Look on Him and be saved!

If you've ever been to Florence, you might have seen my favorite sculpture when you were there,

!

This is a sculpture that depicts the moment that Jesus was taken down from the cross.

! And there are four figures in the sculpture.

! There's Mary Magdalene, Jesus's legs are kind of draped over her.

There's Mary, the mother of Jesus, supporting Jesus's body, Jesus himself.

And then Nicodemus standing behind the other three figures, kind of like this.

It's a huge statue.

And I had the privilege of spending a morning with this statue 20-something years ago now.

And it's one of those experiences that I just remember sitting there and being just gutted by it.

And there were two things that really stood out to me as I just spent time staring at it.

One is that there are chisel marks all over, particularly all over Nicodemus.

And we know that Michelangelo was 70, around 70, when he started work on this statue.

And so he was really old to be doing this kind of physical labor.

We also know this was a statue that he didn't receive a commission for.

This was something he wanted to use for his own tomb.

So that's one thing.

But then the other thing that is really striking is that Nicodemus' face is Michelangelo's face.

And we know that Michelangelo was a man who wrestled deeply with his faith from his writings.

And so it seems fitting that he would have felt a connection to Nicodemus,

who we'll learn more about this morning in this conversation we just read about with Jesus.

And this conversation is relevant for us too.

It's really pivotal to our understanding of the gospel.

And it's gonna help us answer three questions.

What do we want?

How are we missing the big picture?

And what's our true hope for transformation?

Would you pray with me?

Oh, Lord, soften our hearts to hear from you this morning.

If there are places where we aren't able to hear from you,

places where you are not Lord of our lives,

we want to lay ourselves before you, Lord.

Would you lighten our darkness?

Would you be the teacher?

Not my words, but yours, Lord.

Thank you for this space to gather.

Would your spirit fall on us?

In the name of Jesus, amen.

I'd encourage you all to pull out your Bibles if you brought them this morning,

just because we're gonna be going through the text pretty closely, verse by verse,

so it might just help you follow along.

So when we read a passage like this in the Bible,

there are a couple things that we wanna keep in mind,

just as we're sitting with it and marinating in it.

So one of those things is we wanna think about how the people actually in this scene

would have understood what was going on.

So how would Nicodemus have been able to receive and hear the words that Jesus was saying?

The second thing is how would those reading this or hearing John's gospel,

John's readers, how would they have understood this passage?

And then after we've answered those first two,

then we can think about what does it look like for us today to study this passage.

But we can't get to that third person, that third question,

without locating ourselves within the first two.

So we'll be pressing into those a little bit this morning.

And we see in so many of Jesus' dialogues with people,

and especially this one,

that they come expressing one desire,

but he redirects them,

and he speaks to a deeper, unexpressed need.

He knows what they really need.

He corrects their misunderstandings,

and he reveals himself.

And in this conversation,

what we're gonna see

is that Jesus expands Nicodemus' understanding of the kingdom of God

and his mission

far beyond what Nicodemus thought it meant.

So let's set the scene a little bit with Nicodemus.

He comes to Jesus at night.

They're probably sitting up on the rooftop

because that would have been the coolest part of the house

where Jesus was staying.

They may have each had a few disciples with them.

We're not sure.

Nicodemus was both a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin.

So not every Pharisee was a member of the Sanhedrin.

Pharisees were really the moral exemplars at the time.

And if you've read the Gospels,

you know that they were typically opposing Jesus.

The Sanhedrin was a governing body

of priests, elders, and scribes.

And they had the final to say in disputes over Jewish law.

They decided cases of blasphemy.

They were the ones that actually wanted to get Jesus crucified.

And so men were appointed to serve on this body

based on their learning and their knowledge.

So the fact that Nicodemus had both these credentials,

Pharisee and Sanhedrin,

meant that he was really the cream of the crop intellectually.

So why did he come at night?

That's a question we have to ask.

It could have been purely logistical.

You know, Jesus was getting pretty famous at this point.

It was at the point in his ministry

where he was being followed by large crowds.

It would have been really hard

to have an extended one-on-one conversation with him.

He was probably really exhausted.

And yet he took this time with Nicodemus

having this extended conversation.

And whatever the practical logistics may have been,

I think there's also a strong chance

that Nicodemus didn't want anyone to know

that this meeting was happening.

He probably wanted it to be undercover.

He had a reputation to uphold.

But there's something deeper going on here too.

In the larger context of John's gospel and his letters,

night and darkness are associated with spiritual blindness.

