To Keep from Smoking, Apply a Nicodemus Patch

 

To Keep from Smoking, Apply a Nicodemus Patch

 

John 3:1-17
3:1 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.
3:2 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."
3:3 Jesus answered him, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above."
3:4 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?"
3:5 Jesus answered, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.
3:6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
3:7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.'
3:8 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."
3:9 Nicodemus said to him, "How can these things be?"
3:10 Jesus answered him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
3:11 "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.
3:12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
3:13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
3:14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
3:15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
3:16 "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.
3:17 "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.

 

Nowadays, people wear those medical “patches” for all kinds of drug infusions. Everything from potent painkillers, to anti-nausea drugs, to birth control may be dosed out with a stick-on, prescription patch. There was a time when the only such patches you saw people wearing were giving them a steady stream of nicotine, which was designed to help them quit smoking. So, today, let’s take a look at the “Nicodemus” patch, and see what it’s good for.

 

In my March preaching commentary I wrote for one district’s local pastors, I stated that I’ve probably preached on this passage from John’s Gospel more than about any other. As stories go, this one is just too good to pass up, and besides, it has the Jesus version of our United Methodist slogan, “Open Minds, Open Doors, Open Hearts,” but Jesus said it this way: 

 

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.

 

It’s the “everyone who believes in him” that should catch our attention. “Everyone” is a huge word. There are no restrictions placed on this “open door” by Jesus. Some in the Reconciling Ministries group with which I have been involved espouse the phrase, “All means All.” Jesus says, “Everyone means Everyone.” Same thing, in my book. No matter how you parse the right side of the Bible, the universality of the Gospel is paramount. Now, I’m not saying “everyone is saved,” which some critics will muse, but I AM saying that the Bible makes clear that the Good News is for “everyone who believes.” If you question this, read the following verse:

 

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.

 

What is God’s aim? What is God’s desire? Clearly, that “the world” (everyone) might be saved through the agency of the Christ Event is the answer. Again, this doesn’t necessarily mean that “everyone” is saved, as the phrase “believe in him” seems to indicate an RSVP is necessary. John Wesley certainly believed this, however, unlike the “Wesley” many appropriate inaccurately, he did not believe in “altar calls” or the “sawdust trail” mode of evangelism, but believed persons could say “yes” to Jesus right where they were, and at the “altar” of their hearts. He did not prescribe a specific “sinner’s prayer,” or other rubric in order to be counted among the “everyones” of John 3:16. In fact, we are good to be reminded that one of the reasons John Wesley and the Methodists advocate for a truly “open table” for Holy Communion is that our founder believed persons might actually be saved (become believers) by the simple act of participating in the eucharist! Unfortunately, modern “evangelicals” have evolved a whole series of things that must happen for a person to be “saved,” typically including some sort of public altar call or acknowledgement of their sin, a prayer worded in a certain way with specific clauses (like the individual is signing a contract), a public “testimony” of their action, and finally “aligning yourself with a good, ‘Bible-believing’ church.” I don’t know whether this “process” for quitting “smoking” (in hell?) came from Billy Sunday or Billy Graham, but it certainly has made the revival circuit for decades. If Jesus were dead, he’d be rolling over in his grave. Wesley probably is. Why have we complicated and so restricted the “everyone” (“whosoever” in the KJV) he announced in the most famous address in the right side of the Bible (John 3:16)?

 

Jesus is announcing a rescue. I’m writing this while on a cruise ship on the Atlantic ocean, several miles off the East Coast of the U.S.A. If someone falls overboard, they initiate a rescue. I’m guessing they do not shout a series of five or six specific instructions to the poor sap in the water, and refuse to pluck him out of the salty drink unless he follows them precisely? And once they rescue the unfortunate “everyone” in the water, they rush them off to the dispensary to check their health and address any medical and physical needs. Sounds like a good metaphor for the kind of “rescuing” Jesus initiated. It also sounds like a much better model for a church, frankly. In the current “snail’s pace” schism going on in the United Methodist Church, the exiting band wants to have a church that makes clear their particular way of interpreting scripture, highlighted by a very public “stand” on the question of “homosexuality” (LGBTQ persons) and who should and should NOT enter into a covenantal relationship we dub “marriage.” To continue the metaphor, it is almost like a hospital (or ship’s dispensary) that might advertise, “We don’t serve people who fall overboard. Sorry.” Or, “We’ll rescue you, but unless you promise to never do that again, we’re going to throw you back into the waves.” 

 

I know my Global Methodist friends don’t see it this way, and that is their prerogative. But the question is, how do the “rescue-ees” see it? Personally, I pray the “remnant” United Methodist Church continues its evolution toward the rescue model and widening its “everyone” invitation, but I suppose there is no guarantee of that, either. Some will say, “Yes, but what do we ask of believers AFTER they have come to faith? Doesn’t the Bible have ‘standards’ of ‘holiness’ they are to work toward?” Maybe what we need is a definition of holiness?

