Thank you for listening to Cultivating Growth. Uh, John and I are back at it this month, and, uh, we're gonna spend this month talking about conversations with Jesus, a one-on-one conversations in a lot of ways with Jesus. We'll do so for three weeks and we'll bring a guest in to conclude our month. This first one that we'll spend some time talking about is Jesus and his conversation with Nicodemus.

Next week we'll talk about. Jesus and a conversation he has with the rich young ruler, and then we'll close out with Jesus and his conversation with a woman by the well in John chapter four. So I, I'm excited about this series and to see Jesus and his interaction this time really just in a one-on-one basis.

Uh, which is different than his interactions with the multitudes. There's a lot to learn, a lot of principles and applications to pull. So let's get to it.

Jeremy, you mentioned in your intro that Jesus has conversations with. A lot of people over the course of his ministry and, and many of those recorded, some of those happen, um, with lots of people around. Some of them happen with very few people around. And then there are some that are very personal, one-on-one interactions that he has with people.

And those always catch my attention as I'm reading through the gospel accounts because I, I just wonder what it would've. Been like to stand in front of or sit next to Jesus and have just a one-on-one interaction with him as he spoke to you. That would've been a remarkable thing to witness and certainly a remarkable thing to be on the receiving end of.

And there are a few of those given to us throughout scripture, and we're gonna talk about three of them this month, as you pointed out. And the first one that we're gonna talk about takes place in John chapter three with Jesus and a man by the name of Nicodemus. And we're told early on in chapter three that Nicodemus was a quote unquote ruler of the Jews.

He was a Pharisee. He was a man who had studied the law. And he was a part of a group that Jesus routinely had conflict with. Um, a lot of the Pharisees saw Jesus as a threat to their control and to their influence among the Jews. And so it's even more interesting when you consider Nicodemus position and now his desire to come and talk to Jesus.

In a very secretive manner. We're told that he comes at night clearly not wanting to be seen, uh, but yet he wanted to talk to Jesus by himself. And I think that says a lot about where Nicodemus is at this point in time. He is sincerely curious and he's looking for an opportunity to talk to Jesus and have some questions for him and try to get some answers and get at the bottom of who this guy is.

And so it's a really fascinating conversation to read through. Yeah, it, it is. There's no question about it, you know. Kinda One thing I was thinking about real quick before we jump into Nicodemus, you had made mention that, you know, throughout the gospels, I mean Jesus is talking to people all the time. I mean, that's routinely what he does, but these one-on-one conversations I, I look at in a lot of ways with the understanding this is what.

Is most normal for us. Yeah. You know, by way of application in a lot of ways. I mean, rarely am I, am I gonna have an opportunity to be standing in front of thousands and thousands of people, you know, as he did, whether that was at the Sermon on the Mount or in those instances where he had to feed thousands and thousands of people.

More often I'm gonna find myself in a conversation with a single person. Yeah, right. One individual. And, and I love the fact that, you know, God in, in his wisdom, shows us this side of Jesus that, you know, the interaction that he has, certainly with the multitudes, you can learn from that. But his interaction here with, you know, these individual people, and I think you hit it, you know, on the head when you made mention of the fact.

Of how personal it really comes across, even here in this conversation with Nicodemus. Even in what somewhat of a negative feeling conversation as what he'll have with the, you know, with the rich young ruler and then of kind of an everyday feeling kind of conversation that he has, you know, with the woman at the well.

And one other thing I'll say now, kind of moving into Nicodemus, you made mention that the, the scripture is clear that he comes to Jesus by night and, and you may read that and you may think, well. You know, maybe that was the most convenient thing for him, or, you know, maybe he was working all day and you know, he just, that was just the time for him to come.

Well, John brings it up again at the very end of his gospel in John 19, and he'll make the mention that it, now Nicodemus is out, he's out in the light. Mm-hmm. He's out in the front and he references. Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night. So I think, you know, that reference in John 19 makes it clear, and I think you're right when you say that Nicodemus is, he's sneaking in to have a conversation with Jesus.

Yeah. That he's not interested at this time, at least with the other Pharisees and his friends and and his family, to know that he is going, he's the one going to Jesus, you know, to have a conversation. And so he does it as secretly as he can. But we'll get into it. Jesus isn't bothered by that. No. Jesus doesn't rebuke him for that.

Mm-hmm. Jesus doesn't say come back, you know, in the daytime when if you're brave enough or you have the courage to talk to me, come in the daytime when mm-hmm. You know, people, he doesn't do anything that he. Accepts this even at, we don't know what time of the night it was. Yeah, no idea. Jesus, no idea is busy.

He's trying to get rest. He's, he, he's trying, you know, he's got things going on, but he's, he stops everything here. And to have what really becomes a, a pretty important conversation, uh, with. Uh, an adversary Yeah. Um, that he could be looking at. Yeah. The Pharisees at this point in time were at very adversarial towards Jesus, uh, and, and largely rejecting him and persecuting him.