So while this conversation likely did take place

physically at night,

John's leading us somewhere deeper.

This teacher of the law,

this moral exemplar,

this member of the Sanhedrin

is sitting in deep spiritual darkness.

Darkness that is deeper than he knows.

And Nicodemus' opening statement reveals his purpose,

his reason for talking to Jesus.

What he thinks he wants.

Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher

who has come from God.

For no one could do these signs you are doing

without God.

And I think there are a few things we want to note here.

First of all,

Nicodemus addresses Jesus respectfully.

He says,

Rabbi.

So even though he was probably much older than Jesus

to have the status that he had,

he recognizes that Jesus is someone worthy of respect.

But still,

he's mainly trying to figure out

how do you do these things that you do?

How do you do exorcisms?

How do you do miracles?

All of these things that people are talking about.

Maybe he wants to go back

and report to his colleagues what he learns.

But instead,

Jesus redefines the conversation

with his statement in verse three.

Very truly,

I tell you,

no one can see the kingdom of God

unless they are born again.

He uses that phrase very truly,

I tell you,

three times in this passage,

meaning,

listen up and pay attention.

So immediately,

Nicodemus is probably thinking,

was I asking about the kingdom of God?

I didn't think I was asking about the kingdom of God.

But Jesus is trying to get Nicodemus

to answer,

to ask a better question.

Instead of,

I just wanna understand how you do miracles,

Jesus is right away from the get-go,

trying to lead him out of darkness

to salvation,

to speak to his true need.

And this phrase,

kingdom of God,

was a weighty one for the Jews at the time.

It would have made Nicodemus

kind of perk up and take notice.

Because throughout the Old Testament,

kingdom of God

implied both the presence of God,

who was king authoritatively,

and this domain to rule.

Now,

the prevailing Jewish teaching of the day

associated the kingdom of God

with the coming of the Messiah.

These two things were seen

as being in lockstep together.

And it was also seen as an eschatological,

that's a hard word to say,

end times event.

Meaning the present age

was gonna come to an end

and the new Jerusalem would come.

And you can imagine

how much the Jews longed for this event.

After multiple occupations,

after being in exile,

after they're in their current occupation,

Rome is occupying them.

I think we long for it too,

don't we?

I mean,

look at what's happening in Iran right now.

We long for the Lord to come

and make all things new,

the way we sang.

But here's the thing.

Jesus is gonna redefine

the way that the prevailing Jewish teaching

was interpreting this at the time.

His ministry of preaching and healing

has made it clear

that the kingdom of God

isn't just imminent,

but that God's mission

is being fulfilled in him

right in that moment.

What did Jesus say?

The first time he got up to preach

in the book of Luke,

in Luke's gospel,

he quotes Isaiah,

words that everyone in that synagogue

would have been familiar with.

The spirit of the Lord is on me

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me

to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

And he preaches that,

and then he proceeds to live it out

through the healing ministry that he has,

through the preaching,

through exorcisms.

And so Nicodemus is sitting here,

you know,

he's hearing Jesus say this,

he's flipping through his mental Rolodex,

and he's thinking about

all the kingdom of God

and Messiah prophecies he knows,

which I'm sure are many

because he was so educated.

And yet,

can you picture Jesus

leaning forward towards him?

Like,

Nicodemus,

the messianic salvation

and fulfillment

of all the Old Testament prophecies

that you've heard

and learned your whole life

is sitting right here.

It's me.

That salvation you've been longing

and searching for

isn't just a future thing.

It's a thing that's happening now.

So Jesus is shifting this paradigm

to a two-part fulfillment.

His miracles,

his healings,

his exorcisms

testify to abundant life

in the present

and everlasting life

in the age to come,

the consummation of the kingdom.

This was a new revelation.

So let's just pause here.

Let's zoom out for just a minute

and think about

how this is sitting with us.

So,

does anybody here

identify with Nicodemus?

Is anybody educated?

Did anybody come to D.C.

because they have

a high-powered job?

I think that there's

probably some likelihood

that D.C.

is a city full of Nicodemuses,

intellectual,

top-of-the-class,

valedictorians,

used to setting agendas,

defining the terms of a meeting,

used to having power and authority.

And none of those

is a bad thing, right?

But let me just ask you

a few questions

from these verses.

If you go to meet with Jesus,

who sets the agenda?

And who's asking the questions?

You know,

I was talking to somebody

the other day about Lent,

and she said,

my Lenten discipline this year

is that I'm taking 10 minutes

three times a day,

morning,

around lunchtime,

and nighttime,

just to sit.

