Behold The Man*

An Interrupted Conversation

Now the story moves on again. It is night, and a figure seeks out Jesus quietly, perhaps not wanting others to know he has come. (John 3:2) Nicodemus was one of the people with worldly authority. An upright, fair minded, highly respected man. A teacher of the law and a member of the ruling body, the Sanhedrin.

"Rabbi, I have been hearing about the miracles you have been doing, and I know you have been sent by God ..." But he gets no further. Jesus cuts the ground from under him with those words so loved by the evangelical Christian tradition I grew up in.

"Nicodemus, you must be born again - born from above. Listen to the wind! We both hear it, yet neither you nor I know where it is coming from nor where it is going. Don't you know that is the way God's Spirit works? We often don't know what He is doing or why he is doing it. He controls us, we don't control him. Nicodemus, I'm telling you of something we know about. We experience his power constantly. If you haven't learnt this basic fact about how God works through his Spirit, how can I explain other things to you?

"Lord, excuse me. May I break into this conversation? I hope I am not being presumptious. Are you dependent on the Spirit working in you, or were you just speaking there about your disciples? They say you are God, but I'm not sure exactly what that means. It is so hard to hold the two things together at the same time - you as God and as man. It's like the well known picture of the vase that can also be seen as two inward looking faces - but never at the same time. Only as the vase or the faces, never both together. Or like the physicist who has to work with two different theories, because experimental evidence doesn't exclusively support one or the other. And yet, like the scientist, I know that deeper understanding can only come when we accept the tension, and don't try to dissolve it in one direction or the other."

"Listen, Lord. The Apostle Paul said something that I have found helpful. Oh yes, I know that he hasn't been around yet. But I know you'll understand about him. Paul said that although you were of the same nature as God, you laid that aside when you were born and became like one of us - in fact like a lowly servant. (Phil. 2:6) You had to grow and learn just like the rest of us. And yet, Lord, I know that there is something different about you. When I look at you, I'm sure that I hear and see how God himself speaks and acts. However mysteriously the wind of the Spirit blew, you always seemed to hear him clearly and you always obeyed. That is more than any normal human ability. It's not just special, it's different. I'd call it divine. If you weren't different, I couldn't depend on you to show me what God is like. I know my own human nature too well to depend on any man or woman like myself."

"Just one more thing Lord and I won't keep you any longer. Nicodemus will be wondering what is happening. I know you always listened and responded to God's Spirit. But many of the stories you told were about very ordinary things. A tiny flower in the field; a man out sowing seed; a woman sweeping a house; a father yearning for his wayward son. Were these just illustrations of things the Spirit had already spoken to you about, things you already knew - or was the Spirit speaking to you while you watched these everyday things going on? Didn't you see God's handiwork all around you, both in things and in people? Didn't you hear him speaking to you always, especially in simple things? I like to think you did because that seems to be the way I most often learn, when I'm not being too blind and deaf to notice."

"I think we are often too eager to categorise what we see into secular and sacred. I don't see that kind of division in the way you lived, Lord. It is a seamless garment. Everything seemed to speak to you about your heavenly Father. Whether you were healing people or calling them back to God - forgiving sins - it all seemed to be part of the breaking in of your Father's kingdom. Wasn't it because that is what the Father is like, what you learned from him? He is the same God whether he is calling his people to purity and righteousness, or whether he is demanding restoration and justice for oppressed people. (Amos 5:24) Am I right? Isn't that what gave your message its unity? Wasn't it because everything you said and did was a reflection of the nature of your Heavenly Father?"

"I'm sorry I have kept you talking so long, Lord. I know you have to be off now. I wasn't really expecting direct answers to my questions. That's not the way it works, being a Christian today. Not usually, anyway. But I'm sure glad I have talked to you. Thanks, and goodbye for now."