In the gospel according to John, Chapter 3 we read about a man named Nicodemus who came to Jesus at night. Nicodemus was a religious teacher, a Pharisee and a leader of the Jews. He was also a member of the Sanhedrin which is a prestigious and powerful Jewish tribunal body. He stood in a high position among the ruling class in Jerusalem. He was a man of discernment as seen in his estimation of Jesus when he says, “We know that You have come from God as a teacher."
We are not sure why he chose to come to Jesus at at night. We can only speculate – perhaps the night symbolizes the darkness that surrounded Nicodemus’ heart and soul. Maybe he has stepped into the night time of his life where he had some questions that needed answers. When we go through our times of darkness where nothing seems to make sense, Jesus is the person we need to go to. When we question ourselves, others and and God why things are not working out well, Jesus can give the answers we we seek in the dark of night.
Jesus told him that unless he was born again, he would not see the kingdom of God. He did not understand the meaning of being born again. He asked Jesus, "How can this be?" He is not, however, the first one who had similar questions. Thomas, a disciple of Jesus asked a similar question on the night of the last supper. “How can we know the way” (John 14:5)? Mary, the mother of Jesus, asked the question to Gabriel at night when the angel announced that she would give birth to the Son of God. “How can this be?” (Luke 1:34)? Zechariah, the father of John the baptist, wanted an assurance from Gabriel about the son he and Elizabeth would have. “How will I know that this is so” (Luke 1:18).
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. Maybe we all come “to Jesus by night” at some point in our life's journey. Today the world is seeking answers to many questions "how can this be? How is this Covid-19 pandemic going to end? Jobs are closing, restaurants and stores are closing, people are afraid to go out and many cities that never sleep are ghost towns. What is the future of the world?
Whether it is 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. 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 where 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. They are the times when we don’t know and can’t see the way forward. When the stability and the steady course of life are disrupted, when our confidence shrivels and we have more questions than answers, there is Jesus standing by at night with whom we can talk to.
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 news. Another man testified that all his emergency visits in life happened at nights. Many could tell a story about the nighttime of life. The nighttime 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; a sense of being lost with nobody to direct us. It is 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.
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). When God called Abram to take a journey to an unknown destination that God promised, he had more questions than answers. When Abraham asked his questions, God took him outside of his tent at night asked him to count the stars in the sky. “I will cause your descendants to become as numerous as the stars of the sky” (Genesis 26:4)
Many times, in the nighttime of life, when we look for answers, there are none. But there are the promises that remind us that God acts in the midst of darkness. 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 dreaming 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 for letting 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 the means by which God transforms our lives and calls us into our truer and more authentic selves? Can we experienced the darkness as an invitation to meet 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 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). 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.
We also find ourselves in spiritual darkness about our life and life after death. Nicodemus was a man of discernment 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 but, nevertheless, a spiritual failure in spite of all his religious knowledge and enthusiasm. 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 away from those who would distract.
Jesus said, “No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born again”. That’s God’s plan – you must be born again. Jesus tells Nicodemus, “No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Nicodemus didn’t understand this – He was struggling with the idea of a man being born again – he couldn’t understand how a grown man could be born again.
Being born again is an intervention from God. God brings us back to life as new people in the spirit. He changes us. This supernatural act of God takes the Holy Spirit and implants the Spirit into our hearts – He gives us a heart transplant. It causes us to be a changed creature. Many of us, like Nicodemus, don’t understand it. Some of you may say that you didn’t think you were good enough .But neither is any human being. In fact, none of us are good enough to get into heaven, but “thanks be to God,” being good enough doesn’t have anything to do with it. God’s salvation is free through Jesus Christ and it is available to everyone.
That’s the message that Jesus had for Nicodemus. That’s the plan that God has for us. It is free. Jesus told Nicodemus the words that have become known as the “Gospel in a nutshel”, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). All the churches have their own teachings about salvation. But there is only one way. Go to Jesus and it is free.
A missionary from India went to Japan. He was looking for a particular church he was scheduled to speak. He followed the instructions on the Hotel booklet and got a train to the nearest station, but as he left the station he realised that he didn't have a clue where to go next. He wandered around a bit and eventually found a map on a corner of the street. However, when he looked at the map he realized that it was in all in Japanese. The map was covered with letters, but not a single word that he could understand. A mild anxiety started to rise: He said, "I was lost in Japan!" But as he scanned the map, midst all the alien surroundings one little symbol suddenly jumped out at him. It was a tiny cross in a corner of the map, and as soon as he saw it he knew that that was where he needed to head for. He says, "Go to that cross, we will find meaning and purpose for life."
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