Curiosity Gives Life
Pastor Mathew Magera – 3/15/17 – Sermon 217
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace and peace to you from
God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
What happens when Jesus
captures our curiosity? There's just something about him that seeks out our
attention. Like when you are driving down the road and come up to the scene of
an accident, there is something about that scene that lures you to look closely
and see what is wrong. There's something to see there so you have to try your
best to get a look at it before you pass by and it's gone. On the Internet
nowadays there are links and headlines posted that are written so strategically
to get your curiosity running. It's called clickbait. The headline says
something that makes you want to know what's on the inside. Sometimes it's
good, other times it's not. But, it gets your curiosity running. Jesus, in the
same way, catches our curiosity. Jesus is the accident scene that we just have
to slow down and look at. Jesus is our clickbait. Something out of the ordinary
is going on with this guy and we just have to know what is going on. So, Jesus
is capturing our attention, moving our curiosity and that is what we find him
doing here in John 3. It doesn't matter who you are, Jesus is going to get in
your head.
Nicodemus, a member of the
Jewish ruling council, who lives in royalty compared to the rest of society,
overwhelmed by his curiosity about Jesus, has to stop and find out what is
going on with this man. He would otherwise likely have no interaction with a
man like Jesus, so it’s already interesting that he is getting curious. So, he
disguises himself by going out in the darkness of night to see him. And yet,
when he reaches Jesus even though he knows something about him, Jesus also
knows something about Nicodemus. No one can see the kingdom of God unless they
are born again. Jesus knew something about him. Jesus knew something of a train
wreck was going on inside of him. Jesus knew this is where his curiosity was
really leading him. Nicodemus thinks there is something wrong with Jesus. He
isn’t going by the book, he’s out of the ordinary, different. However, what
Nicodemus thinks is wrong with Jesus, Jesus is pointing it back and saying that
the problem is really within Nicodemus. No one can see the kingdom of God
unless they are born again.
You see, while our curiosity
leads us to Jesus because we think something is wrong with him, we are really
led to Jesus because something is wrong with us. And Jesus nips this in the bud
right away and Nicodemus, fittingly, has no idea what Jesus is talking about.
Nicodemus, here, knows more about biology than he does about theology and the
sad part is that he is a teacher of theology. Oh, I'm so thankful Jesus has
such a soft heart to be able to listen to Nicodemus spew out this nonsense
about having to crawl back up into his mother and come out a second time. You
can just see where Jesus would get frustrated at him and want to slap him straight,
but he just teaches him. Jesus does get one jab in on him when Nicodemus asks
him more about this. He says, "you are Israel's teacher." In other
words, Nicodemus, you are a leader of Israel, God's chosen people, the entire
Jewish religion and you are a teacher for these people and yet you do not
understand what I'm talking about? Now, Jesus is ready to drive this home and
Nicodemus never gets the opportunity to utter one more word. We'll have no idea
whether he understands it until he comes up again later in John's Gospel.
Nicodemus, in this conversation, is discovering slowly what is wrong with
himself, he is discovering his own lack of understanding, he is discovering
also Jesus' willingness to teach him.
So, to teach him, Jesus uses
an image Nicodemus is probably very well familiar with, or at least we hope he
is if he is a teacher of Israel. Jesus takes Nicodemus back to the book of
Numbers and the time of Moses. The Israelites are still in the wilderness and
complaining against God and Moses. Why did you bring us out of Egypt. It's hot.
There's no bread. There's no water. Are we there yet? It's hot. The food is
gross. We're going to die here. I have to go to the bathroom. You know, sounds
like the average American road trip, right? So, God hears these people
complaining against him and he sends some venomous snakes. The snakes bit some
of the people and the Bible says many of them died. The people realized what
they did was wrong and they go to Moses pleading for him to pray that God would
take the snakes away. And Moses does. God says to Moses, "Make a snake and
put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." So,
Moses makes a bronze snake and does what God asked and anyone who was bitten by
a snake would look at the bronze snake that Moses put up on a pole and they
lived.
This is the story Jesus was
referring to when he was talking with Nicodemus. Not only would he have known
the story, he would have known that the snake was a graven image, an idol, yet
one that God commanded they look at. The bronze serpent was sin in physical
form, yet God said to look at it. "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in
the wilderness," Jesus says, "so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him." Jesus is comparing
himself to that bronze serpent. Jesus was going to become the serpent. He was
going to become sin itself. The snake, being the very imagery of the devil
himself, is being used as that symbol. Jesus was going to embody the devil's
appearance, pure sin.
Obviously with a claim like
this, it would be difficult to believe him. Christians today still believe that
Jesus was sinless, that no sin could consume him. However, unless sin did
consume him, we would not have life. Jesus had to become sin itself in order
for the transformation to take place. Nicodemus probably thinks Jesus is
talking blasphemy. The difference here is that while the snake gave life to the
people in the wilderness, the snake still represented death. Jesus was going to
embody that snake and be raised up and give people life, he himself represents
life, not death.
This is what Jesus' love
looks like, that he would go to death for you, not only fighting the snake but
becoming the snake itself. Not only fighting sin but becoming sin for you. When
we look at the cross, when we look at Jesus on the cross, what are we looking
at? We're looking at sin. This is why the Son of Man had to be lifted up. For
what reason? So that those who believe may have eternal life. This is the
context we need for that ever so popular verse 16. For God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son so that whoever believes in him will not perish but
have eternal life. We have been bitten by snake. We have been bitten with the
venomous sin and death flows through our veins. But, we have a new opportunity.
We have Jesus on the cross in whom we can place our focus and our belief and by
believing we will not perish but we will have life, just like the Israelites in
the wilderness but so much more. The Israelites may have survived a snake bite
but they would not survive their eventual death. We, on the other hand, will
not perish. Jesus is saying there is nothing more that we have to do other than
to look at believe. No special sacrifices, no special prayers, no extra community
service. Just believe.
This is what Jesus had to
get across to Nicodemus. The sad part is we never know at this point whether
Nicodemus understands or not. It’s never clear if he is born again. But, Jesus
begins the process. This is what happens
when Jesus captures our curiosity. It leads our attention to Jesus, but rather
than getting to find out what is going on with him, we are quickly reminded
what is going on with us. But, Jesus never leaves us just telling us that we're
sinners. Though our ignorance may frustrate, Jesus teaches us. He tells us
where our hope is to be placed. And that hope is on the cross where he will
soon be. And even if we don’t get it the first time, Jesus is going to keep
coming back because he’s after you. Don't keep your faith in the Law,
Nicodemus, but put your faith him me, Jesus would say. Look at Jesus on the
cross and remember that though we are bitten by sin, Jesus directs our
attention to himself, where we can find the antidote for that nasty venom
within us and be given new life once again. To God be the glory, now and
always. Amen.