 

Is “holiness” living according to the standards we adopt, based upon how we interpret the scriptures? And if my interpretation of scripture is different than yours, might not my definition of “holiness” vary as well? From my perspective, being “holy” unto the Lord is believing the Gospel, living to the best of my ability according to the teachings of the Gospel (such as those of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount), and getting involved in “rescuing the perishing.” This last mission activity may run the gamut from sharing the message of the gospel, to feeding, clothing, and housing the needy, to working for social justice for all of God’s children. For me, this includes helping people understand their sexuality, living at peace with it and getting the support they may need, and being “relationally responsible” with it, so as not to intentionally harm or exploit others. Telling someone who is attracted to their same physical gender, or admonishing a teen who has discovered they are transgender, is not on my agenda, and I seriously doubt it is on God’s agenda. 

 

Christ announces this rescue mission to Nicodemus, a “leader of the Jews,” who comes to Jesus by night. Nicodemus was a true “seeker.” He really wanted to know who Jesus was, and by whose authority he was doing the things he was doing. Better than that, though, he wanted the “secret” to finding the “realm” or Kingdom of God. He approaches Jesus in the still of the night, probably so his fellow Jewish “leaders”—who were regularly trying to trick Jesus into trouble—wouldn’t see him. He really wanted to know the answer to his questions. Again, he was a true “seeker.” (We use the term “seeker” today to denote “visitors” at our churches. It's a nicer label than “visitor,” although, the churches I served usually called them “guests” or just “friends.” Not all were “seeking” something when they came, and it was up to us to offer something that might whet their appetites for things spiritual.) 

 

Jesus’ initial answer to Nicodemus was cryptic: “You must be born from above.” Actually, I take issue with the newer translations’ using “above” instead of “again” in the first exchange. The follow up question on startled Nicodemus’s part, sure makes it seem like Jesus said “You must be born again,” because the Jewish leader goes into that whole, weird “entering into his mother’s womb again” thing. If Jesus had actually said “born from above,” I imagine the “seeker” would have said, “Tell me more,” instead of bursting forth with his incredulous response. Jesus simplifies his theology by reducing the two “births” to “water” and “spirit.” This makes more sense. We are “born of the water” from our mother’s womb, but to enter the Kingdom of God, we must be “born of the Spirit.” The rescue mission of Jesus makes it EASY for us to be born of the Spirit. In fact, if you follow his life, teachings, death, and resurrection—even if you do it through the interpretive eyes of Paul or one of the other writers in the New Testament—you discover that Jesus makes it pretty hard to say “No” to the life preserver he throws to humanity over the side. People do, though, but not as many as the evangelicals think might. And then there is the whole other question of how Jesus reveals himself to people of other cultures or religions. While evangelicals make little of this conversation, it IS true that virtually every other faith has a “Jesus connection.” (Jews respect Jesus for his teaching their law and offering grace, Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet, but will return as the Messiah to save humanity, and most other “seeking” faiths will tell you what they “receive” from Jesus. Native Americans have their own Jesus stories about the sky god who came to earth to love people, and I have heard stories from the Christian mission field of faraway lands where native peoples, after hearing the story of Jesus from the missionaries, thanked them for giving them a “name” for and more stories of the grace-giving god they believed in.) For us to judge what Jesus Christ is doing to birth the world’s people from above—or again--is folly. God is bigger than that, and if you don’t believe it, your Jesus may be a bit too small.

 

So, if you are afraid of “smoking”—a fear that you will “burn in hell” instead of going heaven when you die—just apply the Nicodemus patch to an area of exposed skin. Ask the tough questions of God, and God WILL answer you! Don’t worry about some mythical “hell” below, but concentrate on being “born from above.” Believing is as simple as hearing the story and saying to yourself and to God, “I’m in favor of that!” No special, contractual prayer needed, no public testimony—not even a proof that you are attending a “Bible-believing” church, whatever THAT is! Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ—put on the Nicodemus patch and let it do its thing. Become an “everyone” with the rest of us! 

 

But the benefits of the Nicodemus patch go WAY beyond just the rescue. Once rescued, what will you do with your “saved” life? Now that you have tasted the fear of drowning, what can you make of yourself, with God’s help? The Christian experience offers so much more for us “everyones” if we continue to yield to the birthing process of the Spirit. Start eating a healthy spiritual diet! A supportive, loving, grace-giving community of faith can help, and it can also offer a place to help “rescue” the world, as Jesus invited us into this mission in verse 17. 

 

So, stop treading water and grab the lifesaver. Put on your Nicodemus patch and get on with the gift of living! Amen.