Date: March 10, 2024 

Scripture: John 3:14-21

Sermon Title: “Let Your Light Shine!”

Preacher: Rev. Dr. Bob Jon

You can also listen on Podcast from iTunes and Spotify. Search for “Podcasting from Rev. Bob Jon.”

A few weeks ago, I was driving my Chevy Bolt to bring my boys to their Taekwondo school in Lowell at night. It was dark so I could not see very well. All of sudden, I felt that the car just stepped on a giant pothole on Acton Rd. Pewsh….. I heard the hissing sound from the front tire. The tire pressure went from 36 psi to 0 within seconds. There was no side road where I could pull over my car. So, I cautiously drove one more mile to the town library. Thank God. I had a membership with AAA. So, I called them hoping that someone would come and replace the tire for me. After a hour, someone came to rescue. He opened the trunk and looked underneath. And he said, “Mr. Did you know that you have no spare tire in this car?” 

I could blame the accident on the darkness in the night. After all, I could not see well. But the night also indicates my complete ignorance. When I got this electric car back in 2022, I did not even read the manual thoroughly enough to know that I had no spare tire. I don’t know about other men. But if you are like me, you are a little unsure where you are going. Your spouse tells you to turn on the GPS. But you say, “Oh, It’s ok. I know the way.” And you get lost. Or if you are like me, you order a piece of furniture. You have the manual but tell yourself, “I don’t need this. I am an expert on this.” After an hour of work, using the electric screwdriver, you finally finish the work, but you notice that there are a few extra nuts and bolts lying on the floor.

We think we know something pretty well. But how often do we find ourselves that we are completely ignorant? In the TV series, in the first episode of Chosen, Nicodemus travels to Capernaum to meet with his fellow Pharisees to address some disturbing news that some local fishermen are violating the Sabbath by fishing on this holy day. As he sits in the synagogue, Nicodemus tells them, “I promise you that the Messiah will not come until this wickedness is purged from our midst. You are being watched by others. God has entrusted you to be exemplary in every way. If your status is too great a burden, you do not deserve to bear the name of Israel.” Nicodemus, he is the Mr. religious. He is the leader of his people. And yet, he is the one who walks in the night. 

He comes to Jesus by night. Maybe he did not want to be seen by others. After all, the esteemed Pharisees were not supposed to hang out with rogue preachers like Jesus. Or the writer of the Gospel wants to tell us that Nicodemus supposes that he knows about God. But he does not know about God. He talks about God. But he had never seen God. One some level, we Christians could be like him. We want to know God. But we have never encountered God on the intimate level. We pray to God for answer. But we could be afraid to hear what God has to say. For pastors, it is one thing to have a degree in theology and divinity. But the graduation certificate does not guarantee that pastors know God personally. 

Wherever we might come from today, we stand with Nicodemus as he asks Jesus, “Jesus, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” In other words, Nicodemus came to praise Jesus that there was something special about him. “I cannot articulate theologically and academically but I think that you are sent by God.” But Jesus answers in a strange and even confusing way here. He says, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3, NIV).

According to many biblical commentators, the word, [anothen], Jesus use for “again” has a double meaning. It can also mean “again” or “anew.” So, Nicodemus is more confused. “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answers “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.” His answer again has a double meaning here. We are born after growing in the water of our mother’s womb. Therefore, we are born of water. But Jesus could mean the water to be the one used for the baptism here. When we come to baptism, we renounce our old self and commit to living as children of God. 

Our baptismal liturgy says, “The Holy Spirit work within you, that being born through water and the Spirit, you may be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.” If you think of the church as your church family, baptism is like a door to the discipleship of Christ. You open the door to be joined by others who commit to loving you and nurturing you to grow in your faith. We do so because the one who opens the door for us is none other than Christ. As Jesus says, “the wind blows where it chooses. We hear the sound of it but we do not know where it comes from and where it goes.” Sometimes, God brings to our life those we least expected we would share our lives together. But we do not choose where the wind blows. It is God who sends God’s breath. 

Some years ago, there was a family in New Jersey that was excited for their second son, Anthony who reached second grade and due to have his first Holy Communion at the Catholic Church. But days before this exciting day, the couple were told that their son would not be allowed to have the Communion. The reason was that he had a serious form of autism and was unable to confess his sins before receiving Communion.^[1]What is the message of the priest to Anthony? You are not good enough for the grace of God. You do not meet our standard to be a member of this church, part of the body of Christ even though Jesus welcomed little children to him and said, “Unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)

And the Messiah came to the world not because the world was good and ready to receive him. But he came because of the love of God. John says, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (3:14, 16). Some Christians often use this biblical verse to divide those who believe in Jesus and those who do not. Are you in or are you out? Are you going to heaven or are you going to hell? But hear the next verse. Jesus says, “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him” (17). 

One Sunday, in my first church in New Hampshire, a man in his forties walked in for the worship. He told me that his name was Sam. Sam had a very unconventional appearance. His hair was long, dirty, and uncombed. His clothing was old and torn here and there. Some people may think that he was a homeless, but he was not. He lived in a small house with a cat in another town. Having no car, he walked from his home to downtown Portsmouth which took about one hour half. During the time of passing the peace, he actively circled inside the sanctuary. As he shook hand with a parishioner, I saw him turning around and rubbing his hand on his shirts. I was afraid that Same would feel unwelcome there and would not come back. 

After the worship, I invited him to lunch. I said, “Sam, let’s go for lunch. What would you like? It is my treat.” He exclaimed, “Really? Wow. Thank you very much. I really like a lobster.” Honestly, I was not happy to hear that, considering my budget at that time. Mathematically, it was not right for me. So, I ordered a plate with lobster for him and fish and chips for me. Anyway, Sam came back to the church Sunday after Sunday, and over a year. One day, I sat with him for a cup of coffee and asked him, “Sam, why do you come to our church?” I thought that he might answer, “Oh, I really like your sermon, Pastor Bob.” Or “Oh, I really like you buying me lunch or coffee sometimes.” But he said, “People in this church treat me like a king!” 

I learned later that after the worship service on Sundays, some women in the church made sure that Sam would be fully satisfied with the refreshment. Some women even brought him to Hannaford so that he could shop some grocery items there and drove him home so that he would not have to walk another hour and half. In the eyes of the town, Sam was someone who might have across as poor or even mentally challenged person. But when he came to the church, we were the body of Christ where he was brought to the center for care, love, and support. His presence not only tested the nature of the church, but also helped to experience the presence of Christ, who said we cannot control where the wind comes and goes. 

Henri Nouwen says, “Jesus opened the door to God’s house for all people, also for those who never knew or will know that it was Jesus who opened it. The Spirit that Jesus sent “blows where it please” and it can lead anyone through the door to God’s house.” Again, in the TV series of the Chosen, a father comes outside his house to find his young daughter who cannot sleep because of some unknown fear. “Papa, I am scared.” “Of what?” “I don’t know.” And her father reminds her what they do when they are scared. “We say Adonai’s words.” He says, “Thus says the Lord who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel. “Fear not; for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name. You are mine.” 

Amen.

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^[1] Antonia Noori Farzan, “An Autistic Boy Was Denied First Communion Because He Can’t Tell Right from Wrong, His Family Says.” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/02/28/autistic-boy-denied-communion-church, Accessed on March 9, 2024)