John 3: A Comparative Darkness (1 of 3)
Text: John 3:1-17
Today: “John 3: A Comparative Darkness”
Everybody is familiar with the story of Nicodemus, the Pharisee, the ruler of the Jews who comes to Jesus by night, saying he is a teacher come from God. Everybody is familiar with the response of Jesus. He tells Nicodemus that it requires “a birth from above” to enter the Kingdom of God. All this is prelude to our favorite Bible verse, John 3:16:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish but
have eternal life.
For the next several days, I am going to add a few notes on this passage, dealing first with what John actually says, and then adding a few comments about how you and I respond to what he says.
(To view the Bible links without loosing your place in the text, right click on them, and then open them in a new window.)
First, note that Nicodemus “came to Jesus by night.”
In John’s gospel, night and day, darkness and light, are always symbolic. Let me give you just a few examples. In John 1 Jesus is the light that shines into the darkness, and the darkness has not over come it. In John 8 Jesus says, “I am the light of the world; and he who follows me will not walk in darkness.” In John 9 Jesus says he must work the works of God while it is day, because night comes when no one can work. In John 11 Jesus warns that if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him. And here is the kicker. In John 13 as Judas leaves the last supper, the text describes the situation saying, “It was night.”
When Nicodemus came to Jesus, he did not believe himself to be in the darkness, for he knew he was not without God. He was a Jew and God had called the nation of Israel into being. “To them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.” (Romans 9:4) Not only so, but Nicodemus was a Pharisee. The Pharisees have a bad rep among some Christians because of one self-righteous Pharisee that Jesus describes in Luke 18:9-14; but on the whole the Pharisees were made up of those Jews who had a deep and genuine desire to serve God. They were the devoted, the holy, the dedicated. When Nicodemus came to Jesus, he knew it was dark outside, but he had no clue that he was living in spiritual darkness. He thought he had a good connection with God and he thought he when he came to Jesus he was looking for an even better one. “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, because no one can do the signs that you do, unless God be with him.” Nicodemus recognized God at work in Jesus, but at this juncture, he had no idea that,in the Prophet of Nazareth (Luke 21:11, etc.), God was doing something so wonderful in the world that the light of Israel’s knowledge of God was about to be eclipsed by a brighter light, the light of the God who not only acts in the world of humankind, but becomes one with us. “And the Word Became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we beheld his glory, glory as of the only son from the Father. ” (John 1:14)
The point here is that dark and light are relative. We have plenty of light to see in an interior room, but when we walk into the bright light of the day, that former lightness appears as darkness. So it is for those first Christians, most of whom had been Jews. They passed from a circle of light into a brighter one, and the former seemed dim by comparison. The split between Jews and Christians was about about Jesus, and wether or not he was the Messiah. This split had already taken place, in virtually all synagogues and communities, by the time that the Fourth Gospel was published, and it is vividly reflected in these images of light and darkness. It is ironic. Without Judaism, Christianity could never have come into being. Judaism is our mother, and Christians are the children, albeit, in Jewish eyes, rebellious children. This led one Rabbi to Remark, “The scripture says that the children will rise up and called the mother blessed, but in the case of Christians and Judaism, the children have risen up to call the mother blind.” Blindness is the ultimate darkness. Is this the last word?
Today we pray for understanding between our faiths; but those who strongly hold to one faith or the other will always have legitimate differences. This should never result in people of either faith acting badly toward people of the other. As Christians we must never forget that, ultimately, despite our differences, we owe Judaism a great debt. Though this is a discussion for another time, it is obvious to me that St. Paul, himself a Jew, felt this indebtedness much more keenly than the author of the 4th gospel. Read Romans 9-11 to see how Paul struggles with the place of Israel before God. He struggles because he knows that, even though much of Israel has rejected the claims of Jesus the Messiah, the promises that God made to Israel are still valid.” For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29) That’s all for today.
Next Time: John 3: A Failure to Communicate