Jesus, write me into Your story...

A few days ago, I felt led to speak from John 3, on Nicodemus' encounter with Jesus during a team devotion in which some visitors from Singapore were present. 

Nicodemus, a "ruler of the Jews" (v1) was so very intrigued by the person and works of Jesus. But he was afraid to seek out Jesus publicly, so he comes to Him under the cover of darkness. The stage is set for an encounter like no other - here is Nicodemus, a prominent religious leader himself, somewhat nervous but also excited, face to face with the enigmatic Jesus, whom he has heard so much about. 

The exchange that follows is powerful divine revelation. Jesus exposes the secret to gaining entry into the Kingdom of God, that which every God-fearing Jew was waiting for, all his life. You must be born again, of the Spirit.

Not only that, Jesus goes on to disclose the secret of who He really is, and what He has come to do - He is God's only begotten Son, sent to the world to show the Father's love and forgiveness to everyone who would believe (v16). This is powerful, prophetic, divine self-disclosure. This is supernatural revelation, directly from the lips of Jesus. Nicodemus was getting a scoop like no other. This is breaking news, and Jesus is speaking on the record. This warrants interrupting normal programming for! This truth is going to radically transform the history of mankind, eternally.

But how did Nicodemus respond? He speaks only twice in the entire exchange, and the last sentence that is attributed to him is in verse 9: How can these things be?

Here is Nicodemus, face to face with Jesus, close enough to touch Him, to smell Him, hearing the Son of God reveal His divine identity from His own lips, being taught the secret to entering the Kingdom - and what happens? His natural mind stood in the way, stumbled him, confused him, and all he could utter was a lame, "How can these things be?

Scholars differ as to whether or not Nicodemus became a follower of Jesus. He does not appear again in the gospels, apart from a brief mention in John 19, where he shows up at the tomb of Jesus with spices to anoint the body. None of the apostles who wrote the New Testament mention him either. I personally think Nicodemus never followed Jesus.

And when I contemplate Nicodemus' life, I feel a tremendous wave of...what is it? Regret? Pity? He lived in a kairos moment like no other. The fullness of time had finally come. Jesus, the Son of God, had come in the flesh, after 400 years of dreadful silence between the old and the new testament. Not only that, Nicodemus had a personal encounter with Jesus. He had private access to the Saviour of the world and he heard spiritual truth that was to radically transform the history of mankind in his lifetime.

And all that Nicodemus could say, was "How can these things be?"

Things could have been very different. If he had somehow suspended his natural mind, and just believed, if he only fell at the feet of Jesus and confessed, "Help my unbelief!", he could have become a follower of Jesus. He could have been one of those who were sent out to preach the Kingdom, heal the sick and cast out demons. He could have lived with Jesus, walked with Him, listened to Him teach, watched Him calm the stormy seas one day, walk on water the next, multiply bread and fish not just once but twice, even raise Lazarus from the dead, all in a day's work.

Nicodemus could have personally experienced all of that. But he literally wrote himself out of the gospels, because his natural mind could not receive the things of the spirit (1 Cor 2:14) at the moment that he encountered Jesus. Nicodemus showed up again only after all the action was over. Jesus was dead. The kairos season for following Him in the flesh was over. It was too late.

I couldn't sleep the night after I shared this at devotion. I kept thinking to myself, "To come so close to Jesus, and then to miss your destiny...to write yourself out of God's story...what tragedy. What a waste of potential. All that is possible in God, snuffed out, by the natural mind."

That night, as these thoughts were racing through my mind, I was reminded of a song by Rich Mullins. I listened to it repeatedly - and found myself weeping.

Jesus

They said You walked upon the water once

When You lived as all men do

Please teach me how to walk the way You did

Cos I want to walk with You 

Jesus

They said You taught a lame man how to dance

When he had never stood without a crutch

Well, here am I Lord, holding out my withered hands

I'm just waiting to be touched

Jesus

Write me into Your story

Whisper it to me

And let me know I'm Yours

Jesus

They said You spoke and calmed an angry wave

That was tossed across a stormy sea

Please teach me how to listen, how to obey

Cos there's a storm inside of me

Jesus

They drove the cold nails through Your tired hands

And rolled a stone to seal Your grave

Feels like the devil's rolled a stone onto my heart

Can You roll that stone away?

Every single time that Jesus comes close, and reveals spiritual truth to us, something hangs in the balance - our destiny. If we listen and process what He is saying with only our natural minds, we are confounded, we are baffled and sometimes we are even offended. A stone blocks our heart from embracing our destiny and greatness in God. We repeat the tragedy of Nicodemus in our own lives. We write ourselves out of God's story, that unique story that must be lived out in a kairos moment, which by definition, is a specific window of time that may come around only once, and perhaps never be repeated.

What spiritual truth is Jesus showing you, that has confounded you, even offended you?

Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground, it remains alone...?

He who loves his life will lose it...?

A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions...?

Sell what you have and give to the poor, then come, follow Me...?

May the tragedy of Nicodemus never be repeated in our lives. More than that, may we become a part of Jesus' story, from that kairos moment that is appointed for us from before the foundation of the world, to forevermore.