The mystery of redemption
Rev. John Davis - St. Mark's Lutheran Church
Friday, February 22, 2008
Text: John 3:1-17
“How can these things be?” These were the words of a man described by the Gospel of John as a Pharisee and “a leader of the Jews.” His name was Nicodemus.
The description provided by John tells us quite a bit about him. As a Pharisee, Nicodemus was a member of an elite religious group — at any given time there were no more than 6,000 Pharisees in the world. The Pharisees were respected for their devotion to meticulously keeping the intricate regulations of Scribal Law which, in their minds, was the ultimate in doing the will of God.
But in spite of his outward piety and his inward devotion to God, Nicodemus seems to have been a conflicted man. We sense in Nicodemus a feeling that there must be more to life under God than he was experiencing in his careful adherence to the rules set down in Scribal Law. Nicodemus was a man of privilege, respected for his devotion to doing the will of God, and yet there was something lacking. This spiritual deficit sent Nicodemus on a night time quest to seek advice from a teacher whom many of the lower classes considered an authority on a relationship with God. Though his fellow Pharisees ridiculed Jesus and his teachings, Nicodemus was ready to listen to what he had to say.
When Nicodemus came to Jesus he said that no one could help being impressed with the signs and the wonders that Jesus did. Jesus’ answer was that it wasn’t the signs and wonders that were important. The important thing was a change in a person’s inner life that is so radical that it’s like a “new birth,” a birth “from above.” It is here that Nicodemus asked a profoundly significant question: “How can these things be?”
Nicodemus was confronted with a mystery — the mystery of redemption. The mystery of redemption begins in the heart of God — “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” (John 3:16) Our birth into this world did not come about by our desire to be born. Our very existence in this world began with our parents. Our rebirth as Christians doesn’t begin with us either. The very fact that we are followers of Jesus begins with God, our heavenly parent. The new birth we receive through the water of Baptism and the power of the Holy Spirit draws us into a life that we could never claim for ourselves — eternal life. In and through Jesus, God gives a life that is filled with exciting opportunities to be what we could never be by ourselves. “Born of water and the Spirit” means to be cleansed and strengthened by the redemptive power of Jesus Christ — a power that wipes out the sins of the past and which gives us victory in the future.
- “Sunday Sermon” is a forum for Emporia area ministers to share their sermons, thoughts and observations. This week’s sermon is from the Rev. John Davis, pastor of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in Emporia.