Sermon from May 26, 2024 by Rev. Brett Gudeman

“Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 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.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” 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?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ 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.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? “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. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “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. “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.”

-John 3:1-17

Zak Ebrahim is the son of a terrorist. He was raised in the United States in a household of religious extremism that led to bigotry, hatred, and fear of people who were different. People who were of different races, different religions, different orientations and genders. In high school, his father took him to a shooting range with many of his father’s closest friends, whom Zak affectionately referred to as uncles. And when he shot the target, and it exploded, his uncles said, like father like son… they saw the same destructive power in him as his father. His father and his uncles, those men he looked up to, would eventually be convicted of placing a van filled with 1,500 pounds of explosives into the sub-level parking lot of the World Trade Center's North Tower, causing an explosion that killed six people and injured over 1,000 others.

Zak and his mother moved all around the country, never expressing their history or views. Zak was lonely, quiet, overweight, and as the new kid he never felt he could fit in. When he went to college, at night, after video games and before bed, he began watching the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In the darkness of his room, he would watch this man whom he was raised to hate,  to distrust, a Jewish comedian, but instead, he found meaning, he found himself convicted— perhaps everything he had been taught wasn’t quite right, he found he couldn’t stay away from the ideas of this man, though he was scandalized by him.

Nicodemus couldn’t stay away from the miracles and signs being performed by Jesus. He was a part of the synedrion, a council made up of around 70 members, chief priests, elders, and scribes. These people held the institutional power of the community, and they hated those who might disrupt, might cause religious upheaval, might bring the power of Rome down upon them. And this Jesus, this local Rabbi, was exactly who they feared, who they hated. But Nichodemas had to come and speak with him, his past education and prejudices couldn’t keep him away.

And as he comes, just trying to understand who Jesus is, he comes with curiosity, and he comes in some fear— he comes at night. Now, in the Gospel of John, light and darkness are a central theme throughout the Gospel. Always we have the light of God paired against the darkness of the world. And it is out of darkness, of uncertainty, of the dark sorrows of the night; Nicodemus emerges to come to Jesus because he simply has to know. Who is this person who claims to be the Son of God. Nicodemus starts by acknowledging that Jesus is truly from God, but its clear he doesn’t know how or why. 

Today is our church calendar is Trinity Sunday, and so in our sermon series, theology 101, the theological concept is the trinity, three in one. God the father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the Trinity has a difficult history. It is full of arguments regarding the substance of the Trinity, who processes from who, what are the roles of the Trinity, these are arguments have split churches, split denominations, been cause for hereseys, and even split regions. It has been a stumbling block for interfaith conversations, how can Christians claim to be monotheistic with seemingly three gods? It is a confusing and frustrating doctrine. So, why do we keep it around? We keep the doctrine of the Trinity around because Scripture talks about the three people of the godhead, we keep it around because we cannot understand it, and thank goodness for that— if we understood everything about God we would be gods ourselves. We keep it around because its mystery invites us into questioning. We keep it around because it demonstrates that God is multi-faceted, relational, and that the whole of God meets us it whatever person of the Trinity we approach.

When we approach the Triune God, like Nicodemus, no matter how we come— in confusion, in fear, in trembling, in joy, in wonder, we are led to the whole of God’s grace and love over again, but we must choose to come, choose to approach. It was a huge act of Faith for Nichodemas to step outside his circle to approach this disrupter, but when he does, he’s given two of the most important verses in all of Scripture- “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. And just as important, “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.” In a world that condemns, judges, and pushes aside those who have slipped up or made a mistake, Jesus, the Kingdom of God, and the Holy Spirit stand in opposition, proclaiming God has come to save and redeem. Coming outside of the darkness into the light of the Triune God’s love releases us from the captivity of pain and hate.

When Zak came to his mother and told her how watching John Stewart and the daily show had changed him, how he had interacted with people from different religious communities and the queer community while working at his job and been treated with kindness by all of them, he explained how this had caused him to changed his worldview. He was seeing people in a different light. His mother looked at him with weary eyes and a weary heart and said, “Son, I’m so tired of hating people.” The weariness of sin, the weariness of this world brings us down, but if we have the courage to approach the Triune God and say, God the creator, Jesus the Son, Holy Spirit, I do not understand everything about you, but I know you are good, I don’t fully understand all doctrines, but I am going to continue asking you questions and coming to You. I know that sometimes I reside in darkness but I know that you are light, and rebirth, and redemption. I know you are a savior, I know you are freedom and redemption. Church, when you come to God with this vulnerability, when you come in curiosity, I promise God meets you there. The whole of God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit- the whole of the Triune God, not just one part will meet you, and there you will find love, there you will find meaning, there you will find life. Thanks be to God, Amen.