Notes from John 2:13 - John 3:20

The setup

Although there’s a chapter break separating them, I think that the story covered in John 2:13-3:20 reads as one piece.  Jesus had just busted up the temple courts and made a big splash in Jerusalem around passover, claiming to be able to rebuild the temple in three days, etc.  

I think that the cleansing of the temple is actually a preface to the story of Nicodemus.  It sets up the circumstances of his visit, as does the statement that Jesus knew what was inside a man (John 2:25).  

That’s the opening statement to Nicodemus’ story.  Jesus knew what was in his heart, and spoke to that, rather than to the surface of how he approached Jesus.

Nicodemus: seeker or pharisee?

John 3:1-2
Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”

John 3:2 has been commonly interpreted to mean that Nicodemus was a seeker that came to Jesus on his own, to interact privately with Jesus despite his role as a Pharisee.

Some time ago I was reading John, and was greatly frustrated by how incoherent this passage of scripture was.  The traditional focus on being ‘born again’ didn’t bring the pieces together, everything Jesus said was disconnected from everything else, and I didn’t recognize Nicodemus the seeker at all.   

Nicodemus speaks in the first person, plural...Greek: oidamen - ‘we know’.  I hesitate to make a huge deal of that, but who is ‘we’?  On whose behalf is he speaking, if not the Pharisees?  

More importantly, (and not requiring any knowledge of greek) Nicodemus doesn’t approach Jesus as one who has a question, or who wants to know more.  His words in vs. 2 are bold and declarative - ‘Rabbi, we know...’

Lastly, the placement of this story comes right after Jesus cleared out the temple - just as his public ministry began and the miracles had started.  

So Nicodemus claims to know that Jesus is a teacher who has come from God, based on the miracles Jesus did.

Those aren’t the words of a disciple looking to be taught - that’s the assessment of a religious leader - an authority - which is exactly what Nicodemus was.  He came to offer Jesus his stamp of approval.  

Nicodemus wasn’t a seeker that snuck off to inquire of Jesus, he was an envoy from the Pharisees, offering Jesus political credibility.  I think it’s likely the next thing Nicodemus would have done was ask Jesus to tone it down some, try not to be so destructive, etc.  He didn’t get a chance to do that, though...

That’s pretty different from the traditional telling of this story...but I think Jesus handles Nicodemus in a way that bears this interpretation out.

Divine confusion

So how does Jesus respond?  By thanking Nicodemus?  (What would your response to flattery be, if approached by an important church official?)

Does Jesus agree with Nicodemus?  Disagree?  Actually, Jesus did neither.  Instead of responding to what Nicodemus says to him, Jesus abruptly changes the subject.

John 3:3-8
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Instead of ‘Thanks, but I’m not just a teacher...’, or ‘My miracles aren’t the important thing...’, Jesus says ‘you have to be born again’.  Nicodemus takes him literally, is confused, and instead of really explaining what he means, Jesus chides him for being suprised.  

Then Jesus changes the subject yet again.  He equates those born of the spirit to the wind, as if that might somehow help to clear things up.  It seems Jesus is intentionally confusing Nicodemus - but why?

On the face of it, all of this seems totally disconnected - to me, there’s no flow to this conversation, no logic, no thread you can follow to understand what’s happening.  

It especially does not follow from the conversation Nicodemus attempted to have with Jesus in the first place - ‘Teacher, we know you come from God...’ but it is connected, if you know the subtext that hides behind Jesus words.

Why babies and wind?

Assuming that Nicodemus came to Jesus as an envoy of the Pharisees, and was full of pride in his role as one with religious authority, Jesus had a hard task to accomplish.  Nicodemus came to talk, not listen - Jesus had to short-circuit Nicodemus’ agenda, soften his hard heart, and move past his preconceptions to bring him to a place where he could hear from Jesus.

Jesus did that by using the thing that I think Nicodemus prized the most - his own knowledge of scripture.  By this, he cleverly redirected the conversation in a way that disarmed Nicodemus’ authority and gave Nicodemus the chance to be taught, if he would listen.

The key to all this is found in Ecclesiastes 11:5 -
As you do not know the path of the wind,
  or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb,
so you cannot understand the work of God,
  the Maker of all things.

Assume for a minute that Jesus and Nicodemus both knew this verse.  Jesus first says ‘you have to be born again’ - and Nicodemus is confused.  But he closes off his ‘born again’ discussion by comparing those born of the spirit with the wind...I think Nicodemus had a sudden dawning when Jesus said that.

Nicodemus thinks ‘Babies...wind...’ and finishes the statement for himself.  “...Just as I don’t understand these things, I don’t know the work of God?”  And what he says in response to that dawning realization is ‘How can these things be?’

I don’t think he was amazed by the comparision of the born again believer to the wind - I think he was amazed that Jesus implied that he could not understand the work of God.  This brings into question his credentials, his authority, and I think Nicodemus really felt that, caught in a trap made perfectly for him.  He was disarmed in a way that Jesus knew would leave him questioning and ready to hear more.

The rest of the passage (John 3:10-21) is Jesus teaching him about what the work of God actually is, now that he’s ready to listen.

Some Thoughts and Application

When I discovered this, I had spent about three weeks puzzling over Nicodemus and Jesus with no solution in sight. I was frustrated and bothered - strongly bothered - over this passage, as I am with most of John.  I personally find that in the book of John, Jesus speaks in riddles, circles and non-sequiturs, and there’s often not much to go on to understand what’s really going on.

I was frustrated and just couldn’t understand...and I asked God at that time for something that would unlock it - I knew there must be something that could help me make sense of it.  In frustration, one day I grabbed a spare bible off the floor at church and flipped it open to Song of Songs - on the facing page was Ecclesiastes, and my eye fell on verse 5.  Bingo - there it was! Babies...wind...work of God!

So I feel like from a personal standpoint, even finding an answer to my questions was nothing short of a miracle - it took actual revelation and a divine moment, using someone else’s Bible, to bring me to understanding.  If I was reading my same old Bible the same old way, I'd never have found it.  


So if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God.  He might not show up right away, but He loves to give revelation if you’re hungry for it.  

Proverbs 25:2 - It is the glory of God to conceal a matter;
  to search out a matter is the glory of kings.

We all have a mandate to search out the things of God.  So I’m praying for more love of scripture, more holy frustration and hunger, and more revelation to match.  

Finally...let Jesus change the subject

Another application, perhaps less personal and more practical, is that Jesus is the same person now as He was then with Nicodemus.  He still knows what’s in your heart, and he still knows how to sidestep your agenda and change the whole framework of a conversation.  

Like with Nicodemus, Jesus is not afraid to leverage our own confusion if need be to get us in a position where we can listen.  If we come to him with an agenda (which is most of the time) we can count on him disarming us in love, and then speaking to us about what’s really at issue.

In Nicodemus case, what was at issue was his misplaced pride, and the assumption that he knew what God was about.  For me it might be different - believing some lie, some compromise or sin in my life, or any of the other things Jesus might want to talk about with me.  

It’s a frequent occurrence that He wants to talk about a different subject than I do - and He knows how to change the subject and get me listening.  If i'm smart, I'll come to him without an agenda. If not, he is able to lovingly adjust the conversation and uncover what’s in my heart - as long as I’m willing to hear.