Today we are finishing our Good Book summer sermon series. We have heard eight stories from the Bible that we don’t hear in the lectionary readings, or we’ve heard something new in a story we thought was familiar.
This morning falls into the latter category. We hear about Nicodemus a lot in the lectionary. He’s no stranger. In some years, he shows up in Lent and in others, on Trinity Sunday, and now we’re hearing his story again.
I like to remember that Scripture is a living Word, so whenever you hear a Bible story, even if it’s familiar, you are different, the Holy Spirit speaking to you through God’s Word is different and so you may expect to hear something new in it.
The evangelist John tells us that Nicodemus comes by night to Jesus. He is a religious leader of the Jews, a Pharisee, but even with all of his “book-learning”, hearing about Jesus has him asking new questions.
John doesn’t tell us why he comes by night, under the cover of
darkness. And we don’t hear anything more from Nicodemus until he speaks up briefly
during a heated debate among the Pharisees in the 7th chapter of
John’s gospel. And then he goes dark.
He’s silent, and absent from the Jesus story, until after the
crucifixion, when he brings one hundred pounds of spices to anoint Jesus’ body
at his burial.
As Dr. Anna Carter Florence wrote, it was “too much, too late”.[i]
She asks us to wonder “what might have been, if Nicodemus had acted on his first
conversation with Jesus.”[ii]
Instead of wringing his hands and deciding it was wiser to wait.
Instead of being silenced by critics or bullies.
Instead of preserving his own comfort, his own status, and his own privilege.
Speaking up is never easy. It is never comfortable. It takes courage and steadfastness.
So does discipleship.
Remember, in the waters of baptism, every one of us is claimed by God and “sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.”[iii]
So, when Jesus says in verses 7 and 8:
Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit...
he isn’t talking about someone else, but each one of us.
The Holy Spirit is “the very breath of our life”.[iv]
The Greek word used for Holy Spirit – pneuma – is the same as the word for wind and breath. Like wind and breath, the Holy Spirit isn’t something we can see or touch, but we recognize its presence, and we can respond to its movement in our lives.
This story challenges us to believe in what we cannot see, just as we do when the wind rustles through the trees or our breath rises in a puff on a cold morning.
In God’s Holy Spirit, we have this living presence with us. And just as with a living Word, it does not leave us unchanged. “The experience of God’s Spirit is never merely an inward experience of God’s presence” though.[v]
The Holy Spirit is a creative and life-giving power, and like the other gifts we receive from God, it is not for us to “hide under a bushel.” (Mt. 5:15)
It is not ours for our own sake, but, as Luther’s Small Catechism
says in the explanation to the third article,
the Holy Spirit has called [us] through the gospel, enlightened [us] with his gifts, made [us] holy and kept [us] in the true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes holy the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one common, true faith.[vi]
The Spirit is ours in community and leads us out and into mission beyond our doors.
As I reflected on the things we cannot see or touch, but we believe are there, in addition to wind and breath and Spirit, I considered love. You see love when it is put into action, when as Stephen Ministers say it has “skin on it”. It is the idea behind saying, “We are God’s hands and feet in the world,” or “You may be the only Jesus someone meets.” We are commanded to love our neighbors. (Mark 12; Matthew 22)
When we remember “God’s Spirit is with us wherever we go and in everything we do” we love our neighbor well, finding the courage to speak up against injustice, to risk our comfort or status for the sake of those who do not have a voice, and to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to others.
As disciples we must be focused on who Jesus is and what Jesus has done – given us new life, fed us and forgiven us – and respond to the Spirit moving in us and among us.
Let us pray…
Good and gracious God,
We give you thanks for giving us Your Son Jesus to lead us.
Help us follow with boldness, using our voices to speak up for
those who cannot.
May we respond to Your Holy Spirit with openness and not fear.
We pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
[i] Anna
Carter Florence. A is for Alabaster. 169-170.
[ii] ibid,
170.
[iii] “Holy
Baptism”. ELW.
[iv] Lois
Malcolm. Holy Spirit. 12.
[v] ibid,
11.
[vi] “Luther’s Small Catechism”. ELW.
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