Even, you know, we get indications that the Pharisees would send people to follow Jesus around, even to, to hear what he would say and so that they could, you know, try to disrupt his teaching at times. And they, it was a very adversarial relationship. And yet when. Nicodemus comes to Jesus. The way that he addresses him at the beginning of John chapter three is very interesting because he calls him Rabbi.

Which is a term for teacher and he says, 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. That would've been a very surprising thing to hear coming out of the mouth of a Pharisees, a prominent one at that, because most of the Pharisees rejected that Jesus was from God.

That was at the crux of their conflict with him. Authority that Jesus was teaching with, and they saw that as blasphemous, but yet Nicodemus has taken an honest approach, mm-hmm. To let me examine the evidence. Well, what Jesus is teaching and the things that he's doing that can only come from God and so he understands Jesus to be from God.

Which again is probably why he's doing this in the cover of Darkness without anyone else knowing, because the way that he sees Jesus and the way that he's thinking about Jesus is in stark contrast to how most of the Pharisees were thinking about Jesus at this time. There's no question. I mean, he, he is.

Looking at Jesus in a very honest way, and he's coming up with, you know, the reality that there is only one, you know, kind of way where the other Pharisees, they just didn't wanna answer the question. Right. Right. I mean, they were just because they knew. And Jesus gets into that with them a couple of, on a couple of occasions, you know, a about and he'll, he'll levy questions towards them that whether they answer on one side or the other.

It's, it's, it's gonna be no good for them. Mm-hmm. And, and so they're, they, they're, you know, privy to all of those things. But here you have someone who is pushing through all of that and is looking at Jesus in an honest way. And he, he's, he's. Curious about it. Yeah. And he is got questions about it, and he sees these incredible things that are happening at the end of chapter two.

Just in by way of context, you know, makes the point that Jesus is doing signs. Mm-hmm. Now, John moves his gospel very quickly, you know, through Jesus' ministry here at the beginning, and he's seen these things and he's, he's thinking he can only be Yeah. You know, from God. And so he's going to go to him and he is going to, you know, he, he's.

He's gonna levy questions at him. Mm-hmm. And he's gonna be honest about it. Now there's gonna be a struggle. Yeah. Uh, with the spiritual and the physical. Yep. Um, he's not the only one, you know, to struggle with that. And, and I think in a lot of ways it, it is Jesus's greatest obstacle, you know, in his teaching and in a lot of ways it is for us today too.

Is that spiritual versus physical. Mm-hmm. And, and Jesus. He. He lays it on him. Yeah. You know, pretty quickly. And he gets to the point, you know about what he want, he wants to teach and wants to talk about pretty quick. Well, I think that particular point when you read through this and Jesus is clearly trying to help Nicodemus recognize, as you said, that the spiritual side of things as compared to the physical and.

I have wondered at times, you know, why? Why is John the only gospel writer that records this story? In fact, John's the only gospel writer that mentions Nicodemus name and he, he seems to be in John's account. He's mentioned three different times, certainly here in John chapter three, the most. Um, lengthy interaction that he has with Jesus, but none of the other gospel writers record this, but I think it fits so well with what John is trying to do with his gospel account because so much of John's account is dedicated to Jesus trying to help.

People see the spiritual side of things as compared to the physical side of things. And so this, this interaction that he has with Nicodemus fits so well into what John is trying to largely do with his gospel account. And I think that really answers the question as to why is he the only one that records this?

Because this story and this interaction is really at the crux of what John wants us to see as he goes throughout his account of Jesus' life. And Jesus begins this conversation with Nicodemus. I mean, he just jumps right into the deep waters. He says, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

And Nicodemus is immediately gonna jump to the physical side of things. That's not possible. What are you talking about? You can't do that. You can't be born again. That's silly. Right? And he, he's immediately thinking physical. And that's what Jesus is going to challenge him in multiple times in this conversation is, Nicodemus, I'm not asking you to think about things physically.

I want you to think about things spiritually. And that has been really the challenge. So many that Jesus is trying to teach. There are people that still think the Messiah is going to bring a physical kingdom to this world, that he's gonna have a physical army, that he's gonna overthrow Rome. They're thinking about things purely physically.

And Jesus time and time again is trying to help. Them look at things from a spiritual perspective. And so he, he does that with Nicodemus right away. I'm going to force you to think about things spiritually because this isn't possible physically, and what I love about this conversation is Jesus shows an incredible amount of patience in this conversation with Nicodemus.

Uh, and listen, there are principles and applications to be made about the teaching itself that Jesus will get into, but there's also principles to take from the way that Jesus interacted with Nicodemus. Yeah. You know, when, when he tells Nicodemus, listen, if you wanna enter the kingdom of God, you, you've gotta be born again.