I set a timer,

and I just sit

in the Lord's presence.

I don't say anything.

I just come to be with God.

And sometimes it's really hard,

right?

Sometimes that's a long 10 minutes.

Sometimes it's really beautiful.

But what if we did that, y'all?

What if we set a timer?

What if we said,

I just wanna be with God?

And that's the point,

being with God,

being part of his life.

Let me ask you another question.

Are you coming to Jesus

in the dark

or in the light?

So coming back

to Michelangelo's story

for just a little bit,

we know that after he worked

on this statue for eight years,

he tried to destroy it.

Now, we don't know exactly why,

but I think a particularly compelling story,

one theory,

is that there was a sect going on

in Florence at that time.

A group actually called the Nicodemus.

And the Nicodemus were Catholic,

but they believed in Protestant views

of salvation.

So they believed in salvation

by grace,

coming in faith,

but they didn't wanna separate

from the Catholic church.

Well, so the Pope at that time,

Paul IV,

found out about this group,

and he launched an inquisition against them.

And while we don't know

if Michelangelo was formally

part of this group,

we do know that he went into hiding.

He felt like he had to live in secrecy.

And so he did destroy this statue

or tried to,

but his face is the face of Nicodemus,

remains intact.

So ultimately,

he was identified with it.

And he was identified

with the suffering Christ.

So most of us face

far lesser penalties

for publicly professing our faith.

And yet many of us remain silent.

When people ask you,

what are you doing this weekend?

Maybe you say something like,

well, I'm having brunch on Saturday,

and Sunday afternoon,

I have a soccer game.

Sunday morning,

I'm seeing some friends somewhere

in an undisclosed location.

I mean, my neighbors see me

rolling out all the time

in my collar.

But if they believed

that I thought

that Jesus was the way,

the truth,

and the life,

and that no one comes

to the Father

except through him,

if I actually just

sat them down

and publicly professed that to them,

I don't know how that would go.

But what if we're the instrument,

what if I'm the instrument

for these neighbors

to come to know Jesus,

to come out of the darkness

into the light of his kingdom?

We need to think about this, y'all.

So as this conversation develops,

let's talk about how Nicodemus

and how we lose sight

of the big picture.

Let's go back to verse three again.

No one can see the kingdom of God

unless they're born again.

Nicodemus would have thought,

like all observant Jews,

that in addition to the kingdom

kind of being some future thing,

that he was in good shape

for the kingdom of God.

And for that matter,

John's readers

and probably a lot of us

would have thought the same thing.

Entry into the kingdom of God

was based on personal righteousness

and on being Jewish,

one of God's chosen people.

But Jesus throws him a curveball

or whatever the first century

equivalent of a curveball is

with this second part of this statement,

unless they're born again.

Nicodemus' immediate response to this

is probably some light sarcasm,

laughter,

maybe a little bit of fear.

How can someone be born when they're old?

Surely they cannot enter a second time

into their mother's womb.

Jesus responds by saying,

someone must be born of water and the spirit.

And this is so beautiful

because he's speaking so specifically

to Nicodemus and his vocation

as a teacher of the law,

as someone who knew the scriptures.

He's really trying to lead Nicodemus here

because this combination of water

and the spirit is from a passage

that he would have known really well

from Ezekiel,

where the Lord says,

I will sprinkle clean water on you

and you shall be clean

from all your uncleannesses

and from all your idols.

I will cleanse you

and I will give you a new heart

and a new spirit I will put within you.

And I will remove the heart of stone

from your flesh

and give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put my spirit within you

and cause you to walk in my statutes

and be careful to obey my rules.

So Jesus is reminding Nicodemus,

hey, remember this prophecy?

Remember Ezekiel?

He's reminding him

that the spirit is the one

causing the obedience and righteousness.

It's not something we initiate.

Now in the Old Testament,

ritual cleansing with water

was done to rid yourself of impurity.

And the spirit,

or ruach,

is the Hebrew word,

affects the transformation of the heart.

Ruach is the same word used

when Genesis talks about the spirit of God

hovering over the waters.

It's the creative implement of God's nature.

Again, like most Pharisees,

Nicodemus was probably so convinced

of his own righteousness

that he was like,

I'm good.

I don't need this cleansing and renewal.

He's not talking about me.

But born of water in the spirit

means an impartation of God's very nature.

And this isn't something

we can force or manufacture.

Some of you who were here last week

heard Pastor Thomas' sermon on Psalm 51.

And if you haven't had a chance to listen to it,

please do go back and listen

about how Lent

is about the restoration and recovery of joy.

