Lord, as we journey through the desert, go before us and lead us, send your Holy Spirit to fill us and open our hearts and minds to your word and your life so that we may grow in trust and faith. Amen.  

It’s easy to see why people love the book of Genesis – its such a sweeping blockbuster of a story, with a cast of impressive and yet recognisable characters we can identify with. In today’s enthralling episode, we hear how Abram is called by God to leave his home and family and step out in faith – to begin a journey into the unknown.

This is not the first journey they have made – some years back Abram and his wife Sara, along with his father and wider family left their original home in the city of Ur of the Chaldeans, and travelled north on foot, to the smaller city of Haran – more than 600 miles from what is now modern day Iraq into southeastern Turkey.

It is from here that God calls Abram and Sara to go out into a new land that God will give them, and promises them the blessing of becoming a great nation.

But why on earth would they want to leave Haran and head out into the desert to travel to yet another new place where they would have no family around them?

The desert was a dangerous place, and people did not go out into it unless they had to. But we hear that God calls, and Abram went, as the Lord had told him.

And Sara goes too -we might imagine what her views on this apparently reckless journey might have been! And yet, they have faith in God, despite the complete lack of any certainty.

Of course, we know the end of the story – it does turn out well for them, albeit after rather a few detours and diversions and heartache along the way – but they didn’t know that at the point at which they stepped out into the desert.

They went, because they trusted God.

Nicodemus went to see Jesus, because he thought he saw signs that this man was of God.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a leader of the Jews, he is a public figure, with a reputation to care about. Jesus is a Rabbi who teaches with an astounding authority that draws people to him but he is already stirring up trouble.

And just before Nicodemus meets with him, there had been that outrageous behaviour in the Temple – just who did this man think he is?

Nicodemus comes to see Jesus under cover of darkness, to hide his visit from the other Pharisees, and evidently wants to learn more about him.

What a wonderful opportunity for Jesus to sit down for a comfortable chat with Nicodemus, man to man, and share with him his message about the Kingdom of God, to win some influence within the Pharisees themselves.

And yet, he starts talking about how no-one can see the Kingdom of God without being born from above, of water and the spirit – its really hard to understand what he’s actually saying here and Nicodemus is bewildered and frustrated.

He can’t see beyond the literal, does Jesus mean that someone who is grown up must re-enter their mother’s womb and be born again?

Jesus seems to mock him – how can you, a teacher of God’s people, not understand this? It would be best for you to become a child and learn it all again from the start!

How can Nicodemus not be insulted by this? Jesus seems to be pouring petrol on the fire of the opposition of the Pharisees – its no way to win friends and influence people! 

The trouble is that even if Nicodemus had come to see if Jesus could possibly be the Messiah, he is really looking for further signs, proof of something already fixed in his mind. The Jewish leaders were certainly keen on the coming of the Messiah, but a Messiah who would behave in a certain way, come from a certain tradition, follow the established order and wave a magic wand to make their lives better, but remaining fundamentally unchanged. Please come and save us – but don’t change us!

In John’s Gospel there are several contrasts – light and darkness, day and night, heaven and earth, seeing and not seeing, having faith and a refusal to believe.

The people who Jesus encounters seem to be one or the other – able to open themselves to a new way of seeing, of believing, or of refusing to change at all.

It was always thus – in the wilderness, the people didn’t always trust Moses, or God come to that, and yet when Moses lifted up his staff emblazoned with a bronze serpent, they were reminded of God’s power in life and in death. And so when Jesus is lifted up (the Greek here also means exalted or enthroned) on the cross, it is a sign of God’s healing and gift of eternal life for those who believe in him.

The Pharisees were already refusing to have faith in Jesus – its there right from the beginning of John’s Gospel in the prologue – he came to his own, but his own did not accept him.

And Nicodemus, even though he comes to Jesus to find out more, does not want to do so openly, and cannot accept what believing in Jesus must mean. He does not trust Jesus, and therefore cannot have faith in him.

In next week’s Gospel we will see how different things are when Jesus meets someone who is almost the exact opposite of Nicodemus – a Samaritan women of lowly status and poor reputation who encounters Jesus in the heat of the day by a well – but that’s, as they say another story, and you’ll have to wait for next week’s exciting installment!

At the end of the day, for Nicodemus and the other leaders who stand apart from Jesus, for the disciples, and all the other men, women and children who recognise and follow Jesus – it is a simple choice. Light or darkness, life or death, heaven or earth.

And the thing is, we can’t be sure! They couldn’t back then, and neither can we.

We will only know, fully, when finally we meet God face to face.

For Nicodemus, this is not the end of the story – we will meet him again at the end of John’s Gospel, when he has been on a journey himself, and now trusting and believing in Jesus, comes with an extravagant offering of rich and fragrant spices such as to anoint the body of a King at his burial.

For us all, as for Abram and Sara, Nicodemus, as for Paul, as he explains so precisely in his letter to the Romans, it is all about a journey of trust and faith, being open to new things and new ways of seeing.

Almost a year ago, we stepped out on a journey together – and we have already had some exciting adventures along the way – this Lent we walk on together into whatever it is that God has planned for us – in trust and faith.

Service: Reverend Michelle Dalliston. 5th February 2023. (St John The Baptist Church Peterborough UK)