Stories of Jesus: John 3:1-16: Nicodemus Meets Jesus

Everyone knows John 3:16, but do you remember the story that goes with it?

JOHN 3:1-16: NICODEMUS MEETS JESUS

Today we will talk about one of the most famous conversations of all time.

I. Read vv1-2: Picture the scene

A. It was night time. People imagine the scene in different ways.

Some think Jesus was staying that night at Martha’s house in Bethany when Nicodemus came knocking at the door.

One picture shows Jesus and his disciples in a garden at night. Jesus is sitting among the olive trees instructing his disciples when Nicodemus comes.

I like a picture that depicts Jesus and Nicodemus sitting on the low wall that surrounds the flat roof of a Palestinian home.

Palestine is a hot, dry country. In those days houses were typically built with flat roofs and had an outside stairway leading up to the roof. People would go to the roof in the evening because it was cooler there, and they often would sleep under the stars.

Imagine Jesus sitting on that low wall in the moonlight with Nicodemus beside him. They are deep in conversation.

B. People have different explanations about why Nicodemus came to Jesus at night.

1. Some people suppose that Nicodemus was worried about his reputation and was afraid to meet Jesus during the day when people would see him.

2. I think Nicodemus came at night because during the day there would have been such a crowd around that it would be difficult to have a serious conversation, and Nicodemus had questions he wanted answered. He wanted to have Jesus to himself for a little while.

C. Nicodemus is a ruler of the Jews. I picture him as a well-dressed, dignified elderly gentleman.

1. He is courteous, respectful, and fair-minded. At a time when many of his associates among the ruling class opposed Jesus as an imposter, Nicodemus looks deeper. He sees in Jesus, a teacher come from God.

2. And so they sit down to talk, and what we have is only the gist of t he conversation. They talk on into the night about these important matters.

II. Their conversation: vv 3-4

A. Nicodemus explains to Jesus that he has seen some miracles—maybe a blind man given sight and a crippled person made to walk—and he remembers a passage in Isaiah that says that when the Messiah comes he will do these things.

So he says (v2), “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs unless God is with him.”

B. And then Jesus abruptly changes the subject (v3): “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

The Greek word translated “anew” or “again” also means "from above." What Jesus is telling Nicodemus is “Unless one is born again from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

C. Now Nicodemus is really confused. He doesn’t understand what Jesus means when he says “born anew.”

He doesn’t understand that Jesus is speaking figuratively. He says (v4), “How can a man be born when he is old?”

But Jesus means that we need a new start. We need to begin a new kind of life, with God. This is what St. Paul was saying when he wrote: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come!”

D. The new birth: listen as Jesus explains—vv5-8

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’ The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the spirit.”

Jesus is leading Nicodemus to understand that there is a new kind of birth from God that gives us a new kind of life—much better than the life we already have—and one that lasts forever.

Then Jesus says something strange—vv14-15: “As Moses lifted up the servant in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

II. Jesus is referring to a story from the Book of Numbers in the Old Testament, a story that Nicodemus would have been familiar with. It is the story of the snake on a pole

A. The Israelites were in the desert. They had left Egypt and were on their way to the promised land.

They were rebellious and they were accusing Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?”

Then, we read, the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit them. They were called “fiery” serpents because their bites caused a painful inflammation. Many people died.

And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray that he take away the serpents from us.”

So Moses prayed for the people, and the Lord said to Moses: “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone when he sees it shall live.”

And Moses made the bronze serpent and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and he would live.

Not, of course, that the bronze serpent, by some kind of magic, healed anyone, but this was the way God gave them to express their faith in the one who could heal them.

The serpent represented sin and its deadly effect—but, paradoxically, the serpent also represented healing. The serpent on the pole is pictured on the American Medical Association logo and you also see it on ambulances.

B. So also the cross of Christ represented sin and its deadly effect—but it also symbolizes life, the eternal life Jesus won by giving himself for us.

Jesus is telling Nicodemus that, like the bronze serpent, he will be lifted up—he will be lifted up on a cross. And those who look to him in faith will have eternal life.

Jesus is God’s appointed way to eternal life, and he can be the way to eternal life because he was raised up on the cross. When he died there, he paid the penalty for our sins.

Can you remember John 3:16? Let’s repeat it together.

CONCLUSION: There’s a reason why our parents and Sunday school teachers thought it was so important that we know this Bible verse.

A. They asked us to learn this verse because it tells us what we need to know. It sums up our faith.

It tells us that God loves you—and me—and everyone else that he has made.

It tells us that God loves you and me so much that he gave his Son, Jesus, so that we might live for ever.

It tells us that eternal life is free if we will only believe that Jesus is God’s gift to the world.

B. But what does it mean to “believe in Jesus”?

To believe in Jesus is to look to Jesus for our salvation, just as the Israelites looked at the bronze serpent and trusted God for healing.

To believe in Jesus is to welcome him into my life as my constant companion.

To believe in Jesus means to bring all my fears, all my cares, all my hopes to him and trust that he will do for me what is best.

To believe in Jesus means to come to Jesus trusting him as my Savior and obeying him as my Lord.

C. God calls you and me to come to Jesus, and we answer: “Jesus, I come…I come…”

(You can go to Google Images and find pictures or Nicodemus. You can also find the logo of the serpent on the pole that you see on ambulances.)