And one of the big takeaways

was that true joy isn't something

that we manufacture.

It's something that when we come

in repentance and in humility,

the spirit works that in us

as we confess.

It's the same thing here.

This impartation of God's nature

isn't something we manufacture ourselves.

Think about the beginning of the college

we prayed this morning.

Almighty God,

God,

you know that we have no power

within ourselves

to help ourselves.

We can't just sit here

and we can't just say like,

be more like God.

It doesn't work that way.

It'd be like trying to make

the wind blow a certain way.

But it blows where it pleases,

as Jesus says in verse eight.

So at this point,

I think Nicodemus is probably

starting to get a little nervous

because he says,

how can this be?

He's not trying to be funny.

He's not trying to kind of

deflect anything.

He's just like,

oh my goodness.

And I think you can sense

his anxiety

because think about it.

He's devoted his whole life

going one way

towards a certain paradigm.

He had it all figured out, right?

Check the boxes,

righteousness,

all of this.

What if I've been wrong

this whole time?

He might be thinking.

And Jesus once more

asks him another question.

Jesus asks the best questions.

Designed to cut to the heart.

You are Israel's teacher.

And do you not understand

these things?

He goes on to say,

you people do not

accept our testimony.

I have spoken to you

of earthly things

and you do not believe.

How then will you believe

if I speak of heavenly things?

So what Jesus is saying here

is Nicodemus,

you bear some responsibility

for this blindness.

You are a teacher of Israel.

You are fully equipped

to recognize

that the Messiah

is sitting right in front of you

but you're ignorant.

You're focused on signs

but not on the big picture

of the kingdom

that they point to.

What Jesus is really saying

is that Nicodemus' failure

of understanding

was not a failure

of intellect or knowledge.

It was a failure of belief.

Belief in Jesus' witness

and testimony.

And again,

it's like

you can almost hear

the gears

in Nicodemus' mind.

I've been searching

for this my whole life.

What would this mean

for me if he's right?

This isn't how

I thought this would go.

I think we have to grapple

with these same questions, church.

There's a reason

that a lot of us

spend our whole lives

in church

with no real transformation,

with no real effect

on our daily lives.

And Jesus has harsh words

for people like that.

He says,

this people honors me

with their lips

but their hearts

are far from me.

And that's because

there's a failure

of belief happening,

a failure to believe

Jesus' testimony

about who he says he is,

and a failure to believe

how deeply we need

cleansing and heart transformation.

So we have to ask ourselves,

where are we looking?

Where are we looking

for that transformation?

Like Pastor Thomas

said last week,

are there areas

of our lives

that we keep

kind of plugging up

that we're not willing

to bring to the Lord

because we're afraid

of what it might mean?

Because we're afraid

of what we'd have to change.

But y'all,

Lent is a time

to lay ourselves bare.

It's a holy invitation

to let the Spirit

come in

and transform us

to submit to that.

And that is a blessed relief.

This brings us

to our last point,

our true hope

for transformation.

Again,

we see the way

that Jesus dignifies Nicodemus,

that he really meets him

where he is

by drawing this parallel

between himself

and the true story

and the story

of the Israelites

in the wilderness

from this book of Numbers.

Let me read it quickly.

They traveled

from Mount Hor

along the route

to the Red Sea

to go around Edom.

But the people

grew impatient

on the way.

They spoke against God

and against Moses

and said,

why have you brought us

out of Egypt

to die in the wilderness?

There is no bread,

there is no water,

and we detest

this miserable food.

Then the Lord

sent venomous snakes

among them.

They bit people

and many Israelites died.

The people came to Moses

and said,

we sinned

when we spoke

against the Lord

and against you.

Pray that the Lord

will take the snakes

away from us.

So Moses prayed

for the people.

The Lord said to Moses,

make a snake

and put it on a pole

and anyone who is bitten

can look at it

and live.

And so Moses

made a bronze snake

and put it up

on a pole.

And then when anyone

was bitten by a snake

and looked at the bronze snake,

they lived.

And we know

if we continue on

in the story

of the Israelites,

this was a temporary salvation.

In fact,

in the book of Kings,

there's a part

where King Hezekiah

actually has to destroy

the snake

because people believe

that it had magical powers

instead of recognizing it

as for what it was,

an instrument of grace

from God.

And the people fell back

into cycles of sin

again and again.

And Nicodemus knows this story

just like he knows

the prophet Ezekiel.

And he wouldn't have

understand the context

of the cross yet

like we do,

like John's readers

would have.

