Night meeting with Nicodemus
Text: chapter 3
Outline: First of all, it is a good time to state that chapter three is a part of a larger unit – chapters 2 to 4 – seven parts, again.
A. 2:1-12, Jesus at Cana of Galilee
B. 2:13-25, Jesus at Jerusalem
C. 3:1-21, Nicodemus (man, night meeting)
D. 3:22-36, St. John glorifies Jesus
C'. 4:1-42, Woman of Samaria
B'. 4:43-45, Jesus goes to Jerusalem
A'. 4:46-54, Jesus comes to Cana in Galilee
Chapter three itself can be outlined as following:
A. 3:1-2, Nicodemus: You are the teacher from God
B. 3:3-8, Born of the Water and the Spirit
C. 3:9-15, Bearing witness on whoever believes has eternal life
C'. 3:16-21, Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.
B'. 3:22-24, The disciples of Jesus and St. John baptize people (in different places).
A'. 3:25-30, John the Baptizer: He must increase, and I must decrease.
D – Conclusion, 3:31-36, repetition of the main themes: born from above, witness, Father loves the Son, eternal life.
Comments: Meeting of Jesus and Nicodemus gives a foundation for many dogmatic decision made by the Church – understanding of the Holy Baptism, the ministry of the Spirit and the Son. There are also a few misunderstandings – why night, etc. I'll try to address the main ones.
Let's start with the time of the meeting. There are propositions that Nicodemus came to Jesus by night because he was afraid. He was afraid for his position as a ruler of the Jews (John 3:1) or he was afraid for his life, like disciples after the crucifixion of Jesus (cp. John 20:19). I don't agree with this interpretation. The reason being – John has no problem to say that disciples were afraid, the parents of the blind man feared the Jews (John 9:22) etc. But he doesn't say anything like this about Nicodemus. So, why did he come by night? I think he came by night because he and Jesus were busy doing the ministry – in their own respected areas. The only possible time for them to meet was when every one else went to sleep.
The language of Jesus. The phrase “born from above” vs “born again” is a reason for misunderstanding. The Greek word “anothen” has two meanings – again and from above. Nicodemus obviously understands it as being born again – literally, from his mother – can a man second time come to his mother's womb? (John 3:4). Then Jesus explained to him the true meaning of the beginning of the spiritual life – being born from the water and the Spirit (John 3:5). This one of the foundational text for baptismal theology in the Book of Concord (AC II:2).
Wilderness imagery. Unlike other Gospels the Gospel of John does not have a wilderness story. At the same time there no lack of wilderness imagery – here is one of the examples. Jesus reminds Nicodemus of the Bronze serpent that Moses used to heal the wounds of the people of Israel (Numbers 21:4-9). Building on this example, Jesus foretells that He – the Son of Man – will be lifted up (John 3:14). What is He talking about? Crucifixion or Ascension? The way to solve it is to allow the Scriptures interpret the Scriptures – later, Jesus again will talk about Him being “lifted up” (John 12:32). There John will clearly point out that it was a reference to His death (John 12:33). That's why we use crucifixes in the Church – the Crucified Savior draws people to Himself.
The golden verse. Who doesn't know John 3:16? The extend of God's love in Jesus has no boundaries. Love for the [whole] world led Father to send His only begotten Son to be the source of eternal life. Yet, there are churches who misunderstand even this verse. The Presbyterian and Reformed churches believe that the World means a collection of the elect – only those who would receive Jesus by faith, for them and only for them Jesus died on the cross. We reject this notion – the world did not accepted Jesus (cp. 1:10). He died to bridge the gap between the rebellious world and the Creator (2 Corinthians 5:19). Some people would accept and have a life of faith, and some people would keep on fighting to the end (no pun intended...).
Ministry of John. The second title for John the Baptizer is John the Forerunner. He began the ministry prior to Jesus – to prepare the way (cp. Like 3:1-6). Also, his martyrdom would point to the ultimate sacrifice of Christ. In between he would minister to people, but his ministry was unique in a sense that he would always point to Jesus. It can be summarized in the phrase from this chapter - “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).
Given vs reception. We already touched a little bit on the topic of election. There is another extreme – teaching of free will of reception. One of the most obvious implication of that is “we don't teach our children, they need to receive Jesus on their own.” But St. John the Baptizer explained it very plain – a person can not receive even one thing unless it is given to him from heaven (John 3:27). We teach our children, because it is given to them – since they are born in the family of the believers. The world without the knowledge of Christ is under the wrath of God (John 3:36). We don't want our children to be under the wrath, but to believe and to be obedient to the Son.
