How do you go about having a private conversation with someone who is so popular that they are essentially mobbed all day? I suppose you need to find a time when they are away from the crowds. Add to that the fact that this person may be controversial and you don't really want people to see you with him/her and you have the situation of Nicodemus. This confidential conversation is described in John 3:1-21:
Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still 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? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Who was Nicodemus? We don't know a lot about him but we do know that he was a Pharisee. Now the Pharisees were not only religious, but they were scrupulous in observing the Law. He was also probably a member of the council -- the Sanhedrin -- the group that had authority to govern the Jewish people in their religious observances. While most of Jesus' encounters with the Pharisees was hostile, Nicodemus seemed open to the teachings of Jesus, perhaps a little perplexed, but open. He seemed to believe that if he had a little one on one time with Jesus that his questions would be answered. We also know that he later became a defender of Jesus and probably a disciple.
It didn't take Jesus long to confuse poor Nico. To Nicodemus' assertion that certainly Jesus must be of God, Jesus said that to see the Kingdom of God, you must be born again. Actually, this didn't just confuse Nico, it is still one of the most misunderstood and misused statements of Jesus. People describe themselves as "born again Christians", as if there was another kind. People who are outside the church or who don't use this term think that the people describing themselves in that way are fools. By the way, this is the only place in the New Testament where becoming a Christian is called, being "Born Again." The problem is not in what Jesus said, but in the way we interpret and use it.
Obviously Jesus wasn't talking literally. This was the misunderstanding of Nico. He is trying to describe a spiritual truth; a spiritual rebirth. When we are born of flesh -- our natural birth -- we are flesh and we don't understand things of the spirit or understand things from a spiritual point of view because we only have a human perspective. When we are born of the Spirit, we gain a new understanding and a new perspective -- not because of our intellect but because we have become entirely new from the inside out. Oh yes we are still human and we look the same, but there is something drastically different inside. To the unspoken question, "Why?" Jesus replied that the Spirit does whatever it wants and we don't see it, we only see its affects. He uses the analogy for wind for the Greek word pneuma means both wind and spirit.
This discussion was followed by perhaps the most familiar verse from the Bible; John 3:16. The entire passage explains why Jesus came to earth. The thought goes like this:
- God loved the world -- the whole world and everyone in it
- So he gave his only Son -- Jesus -- to die the death that was deserved by all people
- Those who accept this gift of Jesus will indeed be saved
- It is important to note that Jesus didn't come to judge the world -- only to save
- Judgment only come through the decisions of individuals -- they can reject this gift
- It is this simple -- doers of evil don't like the light
- Doers of good want to be seen -- they like the light.
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