But he's clearly

inviting Nicodemus

into new birth

and healing with himself

as a means of grace

for that,

as the grace.

And so just as

the Israelites

can look at the snake

and be saved

from the poison

infecting them,

so Nicodemus and we

can look at Jesus

and be saved

from the poison

of sin.

So we come to it

at last.

John 3, 16.

Probably the most famous

verse in the Bible.

For God so loved

the world

that he gave

his only begotten son

that whoever

believes in him

shall not perish

but shall have

eternal life.

We see this verse

by the highway.

We see it at sports

games on posters.

We see it on drink cups

at In-N-Out Burger.

As a matter of fact,

FYI,

if you're ever traveling

in the West.

But like Nicodemus,

so many of us

have a limited understanding

of this verse.

Maybe we're thinking

that this eternal life

business is just

for the future.

We're like,

well,

I do believe

and I'm really glad

that I'll be in heaven

with Jesus

and have eternal life

someday.

Or we might think,

what's the point?

All this eternal life

stuff sounds suspect

anyway.

The present world

is what we get

and then we're done.

But that phrase,

whoever believes in him,

is really key here

because the word belief

harkens back

to John's prologue

in chapter one

where he talks about

to those who believed

in him,

to those who believed

in his name,

he gave the right

to become children

of God.

And so we're not

just reborn.

We're born into something.

We're born into

the life of Christ.

We're born into

a family of believers.

And that starts now.

It starts now.

And this is for the world.

So again,

Jesus is massively

expanding this

from just being

for the Jews

to being for the whole world.

And that includes you,

it includes me,

it includes everybody

throughout time and space.

That is why Jesus came.

And so no matter

what you've done,

who you are,

Jesus wants to give you

eternal life.

And that life starts now.

This conversation

isn't the end

of Nicodemus' story.

John writes about him

in two more key scenes.

In one scene,

the Sanhedrin's

trying to arrest Jesus.

And Nicodemus says,

does our law condemn a man

without first hearing him

to find out

what he's been doing?

And he gets ridiculed

by the whole group,

like, oh,

do you support him too?

And then we see him

a second time.

We see him

after Jesus' crucifixion.

And so this scene

that Michelangelo carved

out of a block of marble,

in some fashion,

it really happened.

And Nicodemus

was really there.

Because under Roman law,

a person's body

could be claimed

from the cross

by next of kin.

But in a case of sedition,

which is what

the charges were

against Jesus,

in a case of sedition,

often the bodies

were left

for the vultures,

left to rot.

They could be up

on the cross for weeks.

So Nicodemus

and Joseph of Arimathea,

who John says

was a disciple

but in secret

for fear of the Jews,

they go and they ask Pilate

for Jesus' body.

And Pilate says yes.

So they actually

took Jesus' body

down from the cross.

So think about

the tenderness

and the intimacy of this.

Jesus' body

was covered in blood

and sweat

and bruises.

He was broken.

He was limp.

Dead.

They would have

washed his scarred,

washed all the blood

off his scarred body.

And then it says

Nicodemus brought

75 pounds of spices.

And they wrapped him

in linen cloth.

Spices meant for a king.

And y'all remember

all of Jesus' disciples

had fled

at this point.

And while his mother

and some of the other women

had stayed,

they didn't have the money

or the power

or the influence

to do this

but Joseph of Arimathea

and Nicodemus did.

And although they

had been unwilling

until this moment

to publicly affiliate

themselves with Jesus,

they stepped forward.

They risked their lives

and their position.

Why would they do this?

Because they were reborn.

They were given new hearts.

Because their encounters

with the love of Christ

gave them courage

to step out of the darkness

into the day.

And y'all,

you have to remember

they didn't know

the resurrection was coming.

This was Saturday.

As far as they knew,

they had nothing to gain

and everything to lose.

they didn't know

what was coming.

But we do.

We do.

So the questions

for you this morning

are,

will you let him

lead you out of darkness

into life in him?

And will you look at him

and let him transform you

and give you a new heart?

Let's pray.

Lord,

we are in desperate need of you

and in your transformation.

I pray

that we would be open

and willing

to step out of the darkness

into the light.

Lord,

we thank you

for your spirit

that works in us.

We long for new hearts.

We long for your work

of transformation.

And thank you

that we get to do this

with you,

Jesus.

Thank you

that eternal life

means life in you.

So would you give us courage

when there are places

of unbelief in us,

Lord,

would you help

our unbelief

that we may come

to you in faith

and be transformed.

In the name of the Father

and the Son

and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.