Bueller, Bueller, Bueller

The Holy Gospel According to St. John, the 3rd Chapter

Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, 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.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” 

Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have

seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “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. “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.

Today is Holy Trinity Sunday.  Now, I’m a solid Trinitarian… Father, Son and Holy Spirit… sort of guy, but the preaching pitfalls on this day are legion!  Because of that, many Episcopal priests get the Deacon to preach and Lutherans are just now getting on board with Deacons… but either way, I don’t have a Deacon.  Others choose to simply lull the congregation to sleep with a history lesson on how the doctrine of the Trinity developed to avoid the theological pitfalls.  While still others just jump head first into one heresy or another trying to use water, an egg or even an apple pie to explain the infinite nature of God… and, of course, they fall miserably short.  In an attempt to avoid being either boring or heretical, I’m just going to talk about Ferris Bueller’s Day Off! 

Believe it or not, that’s not quite as crazy as it sounds!  Both Ferris Bueller in that iconic 80’s movie and Jesus in this lesson use the exact same, unique, technique to communicate with their audience.  In the movie, at various times, Ferris turns and looks right into the camera and talks, not to the other characters in the film, but to you and me in the audience.  It’s shockingly different!  It grabs your attention and that’s just what Jesus does toward the end of this lesson in John’s Gospel.  Both Jesus and Ferris break the fourth wall!

But before we get to that we’ve got to back up a little.  The Pharisees were a group of faithful Jewish folks who, about three hundred years before Jesus came on the scene, began to get uncomfortable with how much of the outside world’s traditions and ways were infiltrating the traditions and ways of the Jewish people.  The group that rose up in reaction to that change eventually became known as the Pharisees.  They were super strict, very legalistic, and an ultra exclusive group created to, well, “Make Judaism Great Again” and push back against all that change.  But then came Jesus.  

The Pharisees... ol’ Nicodemus in our story was one... didn’t know what to do with Jesus.  Jesus did miracles that they believed could only be done through the power of God, and at the same time Jesus lived a life that included every sort of foreigner and sinful person he ran into… a way of living they believed alienated you from God!  How could those two things both be true?  Nicodemus and the Pharisees had worked very, very hard for three hundred years at this point to safely place God in a very well defined and thoroughly theologized box… a box where God would be safe and sound and not subject to the ways of a changing world.  That night Jesus told Nicodemus… there is no box!   

Nicodemus couldn’t grasp any of it and who can blame him?  This was strange stuff!  Born from above… water, Spirit, and wind... What?  Imagine hearing this stuff for the first time... It’s just WEIRD!  But Jesus wasn’t TRYING to be confusing.  Jesus genuinely wanted to open Nicodemus up to the truth that God was bigger than he could imagine.  That God could not be contained in that box that he and the Pharisees had built.  

The truth and enormity of God’s nature and love is impossible to fully wrap our minds around.  The metaphors and doctrine we use to talk about God don’t fully contain God… they’re just the best we can do… they’re the best even Jesus could do!  They give little windows into the way God works, but never the full picture.  We can talk about how we experience God… as the Creator, as the Son, Jesus, and as the Holy Spirit… and they are true, but even that truth is just a part of the infinite that is God. 

At the end of this encounter, Nicodemus still didn’t really understand what Jesus was trying to tell him.  Jesus says to Nicodemus, “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony.”  And then it happens!  Jesus turns and breaks the fourth wall.  The Greek grammar makes it clear that Jesus is no longer talking only to Nicodemus.  Before we had been watching a scene where Jesus talked with Nicodemus, but now suddenly, Jesus turns and talks directly to you and me too!  Jesus says to us, “If I have told ya’ll about earthly things and ya’ll do not believe, how can ya’ll believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”

Jesus isn’t mad, he’s simply turning to the camera and telling us all… Nicodemus isn’t alone here folks… the fullness of God is beyond your understanding too!  And it turns out that’s alright.  We don’t need to fully wrap our minds around God to receive the gift of God’s love and grace.  “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.”  Jesus's got this… God’s got this!  

Our part in this is simply to believe… but not believe with our intellect.  This isn't about getting everything figured out in our heads… it's not about checking all the correct doctrinal boxes.  Our part in this is to do as Nicodemus did.  In spite of not having it all locked down, ol' Nick kept following Jesus.  He tried to get his fellow Pharisees to treat Jesus with justice.  He even followed Jesus after Jesus died, helping Joseph of Arimathea care for Jesus’ body.  

That’s what believing really is.  It’s not certainty.  It’s not getting God to fit in a box we can imagine.  It’s taking the next step to follow Jesus, even when you can’t fully wrap your mind around any of it.  Real faithfulness is following Jesus, living our lives in the Jesus way of living… struggling to be in a loving relationship with our neighbors and with a God we’ll never fully wrap our minds around and trusting that God's infinite love has got us, even when we can't ever fully get God.  Amen.