Minimum Gospel

Lent 2, March 20, 2011

GOSPEL LESSON: John 3:1-17

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
4 “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is 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.”
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
P: This is the Gospel of our Lord.
C: Praise to you, O Christ.


Minimum Gospel

What is the minimum amount of faith that is necessary for salvation? Do you have to know the whole Bible and understand all of it and all of theology? The Bible is a big book, there are many books about the Bible, there are many church denominations, and different people have different opinions about God. Is salvation based on what we know in our heads or on what we feel in our hearts? How about babies or the mentally handicapped or senile people? How about people who never go to church or only know about Christmas? Or is salvation based on what we do? Who will be saved? It was Nicodemus’s question, too.

3 In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Nicodemus did not understand this. He thought a person would have to be born again as a baby. But of course Jesus meant a spiritual rebirth—that is, a birth by the Holy Spirit. Still Nicodemus did not understand, 9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

The New Testament was written in the Greek language. As you know, especially when living in a foreign country, sometimes things are lost in translation. Puns and word images are often lost in translation. In today’s Gospel passage there are two words that in Greek are homonyms, two words that sound the same but have different meanings. In Japanese the two words could be written with different Chinese characters, but in Greek and English we only have the alphabet. In this text of John Chapter Three, first there is the word translated “again,” which sounds just like the word “from above,” “anothen.” So we can translate “born again” also as “born from above.” And of course as we know, both are correct because God must give us rebirth from above. And this would be the work of the Holy Spirit. Then Jesus talks about the work of the Holy Spirit as being like the wind. “Wind” and “Spirit” sound the same in Greek, “pneuma.” You cannot see the wind, and you cannot see the Holy Spirit. But you can hear and feel the wind, and you can see and feel the work of the Holy Spirit. We will talk about this more on Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples with the sound of a mighty wind.

In summary, 3 Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” And 5 “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” This means baptism as the work of the Holy Spirit to give us new life.

Still Nicodemus did not understand. Nicodemus knew the Old Testament and the story of Moses so Jesus said, 14 “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” At the time of Moses, many people were bitten by poisonous snakes in the desert, so Moses lifted a bronze snake on a pole near God’s tabernacle in the center of the camp and whoever looked at the snake would know that the Lord God could conquer the snakes and cure those bitten by the snakes. It gave life. But Jesus would be lifted up on the pole of the cross. And whoever looks at Jesus would know that the Lord God could conquer the serpent of the devil and give eternal life.”

If Nicodemus understood this, then he would probably have been shocked. He would be shocked because Jesus said he was going to be lifted up, that he would die on the cross. And Nicodemus would ask “why.” “Why do you have to die on the cross? How will that make salvation? How will your death give eternal life? How will that make it possible to be born again from heaven above?” And Jesus gave the reason. It is the words of John 3:16-17.

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

In other words, Jesus died on the cross because God loved the world. It was in order to save the world from condemnation. It was in order to give eternal life. And this salvation is for all who believe in Jesus.

The gospel minimum is belief in Jesus as your Savior. For our salvation, God does all the work. Our mothers cannot give us a second birth. We cannot be physically reborn. The Holy Spirit gives us rebirth from above. Jesus died on the cross, but he was not reborn. He was resurrected. It is that resurrection that gives us eternal life.

What is the minimum amount of faith that is necessary for salvation? It is to believe in Jesus as your Savior. For a little child it is to believe that they are Jesus’ little lamb and that Jesus is their Shepherd.

All the work of salvation is done by Jesus Christ. It is his death and resurrection that give us rebirth from above. That is given to us by the Holy Spirit. What do we do? Nothing. What do we have to study and know? Only that Jesus died for our sins.

And that is the love of God. And when we see that love of God we love God. We want to know more about God. We want to read the Bible. We want to grow in our faith life. We want to please God. We want to live right. We want to think right. We want to understand right. We want to see the love of God.

The Bible is a big book. There are many books written about the Bible. For 2000 years since Nicodemus, people have tried to understand the Bible. I trust that we have the proper teaching of the Gospel and that we perform the Sacraments correctly. But because people love God and His Word, sometimes there are big arguments and fights. There are about 1000 Christian denominations. Who is right? Who will be saved? Who will see the Kingdom of God? The Holy Spirit knows our hearts. The Holy Spirit gives rebirth to whoever believes in Jesus as their Savior. In that we see the love of God. That is why John 3:16 is so beloved by Christians. It is like a song, a hymn. It is a joy to believe it and to say it and to hear it again.

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church

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