We come to Jesus by night
Sermon preached by the Revd Dr Brutus Green
Readings: Genesis 12.1-4a, Psalm 121, Romans 4.1-5,13-17, John 3.1-17
We come to Jesus by night.
We all have questions. Perhaps it’s as simple today as why is there this Corona virus? Like wasps and mushrooms, it doesn’t really seem to be contributing anything to creation; Nothing that makes it ‘good’. Perhaps, after Elizabeth Worth’s funeral on Friday you’re asking, ‘where was God when she fell?’ Perhaps you have your own loved ones who are sick or no longer with us, for whom the questions remain unanswered.
Perhaps, it’s simpler and that the questions, like Nicodemus, relate to the faith. Why do we need to be baptized? What does it really mean to be born again? What should I believe? What must I believe? What do I believe?
Perhaps you come to church each week and you hear and read the lessons – St Paul’s weekly thoughts on faith and the Law – and you feel none the wiser. What is he going on about? We come to Jesus by night, and if you don’t have any questions then that can only be because you refuse to think about it – Faith is about life, and life is full of uncertainty.
We come to Jesus by night. John here means two things. Firstly, he’s saying that the hostility to Jesus from the authorities is such that it would not be safe, prudent, for a Jewish leader to come during the day. This is secret. These questions put Nicodemus at risk. His social standing, his authority, his job is compromised by coming to Jesus. It would be like the Pope going to see Derren Brown for advice. He probably wouldn’t make a big thing of it.
Secondly, like all the Jewish leaders, he’s in the dark. Jesus is the light of the world. Since the first chapter we know that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it, or as the old words put it. ‘the darkness comprehendeth it not.’ So it’s a spiritual darkness from which Nicodemus comes.
In this early section of John’s Gospel we have a trilogy of a Jewish leader, the Samaritan woman at the well, and then the Gentile official whose son is healed. Nicodemus is baffled by meeting Jesus, but curious. The Samaritan woman understands a little and is drawn to Jesus. The Gentile official accepts his word unquestioningly. As we move further from the centre of Judaism we find greater faith;
So when Paul is going on about Abraham today, that’s why. Jesus didn’t spend a great deal of time with Gentiles, but when the disciples start proclaiming the risen Christ who has returned, it’s the Gentile world that responds most immediately; which is why Paul traces Christian lineage back to Abraham, the ancestor of many peoples, not just the Jews, and the simplicity of his faith, his belief, trust and obedience; against the complicated demands of the law; it’s the passionate response to faith that doesn’t come from the expected places but emerges spontaneously like a revolution.
We come to Jesus by night. So the first question to us is: are we ashamed of the Gospel. Is it something we would be embarrassed for others to know? Like listening to Chris de Burgh or watching Bargain Hunt. Or stockpiling toilet paper. Do we play it down? ‘I go to church, but it’s really just because I love organ music’ Or ‘because it’s such a nice community’ Do we own the faith?
Do we believe that we’re capable of it? I’m always struck by British Christians that they don’t really feel worthy of faith. Perhaps it seems too serious a thing, and the British are terribly worried about appearing to take themselves seriously. Perhaps it’s because most of us have a terrible insecurity that we’re not as good, as those wonderful creatures who visit the sick, those in prison, that seem to pray without ceasing; The “real” Christians who really believe, or really do good, while we can never find the time, the energy, the money to contribute as we would like.
If that’s you I’d say, in the words of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, ‘Relax’. The Church is at the heart of British culture. The number two person in the Church of England, after Jesus, is the Queen. And wherever you find yourself, whether it’s the livery companies in the city, the armed forces, parliament or industry, the Church of England is always there, mostly being polite and kind.
And if it’s the faith you find difficult. Know that there is nothing in mainstream science or philosophy that is not wholly compatible with being a Christian, except maybe veganism and Morris Dancing. (I don’t mean that.) But Christianity is a journey of faith not a list of propositions. No one has got it right. As St Paul is very keen to say it’s not about being a perfect person and doing good deeds. It’s more about trying to engage with God who we will come to know differently as we move through life. It’s trying to be a better person, not a saint. Faith is something that helps us understand who we are, not a tick in a box on a school form or a baptismal register.
And it’s good to come to Jesus by night. Night is when our most interesting conversations happen. Between the second glass of wine and the third shot of whiskey. Night is when we usually feel safest to be vulnerable, to have the conversation about something that might not change anything, but might change everything. Night is when we’re able for a short time to put away the busyness, the responsibility, the children, the activity with which we’ve set up our lives. There is space, each night, for us. To ask the questions that do not sit easy with our souls.
And that spiritual darkness is not something to be ashamed of. One of the reasons the young adults ask a monthly question, is because they will often articulate a question people have wanted to ask all their lives. I can’t tell you how many books have been written on theology, but it’s billions. And they’re still writing. It’s not a subject with simple answers. I spent all my twenties at university studying theology and do not feel resolved on all issues. But I have in that time tested my faith, and am quite certain there are no questions that must be avoided. I have no fear of heresy, doubt or inquisition. Our faith only grows if we challenge it with our experience. It’s only able to help us if we expose it to the things that have been most meaningful, both destructive and joyful, to us.
Nicodemus disappears for most of the Gospel. He does not return till the end. Possibly he is working through Jesus’s comments; Like a schoolboy trying to fathom all the red pen. The point is that Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night. He’s confused because he ‘knows that [Jesus is] a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that [he does] apart form the presence of God’. And he goes about looking for the answer for what this all means.
As I hope you’ll agree, I’m a very moderate man, reasonable, educated, and not wholly brainwashed by esoteric belief, I’ve seen things that I could not explain simply by reason and logic, the immutable laws materialists seem to think are the case. And in love, art, music and prayer I know that you cannot capture what it means to be human in a biology textbook. There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in Richard Dawkin’s philosophy; The seeking for truth led me to the Christian Gospel and the person of Jesus.
When we next encounter Nicodemus it will be at the taking down of the body from the cross and the laying of the body in the new tomb. The time alluded to here when as Moses lifts up the serpent in the wilderness, so is the Son of Man lifted up on the cross. It’s in these events of the crucifixion and resurrection that Christ makes known God’s revelation to the world. The revelation of God’s love for the world. It’s here that the answers to Nicodemus’ questions begin to be found. It’s here that our faith starts and ends.
‘God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world’
As God chooses the sinner, God chooses those who come at night. We come to Jesus by night. We have our insecurities. We have our spiritual darkness. But by seeking him, wanting to know more; By engaging our experience with our faith, we have that opportunity to go deeper. Whether we come, then, at night, at noon, or very early in the morning, let us seek this Jesus with our questions; And find in him, and in the love and hope he taught, the answers our struggling world so desperately needs; taking that love out into the world to carry forward his mission for the poor, the broken-hearted, the sick and those who walk in great darkness. For on them has light shined. Amen.