"Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night." (John 3:1)
US President Joe Biden’s frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was evident with Biden captured on a hot mic saying that he and the Israeli leader will need to have a “come to Jesus” meeting. The comments by Biden came as he spoke with Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., on the floor of the House chamber following the State of the Union address on March 7, 2024.
What is a come to Jesus moment? It is meant as a moment of sudden realization, comprehension, or recognition that often precipitates a major change. Many patients who emerge from illness or accidents may have a come-to-Jesus moment that reorients their thinking. A “come to Jesus” talk means to wake someone up or give him a stern talking to. It means a serious warning to that person about how things are going to be going forward.
The story is of Nicodemus who comes to Jesus in the dark of night to discuss a few things. (For children, this is the Biblical “Nick at night”). He chose to come to Jesus in the darkness of night. We’re not sure why he chose to come at night, we can only speculate – perhaps the night symbolizes the darkness that surrounded Nicodemus’ heart and soul or he did not want to be seen in the public talking with Jesus.
The Bible says that Nicodemus was no ordinary citizen. He was a religious Pharisee, a leader of the Jews, and a Sanhedrin. He was “a ruler of the Jews." He was first or preeminent among his associates. He stood in a high position among the ruling class in Jerusalem. Nicodemus was a man of discernment. It is seen in his estimation of Jesus. “We know that You have come from God as a teacher." Most importantly, in this episode, we see that Nicodemus was a seeker - a person who was sincere in his quest for the kingdom of God. Here was a sincere man with a sincere hunger for truth who came to have a private talk with Jesus in the quietness of the night.
In the darkness of life, nothing makes sense.
One of our friends who passed away years ago used to say, “When you get a phone call in the middle of the night from a dear one, generally it is not a good one." She said that all emergency visits in life happened at night.
Nicodemus has stepped into the nighttime of his life. He wants to know, “How can these things be?” This is the same question Mary, mother of Jesus asked the angel when she was told that she would bear a child who would be the savior of the world. “How can this be, since I am a virgin” (Luke 1:34)?. It did not make sense to her. We go through our times of darkness where nothing seems to make sense. We question ourselves, others, and God why things are not working out well. We seek answers in the dark of night.
We all at some point step into the night times of our lives. It can be a call from God, or it can be a crisis in life or faith. Those are times and places in our lives when we feel isolated and alone when the stability and predicability of life are disrupted, when our confidence shrivels and we have more questions than answers. They are the times when we are afraid, when we are powerless, or when we feel unprepared for and overwhelmed by what lies ahead. we try to figure it all out but nothing makes sense, and we just don’t know what to do. They are the times when we feel like strangers in a foreign land. They are the times when we face the unknown. They are the times when we don’t know and can’t see the way forward.
Each of you could tell a story about the nighttime of your life. I know some of you are in the nighttime of life today. What is your nighttime of life story? When have you stepped out into the darkness? What did that feel like? The night time of life is a difficult place for most of us. Sometimes we might experience it as an absence, an ending, or some kind of loss or death. Other times we might experience it as an overwhelming presence of confusion, not knowing, a sense of being lost, a vertigo that disorients. It’s a place of struggle and discomfort. We want answers instead of questions, certainty instead of ambiguity, and light instead of shadows. We want understanding and explanations. We want to see the way forward. We want to know where we are going, what will happen, and what lies ahead.
Here Nicodemus is looking for answers and understanding in the darkness of night. He’s not, however, the first or the only one to step into the darkness. Thomas asks a similar question on the night of the last supper. “How can we know the way” (John 14:5)? Mary asked the question to Gabriel announcing that she would give birth to the Son of God. “How can this be, since I am a virgin” (Luke 1:34)? And before Mary, it was Zechariah wanting assurance from Gabriel about the son he and Elizabeth would have. “How will I know that this is so?” (Luke 1:18). Jesus was in the night time while on the cross, and the sun refused to shine. There was darkness during the day. He cried, “my father why did you forsake me?”
These are more than just biblical stories about other people in a different place and time. They are also our stories. There comes a time in each of our lives when understanding and knowing give way to the darkness of not knowing and not understanding. The journey of faith, it seems, is a journey through the darkness at times, where we need some light from beyond this world.
We all must come “to Jesus by night.” in the night times of our life.
Today the world is seeking answers, to many questions, how can this be? Why did the Pandemic happen? What is the future of the world? Whether it’s through a global epidemic, or a world financial crisis, or a personal health issue, or the separation of a loved one, at some point we all step into the night time of our lives. We feel isolated and alone, when the stability and the steady course of life are disrupted, when our confidence shrivels and we have more questions than answers. They are the times when we are afraid, when we are powerless, or when we feel unprepared for and overwhelmed by what lies ahead. These are the times when there is no stability, no anchor, and nothing to hold on to. They are the times when we try to figure it all out but nothing makes sense, and we just don’t know what to do. They are the times when we feel like strangers in a foreign land. They are the times when we face the unknown. There are times when we don’t know and can’t see the way forward.
