Trinity
Jn
3:1-15
6/16/19
Now let’s be clear: Nicodemus was no
lightweight. First of all, John tells us
that he was a Pharisee. Because of the
conflicts that Jesus has with the Pharisees in the Gospels, we tend to have a very
negative view of this group within Judaism.
But we also need to recognize that these were people who were very
serious about faith in the God of Israel.
They were committed to living in ways that kept the Torah. They were all
about knowing the Torah – how to interpret it and live it.
Beyond this, John describes
Nicodemus as “a ruler of the Jews.” He
was someone of importance and influence among the Jewish people. This
description of a Pharisee leads us to expect that he was someone who had advanced
training in the interpretation of Scriptures and the Torah. As I have mentioned before, the Pharisees
were as a group largely composed of what we would call “laypeople.” But there were also Pharisees who had
advanced training. The apostle Paul, in
his days as the Pharisee Saul, is a good example of this.
This expectation is confirmed by our
text when Jesus describes Nicodemus as “the teacher of Israel.” So Nicodemus was certainly well versed in
God’s Word of the Old Testament. He was
an impressive figure whose authority was recognized by those around him.
Nicodemus had seen the miracles that
Jesus was performing, and clearly they had caught his attention. There was no snap judgment of rejection in
Nicodemus. Instead, he sought Jesus out. Now he
did it at night, so obviously there was caution on his part about
appearances. But he came to Jesus and
addressed him in a very respectful manner as he said, “Rabbi,
we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs
that you do unless God is with him.”
But poor Nicodemus had no idea what
he was getting into. His was a correct, but
inadequate understanding of Jesus. Our
Lord proceeded to reveal how inadequate it was in a way that left Nicodemus’
head spinning. He ignored Nicodemus’
statement and replied, “Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of
God.” Nicodemus was completely puzzled
as he contemplated how an adult could be born of his mother again.
But Jesus
didn’t stop there. He added, “Truly,
truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot
enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that
which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Our Lord spoke about the need for spiritual rebirth – to be born again –
in order to enter the kingdom of God.
Jesus says that the flesh – the sinful, fallen nature – can only give
birth to more flesh. It is the Spirit of
God who gives birth to spiritual people – to the children of God. And of course
“water and Spirit” is the means of baptism that Jesus instituted after his
resurrection.
At that
moment there was no way for Nicodemus to understand this. He was still boggled by the idea of being
“born again.” So Jesus said, “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be
born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do
not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is
born of the Spirit.” Jesus told
Nicodemus that the fact he didn’t understand how the Spirit works, does not
change the fact that the Spirit does indeed work in giving rebirth.
The last
thing we hear from Nicodemus is the helpless question: “How can these things
be?” He doesn’t utter another word in
the rest of the chapter. He was out of
his depth and completely confused.
If I can
pause here, I think it is safe to say that we often feel that way too on this
particular Sunday. Today is the Feast of
the Holy Trinity. Today we focus on the
nature and character of God – on the knowledge that he has revealed about
himself. He had revealed to Israel in
the Old Testament that he is the only true God. There is only one God – Yahweh, the creator of heaven and earth. But God has also revealed in the New
Testament that he is one God in three persons: Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. As we will confess with great
clarity in the Athanasian Creed this morning, each person is truly God, and yet there is only one God.
God is three-in-one – the triune God.
That leaves
us in the same position as Nicodemus, asking: “How can these things be?” However, Trinity Sunday is only once a year,
and so our thoughts probably don’t remain on that topic all that long. That’s not to say, however, that we stop
asking the question, “How can these things be?”
Instead our attention soon leaves the sublime things of God and returns
to our lives. There we find hardships and struggles. We find suffering and pain. We find the
threat of death. We are left wondering,
“How can these things be?” And then wondering passes over into doubt and fear.
In our text
Jesus says to Nicodemus, “If I have told you earthly things and you do not
believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” Then our Lord
declared why he had knowledge of heavenly things. He said, “No one has ascended
into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.”
We now
fully understand that Jesus is the glorious Son of Man of Daniel chapter
7. He is divine – he is the Son of God,
who was with God in the beginning and through whom all things were made. He is God the Son.
But then
Jesus adds, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the
Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” Our Lord refers to the event in the book of
Numbers when the people spoke against God and complained about the food. God sent fiery serpents among the people who
bit them and caused death. When the
people repented and asked for help, God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and
put it on a pole. All who were bitten and
looked at the bronze serpent lived.
Jesus
describes how he will be lifted up on the cross. He will die as the One who takes away the sin
of the world – who takes away your sin.
Our Lord did this on Good Friday, and he promises in our text that
whoever believes in him will have eternal life.
And then
immediately after our text he adds, “For God so loved the world, that he gave
his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal
life.” We often assume that the “so” is
this verse means “so much” – as if the verse meant, “God loved the world so
much that He gave his only Son.”
However, the Greek word translated here as “so” means “in this
way.” God loved the world in this way - that he gave his only Son.
God loved
you in this way, that he gave his only Son for you. God the Father gave his Son as the sacrifice
on the cross for you. And then, on the third day he raised him from the
dead. He took away your sin and defeated
death. The risen Lord invited Thomas to
touch the marks in his body that were left by the crucifixion. And Thomas
confessed, “My Lord and my God!”
And it is here
that we learn our very knowledge of the Trinity provides the answer to the “How
can these things be?” questions that we have in life. The only reason that we
know about the Trinity is because the Father sent forth the Son, as he became
flesh through the work of the Spirit. The only reason we know about the Trinity
is because God loved us in this way – by
giving his Son for us.
Stop and
think about that. Your knowledge of the
Trinity has been caused by the fact that the Father gave the Son for you. God the Father loved you so much that he loved you in
this way. He sent his only beloved
Son with whom, and with the Spirit, he has lived in communion for all eternity.
He sent him to become man, without ceasing to be God. He sent the Son in order to condemn him – in
order to pour out his holy wrath against the sin of the whole world. Christ bore the sin of everything you have
done against God’s will. He bore the sin of every atrocity that has ever occurred.
Christ carried them all and became the focus of God’s eternal judgment as he
was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That is how much God
loves you.
And we have
learned that we believe now because the Spirit has acted upon us. We have been born again in the water of Holy
Baptism. The Spirit has created faith in
Jesus. Though we came into the world as
flesh – as fallen sinners – the Son became flesh in order to give us the
Spirit. He died to forgive our sins and
then as the ascended Lord he poured forth the Spirit. Through the Spirit, God
has worked faith, for Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who
sent me draws him. I will raise him up
on the last day.”
As Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so Jesus Christ was lifted up on the
cross for you. Because he was, you have
life with God. Dead and buried in a
tomb, on the third day Jesus rose from the dead. He defeated death, and so you have not only
life with God. You have eternal
life. You have life with God that not
even death can stop. And if you die, you
will have bodily, resurrection life when our Lord returns in glory. That is why Jesus said, “I am the resurrection
and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and
everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”
Jesus never
promised that his earthly ministry would bring an end to the circumstances that
cause us to ask, “How can these things be?” In fact, he said quite the
opposite. We hear about the mystery of
the Holy Trinity – that God is three and one at the same time – and wonder,
“How can these things be?” But we know
about the Trinity because our God has acted in love in the Son of God, Jesus
Christ. In him we have forgiveness and
eternal life that overcomes all the circumstances we encounter. That is why
Jesus declared, “I have said these things to
you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But
take heart; I have overcome the world."
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