a few years ago our
church ordered the updated AWANA program materials, which was a blessing and a
loss for me, as a large part of my work had now been outsourced. every
wednesday, i would show up early in order to get everything organized and set
up and photocopied and labeled. the most
time-consuming part, but an intriguing diversion, was to come up with pictures
for each week's Bible story. for some
reason, in another classroom in that wing are 2 massive wooden shelves or
drawers stuffed with what appears to be every single Bible picture card that
any baptist ever drew. the oldest
copyright date i've located predates the Cold War.
i loved rifling
through so many creative expressions of these scenes of David or Nebuchadnezzar
or John the Baptist or Moses. while i
don't know what Moses looked like, i'm pretty sure he wasn't white, and i'm
very sure he didn't have google eyes.
while i don't have
to fight anymore to find an appropriate picture, in that mess of cardstock i
actually took my favorite one and now keep it in our Cubbies room with our
flashy new google-eyed picture cards. it
was such an inspiration to me, and even now i wonder at it. it's an artist's
conception of one of my favorite Bible stories, even though there is no action,
no drama, no loud noises or excitement at all.
it's two people, talking. that's
it.
but one of those
people is Nicodemus. and the other person is Jesus.
i identify strongly
with Nicodemus on many levels. i can
more than imagine- i can remember- what he was thinking that night. he was creeping in the shadows to Jesus's
house because he would die of shame if anyone knew that someone raised in the
church, who'd made a profession of faith and been baptized at 12, who read her
NIV Bible every day and knew all the trivia answers… if someone like that still
didn't know the basics of that religion?
if they struggled with anger, depression, forgiveness, trust? if they could quote tons of verses but
couldn't life them out? if they'd rather die than go one more day without peace
or hope or something bigger than myse- i mean, himself- to live for? oh
wait. that wasn't Nicodemus- that really
was me… but Jesus sat down that night and talked to him anyway. no sneer of
contempt. no raised eyebrow or turned up
nose. He said, "sure. come on in- let's find a quiet place to chat."
and then that
pasty-white, brown-haired, blue-eyed Jesus told Nicodemus the same incredible
story that the google-eyed Jesus helped me tell the Cubbies last week. although
the editors cleaned it up a bit, the picture card is pretty clear about what's
happening to Jesus on that cross. to the left is a giant red "C" with
4 words underneath: "…Christ died for us."
the 1986 version
depicts that proud Pharisee sitting in the dark, hoping none of the members of
his Sanhedrin facebook group tags him in a picture with a "heretic"
like Jesus. he's aware of what hangs in the balance, though, and he knows it's
worth risking a visit to this man who somehow speaks about God like He's real,
and close, and personal, and powerful, and wise, and every bit as incredible as
the Torah says He is. Nicodemus wants that God- at the very least, he wants to
seriously look into it. he's not ready
to ditch the prestigious job, and he can't quite figure out how someone can be
"born again," but he also knows there's something different about
Jesus.
as i look into
options, here and abroad, for sharing that same Good News on a longer-term
basis, i've made sheets for each of the Cubbies to take home and share their
story or verse with family and friends each week. i bribed them with hand stamps, but hey…
holding myself
accountable to that goal, i was given the opportunity to share the Gospel with
a few people myself. a couple of them responded like Nicodemus's Sanhedrin
friends did, complete with name-calling, self-righteousness and complete
rejection (not unexpected, but my soul hurts for them anyway). but one responded like Nicodemus. he can't
quite let go of the Hinduism he grew up with, but he knows there's something
different about Jesus. he wants a God
who listens to prayers, who cares about his burdens, who doesn't require
penance for every single individual sin.
he wants to know what's going to happen to him after his life here ends.
he wants justice for the evil he sees everywhere humans go.
the best part is
that Jesus gave Nicodemus 4 other words: "For God so loved…" God loves the self-righteous as much as He
loves the Hindu. which is good, because
otherwise i would have been chucked out on my ear. Jesus continued to say,
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." that's a promise. a mighty big one, at that.
and it's one that
everyone needs to hear, because that promise is to them also.
there's about a 0% chance that you do not know someone who needs to be told those four words "for God so loved." someone you know is struggling with doubts and concerns and needs to hear, "Christ died for us." you may or may not get a response. that response may or may not be positive. but just a few words can change a life. Nicodemus was changed, and he makes an appearance at Jesus' cross with other believers. i was changed, and i showed up at the cross, too- just a few thousand years later. you were changed, or you never would have read this far.
celebrate that. celebrate the change in your life, because it's mind-blowingly awesome what God did for you.
then find your "nicodemus" and have a chat with them. it can all start with a few words.
