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Perhaps you, like me, often find thoughts about topics weighing heavy on your mind, or solutions to problems you’ve been struggling with come to you in the middle of the night. Does that ever happen to you? I used to think I’d remember those ideas when I woke up, but I no longer delude myself about that. Rather, I keep a notepad and pen on my nightstand next to the bed in case an idea comes to me in the middle of the night. Currently it’s a blank notepad so it might appear no ideas have been coming to me lately. But, actually, I tear the pages out in the morning and, hopefully, apply them to whatever situation or topic addressed.

I don’t know why it is, but for some reason the nighttime seems to be a good time for such thoughts to occur. Perhaps it’s the quiet of the night that allows for such thinking to break through. Or, perhaps it’s the slowed pace of the night that leads to heightened reflection on pressing issues. Whatever the cause, the nighttime seems to be a time when the mind most efficiently processes information about topics or situations at the forefront of our lives.

Perhaps that is why Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night. Much has been written about Nicodemus’ nighttime visit to Jesus—and much of that hypothesizing that Nicodemus came at night to conceal his visit to Jesus from his Pharisee colleagues. There is probably some merit in that—Jesus’ popularity with the people was making him unpopular with the Pharisees and Nicodemus’ colleagues would certainly not approve of this visit. So it might be that Nicodemus was seeking the cover of darkness when he visited Jesus at night. However, I think he was also seeking the slower pace of the evening to have his conversation with Jesus. The daytime brought too hectic of a pace to have a conversation of much substance—both for Nicodemus with his responsibilities and for Jesus with the crowds and the activities following him. The quiet of the evening brought to Nicodemus an opportunity to talk with Jesus.

He comes to Jesus with many questions on his mind. The questions come from his discussions about Jesus, the stories swirling about him as Jesus’ popularity has grown, and from his recent observations of Jesus. Who is this Jesus? What does it all mean? His opening words are not framed as a question, rather they seek a starting point through complimenting Jesus. Nicodemus is not interested in an adversarial position with Jesus. "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him." A complimentary prelude to questions Nicodemus brings with him. Who are you? What does all this mean?

In typical heart-of-the-matter fashion, Jesus responds, "Truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born again."

This unexpected direction in the conversation only leads to more questions. "How can anyone be born when they are old? A person cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born again! Can they? How can this be?

In essence Jesus tells Nicodemus he is looking for answers within the limits of his physical world, when the answers can only be found with the limitless realities of God’s spiritual world. The key to eternal life is not in earthly things, but rather in spiritual things.

I was intrigued this whole week by the title of a book of which several copies have been sitting on the counter in the office for someone to pick up. 3:16 by Max Lucado. Lucado is an interesting author so that caught my eye. But what really caught my eye was the title 3:16 in light of the fact that the text for today’s sermon included that most familiar of Bible verses, John 3:16, which turned out to be the reference for Lucado’s book. Think about that, an entire book written about one verse from the Bible! I must’ve walked by that book a hundred times. 3:16. 3:16. 3:16! So, finally, I grabbed one for myself and started to read it. I don’t know who this was intended for, but if your copy wasn’t available for you to pick up please see me after worship! I believe I heard the Stephen Ministers were reading it. Somewhat ironic since we’ll be hearing from them in a moment in our Celebration of Ministry! Well, if we’re missing a copy for one of our Stephen Ministers, let me know.

The book is an interesting read. In fact, I would recommend it to all of you for a good read during this Lenten season. I found it interesting, for instance, how Lucado described—as preview leading up to his dissection of 3:16—this confusion in Nicodemus over Jesus’ words about being born again. In typical colorful Lucado fashion he says, "here is the Continental Divide of Scripture, the international dateline." On one side is Nicodemus, and others like him, who are looking for answers within the limits of their physical world. The key to their religiosity is in their ability (or inability!) to please God by their good deeds. On the other side of this "Continental Divide" is Jesus speaking of spiritual matters and being born again. The key to God’s Kingdom, says Jesus, is grace. And the sum of God’s grace is in those familiar words, "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."

Perhaps we, like Nicodemus, bring our own physical world limitations to Jesus’ words. We are a performance based society. Our standing in life is based upon the rewards and/or consequences of our actions. Grace, unmerited favor, is an orphan in our society. We are a "pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps" kind of people. We make everything we have—our money, our property, our status in life—the old fashioned way (to quote a famous commercial of a few years ago)…we earn it. When the opportunity comes for nice rewards in our lives, we not only earn them, we deserve them! "I’ve worked hard all my life to get to this position," we say. "I’ve earned it! More than that, I deserve it!!" Little wonder then, that when Jesus speaks of spiritual things—of grace, God’s unmerited favor—as the key to God’s Kingdom, we shake our heads with Nicodemus and ask a nighttime question, How can this be?

It "can be," it is possible, only because of God’s great love. When will we get our heads, and our hearts, wrapped around the idea of God’s great love for us? "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." "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us," (Romans 5:8). "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins," (1 John 4:7-10). When will we get our heads, and our hearts, wrapped around the idea of God’s great love for us?

I suspect that part of the problem is such love is foreign to our experience…and we overuse, and misuse, the word love. It’s difficult to grasp the concept of love like this because we do not love like this, nor are we loved in return by others in a love like this. Our love is conditional. It must be earned and if you’re not careful if can be lost. Only in the best of relationships do we come close to the kind of love God has for us. Close, but not quite there…even the best relationships. Love like God’s love is foreign to our experience. We also overuse the word. We say we "love" a lot of things. I love my wife. I love my kids. I love my mom and dad. I love my daughter’s dog. I love this TV show, I love that movie! I love that presidential candidate! More than that, I love blueberries and I love baseball! Lost in the liberality of our "love" is a deep, profound understanding of God’s love for us. It is unconditional. It is not earned. It is absolute gift and it is the key to understanding the heavenly things of God’s Kingdom. The starting point for answering our nighttime questions about God and faith.

I think the season of Lent is something like the nighttime of Nicodemus’ meeting with Jesus. Lent, leading to Easter, is one of the high, holy seasons of the Church year. Like Advent and Christmas, only without the hectic pace of that particular season. Advent and Christmas are like the daytime of Jesus and Nicodemus—too hectic a pace for good conversation and questions about faith. Lent is a time for reflection and questions. Lent is a nighttime journey to meet with Jesus and ponder the deep questions of our faith: Who is this Jesus? Why did Jesus have to die? How can this be? What does it all mean? And we begin to discover the answers only when we begin to grasp the meaning of this verse: "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." Max Lucado calls that verse the "Hope diamond of the Bible," adding, "If you know nothing of the Bible, start here. If you know everything in the Bible, return here." So let’s do that in a moment of silent reflection.