The Nonsense of God
John 3:1-17
May 26, 2024 anno Domini
This past week there was a debate among my pastor friends about whether to confess the Athanasian Creed today. Some pastors were thinking of not using it. Not because it was too long. Most pastors don’t think about time on Sunday morning, they think about what is good and beneficial for their flock. There’s no such thing as too much of God’s Word or too much of Jesus. The question was whether the creed was helpful to their congregations. Not only do you have the word “catholic” a couple of times, which causes allergic reactions in old Lutherans, but you also have God judging you according to your works. Once you start talking about works Lutherans go into anaphylactic shock. But it wasn’t those words that concerned my friends. It was simply this – will confessing the creed benefit or befuddle their members?
The Apostles and Nicene Creeds are straight forward. They delineate the three persons of the Trinity by what they do. I believe in God the Father who creates and preserves. I believe in God the Son who redeems me from sin. I believe in the Holy Spirit who sanctifies me by bringing me into the Church through faith that I might receive the forgiveness Christ won. The Athanasian Creed is not so much about what God does, but who He is.
If you’re hoping to get a short creed this Sunday too bad, so sad. Confessing the Athanasian Creed is good, right, and salutary, even if you don’t understand it entirely. The Holy Trinity is a mystery. We confess that there are three persons in one God because that is what the Bible teaches. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God, yet there are not three Gods but one God. There is no reasonable way to explain that – not with math. It isn’t 1/3+1/3+1/3 equals one. Not with Science – it isn’t like H2O (Water) in three forms, Liquid, Solid, Gas. Not with Nature – it isn’t like an apple with skin, meat, and seeds. As one of my recent confirmands often said, “Whenever I think about it, my head wants to explode.”
The Athanasian Creed also confesses the two natures of Christ. Therefore, it is the right faith that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is at the same time both God and Man. So, the Christ is one person, but with two natures – a human nature and a divine nature. Perfect man and perfect God. You must confess this and you must believe it to be saved, but it is unexplainable, unreasonable. Jesus did not do some things as a man and some things as God. He did all things following His incarnation as God and Man. We can rightly say God wore a diaper and God died, but there’s no explaining how that makes sense, and it is utter foolishness to the world whose gods promise power and success.
The other debate on Trinity Sunday is the Gospel reading. Why was the conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus chosen? Why not Matthew 28 where Jesus commands His disciples to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit? Why not the baptism of Jesus where the Father speaks from heaven, the Son stands in the river, and the Spirit descends in the form of a dove?
The answer might be this. Nicodemus doesn’t get what Jesus is saying because he is a reasonable man. There is a point in Christianity, in meeting Jesus, where you must put your reason aside. It’s the point of faith.
Nicodemus comes to Jesus and for that we must commend him. Nicodemus compliments Jesus, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Evidently Jesus never read How to Win Friends and Influence People because He doesn’t thank Nicodemus or even acknowledge the compliment. He jumps right to teaching God’s Word. Maybe time is short. Maybe Nicodemus soul is in danger. Who knows? Jesus knows so He cuts to the chase and hurls a mysterious teaching at Nicodemus.
Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. I’m surprised Nicodemus didn’t respond, “What? Huh? Didn’t you hear me?” But Nicodemus is a wise man. He had training in reflective listening. He heard exactly what Jesus said and asks in response, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Nicodemus and Jesus were talking past each other. Nicodemus thinks the way of salvation should be reasonable. It should make sense. Here is likely how Nicodemus thinks. I’m a pretty good guy, better than most. I’m a Pharisee. I keep all of God’s commandments outwardly, but this Jesus guy is intriguing. John the Baptist pointed Him out as the Messiah and the Cana Courier reported on a miraculous abundance of wine at a wedding reception He attended last month.
Like Nicodemus, most people think salvation should be reasonable. God is good. He wants people to be good. I’m good, or at least better than most. I’m in church on Memorial Day weekend. I think I should get some credit for this. I do my best and a little bit of Jesus does the rest.
And to a reasonable way of salvation Jesus says, “You must be born again.” Your flesh, your person, you by nature, can do nothing to please God. Your flattery and common sense will get you nowhere. Your flesh is dead before God. It is sinful. You are no good in God’s eyes. You need a new start, a new birth. You need to start life over. Well, how can you do that? You can’t, but God can.
Let me explain using the most famous Bible passage of all time – John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Almost everyone thinks this passage could be translated, God loves the world so much that he gave his only Son. That is not what Jesus is saying. Take the sentence, “She ran so quickly she won the race.” You would never say, “She ran so much she won the race.” “So” means she ran “in this manner”, quickly. God loved the world in this manner He gave His Son. God’s love is this. You are a dead sinner, but He wants you to live. He loves you because He made you, but there’s no sin allowed in His presence. Don’t bring your sins to heaven – you’re not getting in. God loved the world by giving His Son over to death for your sins. What you deserve is laid on the Son by the Father. And Jesus willingly takes your sin and your hell and your death. I can’t explain it. I can only tell you He did that for you. You know your sins. You know your thoughts that no one knows. Well God knows, and still, He loves you in this way. Jesus for you. When you believe that Jesus did this, you have the Father’s love because you have the forgiveness Jesus won and once you have forgiveness you are living forever. That’s the beginning of a whole new life, that’s being born again, born of God, born from above.
Like your first birth you have nothing to do with it. The Spirit brings you to faith. He’s the mid-wife of the Holy Trinity, delivering you by water and the spirit in Holy Baptism. The Holy Spirit brings you to faith in the Son because that’s the way the Father loves you. Three persons. One God. His love for you is only in Jesus. It doesn’t make sense, but that’s who He is and that’s what He does for you.
If you believe that God loved you by giving His Son for you, then and only then, will you have the strength to squash your reason when you hear the mysterious and incomprehensible Word of God. The bread is Christ’s body and the wine is Christ’s blood. Confess your sins and forgive those who sin against you. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Wives submit to your husbands. Husbands love your wives to death. Marriage is for creating children and sacrificing for them. You do have to go to church to be a Christian. You will not die but live. Don’t be anxious about anything.
That’s nonsense, unless you have been born again from above. If the Father gave His Son for me, if by faith receive forgiveness for all my sins so I live forever, then I’ll take God at His Word. Nicodemus did. Nicodemus helped bury Jesus in the tomb, which likely means Nicodemus also was one of the witnesses of the Christ’s resurrection. Resurrection doesn’t make sense. Have you ever seen anyone walk out of the cemetery three days after His funeral? Me either, but I’m planning on doing just that on the last day, along with all who believe. In the name of Jesus. Amen.