Preaching Paths 03.05.23

by Sally A. Brown,

Professor Emerita,

Princeton Theological  Seminary

The encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus, a leading Jerusalem Pharisee, is presented almost entirely as a dialogue. In fact, Nicodemus’s queries are so brief as to function simply as prompts for the first of many discourses that will occur in John’s gospel.

Among congregations of an evangelical bent whose theology remains heavily influenced by “missionary” theologies promulgated from the late 19^th century into the mid-20^th century, the meaning of these verses is often reduced to the familiar “salvation formula” of v. 16. (Even Martin Luther—somewhat unfortunately–went so far as to call this famous verse “the Gospel in miniature.”)

A strictly soteriological interpretation of v.16 decodes God’s “giving” of the Son to signify, specifically and exclusively, “God’s giving of Jesus as a sacrifice for human sin on the cross”—although notions of sacrifice, sin, and cross are all absent.  “Born from above” has been narrowed to mean strictly “born again” in the 20^th c. evangelistic sense.  Nicodemus  has been made to stand for the spiritually  clueless and unsaved; his questions are what missionaries crossed oceans to answer. In some quarters, Nicodemus is presumed to stand for all “unbelieving” Jews.

But such readings race too quickly past the richly metaphorical language of verses 1-12, and in so doing, risk a truncated understanding of Jesus’ ultimate “lifting up” (vv. 13-14).

For Nicodemus, the rich weave of metaphors Jesus deploys in these verses—”kingdom of God,” “born from above,” “born of water and the Spirit,” “lifted up as the serpent in the wilderness was lifted” (vv.13-14, cf. Numbers 21:4-9)—are, as yet, obscure. Indeed, they are obscure to any truly curious, open-minded reader of John’s gospel. Their meaning is meant to be discovered as this gospel unfolds.

A preacher may need  to begin by inviting listeners to shed the stance of the smug insider (“We, the born-again, are so much smarter than pitiful Nicodemus!”). Reducing God’s “giving” of the Son of Man  (v.16) to Jesus’ death on the cross may blind us to God’s multi-dimensional self-giving revealed throughout this gospel’s many scenes, signs, and discourses.

Perhaps we need to accept Philip’s invitation to Nathanael to “come and see” (1:46). This would mean coming alongside Nicodemus to watch and listen as John unfolds for us God’s redemptive work through the deeds and words of the Son of Man. We have much to learn before the ultimate “lifting up” of the Son of Man reveals his true identity in its breadth and glory.