The Promises of God are the shining stars in the darkness of life
The author Og Mandino puts it like this, “I will love the darkness because it shows me the stars” (The Greatest Salesman in the World, 59). In the nighttime of life, when we look for answers, there are none. But there are the promises that remind us that God acts amid darkness. Do you remember God’s promises to Abram? “I will,” God says. God acts in the darkness of our lives. If Abram will step into the mystery of the unknown, the nighttime of his life, God will do the rest. “I will show you,” “I will make of you,” “I will bless you,” God tells Abram (Genesis 12:1-2). God asked Abram to go out in the middle of the night and look at the sky. “I will cause your descendants to become as numerous as the stars of the sky” Gen 26:4
The nighttime of life is not a time for us to gather more data, try harder, do more, or make sense of what is happening. It is a time of surrendering to God and opening ourselves to God’s plan for our lives. It is a time of trusting that there is more hidden in the darkness than we can see. It is a time of letting the wind of God’s Spirit blow where it will and change our lives. It’s a time to let ourselves be born anew.
In the nighttime of life, the problem is not the darkness but our fear and confusion about what the darkness means. Is there new life and light lie on the other side of the darkness? Is this darkness a border between us and a fuller life? What if the darkness is how God transforms our lives and calls us into something more promising? Can we experience the darkness as an invitation to God rather than something to be feared? That’s what it was for Nicodemus, Thomas, Mary, Zechariah, Abram, and Sarai.
A seed planted in the darkness of the earth sprouts rises, and reaches for the sun’s light. A child in the darkness of his or her mother’s womb is born into the light of day. Christ burst forth from the darkness of the tomb “giving light to those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Book of Common Prayer, 500). During the creation time, God said, “Let there be light” in the darkness, there was light. God is the source of all light and He continues to speak in the darkness of time in history, in culture, and in our personal lives when darkness seems to take over.
St. Gregory of Nysa called this darkness “the luminous darkness” (The Life of Moses, 95). In the nighttime of life, we can approach Jesus who said, I am the light of the world. He will help us discover the light within us, the light of Christ. “There is a light in us that only the darkness can illuminate” (Chittister, Between the Dark and the Daylight, 19).
The luminous darkness shines in the nighttime of life. It did for Nicodemus, Thomas, Mary, Zechariah, Abram, and Sarai. And it does for us as well. In the nighttime of life, the luminous darkness says we are not alone even when we don’t see another soul around. It shows the way forward when it’s so dark we can’t see our own hands. It holds the dawn of a new day after a long night. The luminous darkness is God’s “I will” for you and me.
Horatio Spafford was a great Christian businessman in Chicago who knew about the darkness of life. He lost part of his life savings in the Chicago fire. When he started to get his life turned around in November 1873, he planned a trip to England to hear a preacher DL Moody. So he got tickets to take a ship there with his family, but at the last second, he needed to stay an extra day and clean up what the fires had destroyed. So he stayed while he sent his wife and four girls to England.
On the way, the ship his family was on collided with another ship and sank in 12 minutes. All four daughters 226 people died, including all four of Spafford's daughters: Annie, age 12; Maggie, 7; Bessie, 4; and 18-month-old Tanetta. Mrs. Spafford was miraculously saved. He got a telegram from.his wife two words…" saved alone” followed by another telegram “What shall I do?"
She had questions, but no answers, and nobody to answer. When Mr Stafford received the message, he was in the nighttime of life, with no answers but darkness everywhere. Shortly afterward, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write It Is Well with My Soul as his ship passed near where his daughters had died. He found true comfort with the Lord. On his way to England to be with his wife, he told the captain to let him know where his daughters had died. After he saw the place, he went to his room. Spafford received sustaining comfort from God that enabled him to write:
“When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, tho trials should come, let this blest assurance control,
that Christ hath regarded my helpless estate and shed His own blood for my soul.
And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll:
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend, "Even so" it is well with my soul.”
Following the sinking of the vessel, Ville du Havre, Anna, his wife gave birth to three more children, Horatio Goertner (November 16, 1875), Bertha Hedges (March 24, 1878), and Grace (January 18, 1881). On February 11, 1880, their son Horatio died of scarlet fever at the age of four. This final tragedy began Spafford's move away from material success toward a lifelong spiritual pilgrimage. The couple left the Presbyterian congregation and began to host prayer meetings in their home. Their Messianic sect was dubbed "the Overcomers" by the American press. In August 1881, the Spaffords settled in Jerusalem as part of a group of 13 adults and three children, establishing the American Colony.
Preacher Dwight L. Moody once said, “Trust in yourself and you are doomed to disappointment. Trust in money and you may have it taken from you. Trust in your reputation and some slanderous tongue may blast it. But trust in God and You are never to be confounded in time or eternity."
You may be going through some situations that make no sense. You may seem to have darkness all around. How does all this happen and how will this all end? You may not find answers. But all we can say is that God is still good. He loves all of us no less than before.
Blessings 
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