the axe is at the roots, and trees not producing the fruits of repentance will be hewn down and cast in the fire.” And he told that after him was coming one whose sandals he was not worthy to untie. He said that he, John, baptized with water, but the one coming would baptize with fire and the Holy Spirit. He told us that even now the one coming had a winnowing fork in his hand, that the chaff would be cast into the fire. I was not offended or upset, instead I was intrigued by what he said. I wasn’t shaken so much as stirred, especially when he said he wasn’t worthy to untie the coming one’s sandals. John struck me as a righteous man, he could have been a Pharisee because of his adherence to the Law, and if he wasn’t worthy, then what did that say about the one who would follow John? His comment about baptism also stirred me – we do practice baptism, it’s for proselytes, that is, converts to Judaism, and it is with water. But to baptize with the Holy Spirit, well, that’s another matter. How could this be, and who could do it? And I admit, I had no idea as to how one could baptize with fire and not get hurt or hurt the one being baptized. We went back and I listened to my friends discussing John and his message but I didn’t say much. Instead I pondered his words deep in my heart, and resolved to listen for news. What kind of news? News of a coming Messiah – if God could elevate a shepherd to king of Israel, then God could bring a Messiah from anywhere, even Galilee! Well, it wasn’t long before we heard of what was portrayed as a miracle at a wedding in Cana. Someone had turned water into wine. We chuckled over that report as inspired by too much wine. But my chuckles abruptly stopped and we wondered. Then we heard more reports, all about this man, his name was Jesus, and he’s the one who turned water into wine. He was healing, even in the Synagogue. He made the lame walk, the blind see, gave hearing to those who couldn’t hear, he cleansed lepers, even raised the dead! He preached good news, the coming of the Kingdom of God, to the poor, proclaimed liberty to captives. Oh I don’t mean he freed those who were in prison, justly convicted of their crimes, but liberty from sin, proclaiming forgiveness, and showing it was his right to do so. How did he show this? By making a paralytic stand, pick up his pallet and walk! I finally had the chance to talk with Jesus. I went at night. Oh, I would like to tell you that I went at night because I was so incredibly busy, but the truth of the matter is, I did not want to be seen, challenged, by those of my own party who were against Jesus. Looking back at it, I went in the darkness because my soul was in darkness although I didn’t know it at the time. In what you call hindsight, it was appropriate because as the prophet Isaiah wrote: “Those who live in the darkness have seen a great light…” And I who lived in darkness have seen that light. But let me tell you about my visit with Jesus. I told him we knew he was from God because no one could do what he did without the presence of God. Jesus said “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Now, that threw me as you might put it. Because what Jesus said also has the literal meaning of “…born again.” And even though I had heard John say that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit, I didn’t, I couldn’t make the connection. So I asked Jesus how someone could enter a second time into his mother’s womb. And Jesus said one must be born of water and Spirit, that flesh born of flesh is flesh and what is born of Spirit is spirit. And he again said you must be born from above. And he talked about the wind, well, our word for wind is also our word for Spirit so again I think Jesus was using a play on words with double meanings, both conveying what he intended to say. And Jesus said that only the Son of Man has ascended into heaven because he had descended from heaven. He said the Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness. I knew what he meant, because God had Moses cast a bronze serpent and hang it from a pole that all who were bitten by poisonous serpents might look upon it and live. I understood the allusion but I didn’t understand how the Son of Man might be lifted up. Would he be exalted in the clouds, or on the shoulders of the crowds? I knew also just what Jesus meant by Son of Man because I thought of the prophet Daniel when he wrote: “I saw one like a Son of Man who received from the Ancient of Days all authority, glory and power.” I was shaken, not just stirred, by his words. Some time later, the Sanhedrin met and condemned Jesus. It was time for me to make a stand. I could not sit quietly any longer while injustice was being done, and I spoke out. “It is against our law to condemn a person without a hearing,” I said. These observers of the Law were throwing it out, trampling on it and I had to speak. “Are you from Galilee too?” they shouted. As I stood under that cross, looking up, I somehow knew that the story wasn’t over. Oh, I won’t pretend to an understanding, even a faith, that I didn’t have, but something inside of me was stirring, was burning. I caught the eye of a man named Joseph, from Arimathea, and we went to Pilate and asked leave to take Jesus down and bury him. We did so, and later, I heard that the fine linen we had wrapped him in was left neatly rolled up as though it would never be needed again, that the tomb was empty. And word spread, Jesus had arisen! And later he appeared to many, hundreds, of people, including me. I was baptized with the Holy Spirit. I am still a Pharisee albeit a believer in Jesus, but I’m no longer in the Sanhedrin. Now as I stand and look up at the cross, it appears empty, but it’s not. I still see Jesus hanging there even though he is arisen and ascended. I see him there and I know that he died for me, he died for you and the effects of his death continue and I understand that all who look upon the Son of Man and believe are saved. I now know with all my heart, how God so loved the world. Jesus hangs there for you. He hangs there for me. AMEN. Rev. Bruce Hannem, Associate Pastor
Lutheran Church of the Cross, Nisswa, Minnesota |
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