Have you ever been misunderstood?

Has anyone ever questioned your thoughts, words, or actions?

Has anyone ever questioned your motives and morals?

Has your quietness been misunderstood as weakness?  When, in actuality, your quietness is just your way of listening and thinking through things so that you can be stronger and more confident when you speak and act.

Has your friendliness been misunderstood by the opposite sex as an unwanted relational advance?  When, in fact, you are just genuinely concerned for everyone’s happiness and comfort.

Has your spouse or significant other ever misunderstood your mood, tone, or inflection?

Have your parents ever misunderstood your mood, tone, or inflection?

Misunderstandings happen all of the time.

And, misunderstandings often lead to strained or broken relationships.

A few years ago, Garth Brooks hit the stage in Detroit wearing the jersey of retired Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders. 

However, the photo he posted backstage confused some of his fans. Because of the name “Sanders” and the jersey number 20, they thought the shirt was meant to convey support for Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who at the time was embroiled in a race with former Vice President Joe Biden for the right to run against President Trump as a Democratic challenger for that year’s presidential election.

“Good grief,” responded one Instagram user. “Can’t you just do what you get paid to do? Why, why does it have to involve politics!!! So sad. We don’t pay good money for anything other than to watch you perform. Thought you were different.”

While there were plenty Garth Brooks fans online to correct the mistaken assumption, there were also more than a few Bernie Sanders supporters happy to play along:

“Welp. Looks like @garthbrooks just became my favorite country singer!” wrote one user, concluding, “#FeelTheBern2020.”

Even Barry Sanders himself got in on the fun. “Hey @garthbrooks you wanna be my VP? #Number20for2020.”

I am not sharing this story to make any kind of political point.

I am sharing this story to make the point that everyone is misunderstood at one point and everyone misunderstands at some point.

In this morning’s text we are going to listen in on a conversation where misunderstanding led to a strained, tense, and even broken relationship.

Our text this morning, from the lectionary is John 3.1-17.  Let’s listen in on this conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus now.

[1] Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. [2] This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “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.” [3] Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” [4] Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” [5] Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. [6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. [7] Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ [8] The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

[9] Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” [10] Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? [11] Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. [12] If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? [13] No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. [14] And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, [15] that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

For God So Loved the World

[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. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (ESV)

In this back and forth exchange between Nicodemus and Jesus, we see that Nicodemus was misunderstanding Jesus on many levels.

First, Nicodemus misunderstood who Jesus was.

We see in this in the way he addresses Jesus. Nicodemus calls Jesus, “teacher.” Nicodemus lumps Jesus in with all of the other Jewish scholars around him. 

Nicodemus doesn’t recognize Jesus as God’s Messiah, the Anointed One, the Savior.

Second, Nicodemus misunderstood the things Jesus did.  

At the point of this meet up, Jesus had been traveling for some time, speaking about the Kingdom of God and doing miracles.  Nicodemus witnessed some of the unbelievable things Jesus was able to do and he certainly heard about most of the others.

Jesus was baptized in the Jordan river by the seemingly crazy homeless man John the Baptist with the voice of God speaking audibly afterwards for all to hear.

Jesus was getting successful businessmen, fishermen to be exact, to walk away from their means of income in the blink of an eye to follow him from town to town as he taught and healed people.

Jesus turned water into wine for all of the hosts and guests at a big blowout wedding party.

Nicodemus knows these events are out of the ordinary but has no reasonable explanation for how they could happen.

Third, Nicodemus misunderstood how a person enters the Kingdom of God.

When Jesus mentions being “born again” Nicodemus was confused.

Nicodemus was under the impression that a person entered the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, through hard work, perseverance, and doing the things God’s Law commanded a person to do.

In all of this, Jesus doesn’t leave Nicodemus lost in his misunderstanding of who He is and what He is on earth to do. 

Jesus doesn’t walk away from Nicodemus saying, “I am sorry, you are too stupid to figure it out right now. But, if and when you put the clues together and figure out the riddle, then you can come and see me and then God’s love will be yours.”

In an act of complete grace, Jesus cancels Nicodemus’ misunderstanding.

Jesus lays it all out on the line so that Nicodemus can understand, believe, have faith, and enter into God’s eternal Kingdom.

Jesus explicitly reveals who he is first through saying that he is the Son of Man.  

The Son of Man is an Old Testament name for God’s Son who would save people from their sin through kingship and conflict.

When Jesus used this term in his conversation with Nicodemus, Nicodemus, being well versed in the Old Testament theology, would know right away that Jesus was referring to Himself as God’s Savior.

Jesus next explicitly reveals what He is going to go through in order to make God’s promise to humanity a reality.

Jesus says that He will be lifted up on a cross and all that have faith in his death for them will be forgiven of sin and granted eternal life.

And, then, Jesus sums up who he is and what he is going to do and what it is going to accomplish with what I would say are the most famous words in the Bible.

Jesus says to Nicodemus:

[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. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3.16-17, ESV)

In late October of 2022, Erin Hatzi reported to police that her red Subaru Impreza had been stolen out of her driveway—according to her surveillance footage, “a woman [had] calmly enter[ed] her car and [drove] away” with it. Calmly, indeed: In fact, the woman had sat in the car for a couple minutes. “We were really confused because it didn’t seem like the normal actions of a car thief,” said Hatzi.

The next day, “[p]olice stopped a woman attempting to return the car outside of Hatzi’s home.” The driver offered up this explanation: The night before, “she had been sent to the neighborhood to pick up her friend’s car and accidentally took Hatzi’s vehicle instead.” The friend did not see the car until that morning, and upon realizing the mix-up, left a note and gas money inside the car and sent it back to its rightful owner.

So what happened? According to police, “older Subaru keys are interchangeable and can occasionally be used to open different cars.”

Because of sin which corrupts our thinking and understanding, many people in our world misunderstand God’s forgiving love and replace God’s forgiving love with the idea that you can live anyway in this world that you want while believing whatever you want about who God is and how God acts.     

The common belief is that all roads lead to Heaven.

However, that very way of thinking and living causes you to get into the wrong car which will only take you to a place of trouble and imprisonment.  

Believing the wrong thing about who Jesus is and what Jesus has done leads you away from God’s forgiveness and love.

When Jesus met Nicodemus, Nicodemus misunderstood Jesus and was in the wrong car, headed for the trouble of being separated from God forever.

However, Jesus, through the grace of God that chases after and rescues those headed in the wrong direction—the direction that takes one away from the Kingdom of Heaven, clearly points Nicodemus to the right car that will take him down the road, the narrow path, that leads to God, his forgiveness of sin, and his eternal love.

Jesus does the same for you!

Jesus doesn’t want you to misunderstand him and the thing He has done for you.

Jesus lived for you. 

Jesus died on the cross for you—to forgive you of your sin—the sin that often causes you to misunderstand him.

Jesus rose from the grave for you.

If you ever find yourself confused and misunderstanding who God is and what God has done for you in the person and work of Jesus, return to Jesus’ words that make everything clear for you which are found in John 14:1–6.

Jesus says to you:

[1] “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. [2] In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? [3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. [4] And you know the way to where I am going.” … [6] Jesus [says to you], “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (ESV)

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Pastor Fred Scragg 

March 5, 2023