And immediately Nicodemus goes to the ridiculous, right? Yeah. Right. How, how can that be? You can't enter into your mother's womb and be, and be bored again. It would've been easy for Jesus to, to say, there, listen, you're, you're not ready for this kind of teaching. Yeah. You're not ready for these kinds of thoughts.

Listen, I'm gonna go to bed. You can go back to bed and maybe we can get, you know, to this, you know, a little bit re you know, later. Mm-hmm. But he, he continues from there and helps them. He gives some examples. He uses the wind. Yep. You know, as an example of something that you know, and that you can believe and that you can.

Feel, but yet you can't see it. Mm-hmm. And so he's helping him along the way. He'll certainly move to an incredible prophecy about himself on the cross, but yet he uses an Old Testament story and reference from Moses. Certainly a story that Nicodemus of Pharisee would've been intimately familiar with.

Yeah. And so he takes these steps, you know, to help him to understand what he's talking about. In verse three because Jesus knows how important verse three is. Yep. And so he just doesn't rush Nicodemus off when he kind of reacts in a ridiculous way. Helps him. He takes him by the hand and he takes him because it's, it's that important that he gets it.

Yeah. And Jesus does everything he can to get him there. Yeah. It is an interesting contrast 'cause Jesus is both helping Nicodemus to try to get there while also being somewhat critical. The fact that he's not understanding this, given his position in life, he's challeng. For sure. Yeah. He, he, he says in, in verse number 10, you know, to Nicodemus, are you a teacher of Israel?

And you don't know these things? Uh, you have dedicated your life to studying and understanding and teaching the law. Why haven't you been able to put the pieces together of all people? You should be able to understand this. Because so much of the old law was leading us to this moment right here where we are with the Messiah having come, and yet you don't understand what's happening here.

And so there is some criticism that Jesus levies, rightfully so, and he does that multiple times with the Pharisees throughout his ministry. You guys, of all people should be able to understand this. But they simply can't. They won't, they, they haven't been able to put the pieces together, and so he is both helping Nicodemus along and criticizing him for not having kind of put some of these pieces together himself, but then he's going to help him see the full story.

Help him see who the Messiah is and what his point for being here is all about. To try to help lead Nicodemus to the conclusion that, yes, what you said at the very beginning about Jesus being rabbi and and from God. That's absolutely true. Now let me tell you what all that means. Because it's not just a fact.

It actually carries with it a great deal of meaning that has consequences here on earth and to come life and death consequences. Yeah. And I think that is, you know, him directing, you know, Nicodemus, his mind back to the story with Moses and the serpent, A story there that was. Life and death situation now.

That was physical life and death. Yeah. Going back to that story and now Jesus is dealing with the spiritual life and death, but you know, it, it's really fascinating to to see Jesus. Just displaying his full, complete understanding of even his life that's out in front of him. Mm-hmm. What, what's going to happen?

Yeah. I mean, I mean, he certainly showcases that throughout, you know, all his time through the gospels, but he's pretty specific here about, you know, I, I'm going to be the key. My life is going to be the key. Uh, I'm gonna be lifted up, just as Moses lifted up that serpent. I'm going to be the key to believing in what I say and and what I'm all about and what I do.

Believing on all of that is going to be the key to life, and so you have this incredible conversation that showcases that and it just. Man, you go back to the beginning and I, I can't get away from how easy it would've been for Jesus to not even begin this conversation. Yeah, yeah. But yet you have this incredible journey that Nicodemus goes on.

Mm-hmm. And we've made mention of it already. Where it ultimately gets him to. Yeah. Where it's no longer coming to Jesus in the dark. He is very much in the light. Yeah. Well, we'll conclude there in John chapter 19. As I mentioned, Nicodemus name is mentioned three different times in the Gospel of John, and the last one being in chapter 19 when Jesus has been crucified.

And of course we know that many of his believers abandoned him, uh, at that point in Jesus' life as he was suffering on the cross. But we're told in John's account, beginning in verse number 38, that after Jesus had died, that Joseph of Arimathea was a disciple of Jesus, but had been so secretly because he feared the Jews and he requested the body of Jesus after Jesus had died.

And we're told there at the end of verse 38. So he came and took the body of Jesus and then verse 39 and Nicodemus. Who at first came to Jesus by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus and bounded in stripes of linen with the spices as the custom of the Jews is to bury.

Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had been yet laid. So there they laid Jesus because of the Jewish preparation day for the tomb was nearby.

Thank you for listening this week. If you haven't already done so, we'd appreciate it if you would take just a second to subscribe to the podcast, whatever platform you're listening, rate and review the show so we can continue to spread the good news of Jesus widely and effectively as possible. Thanks again for joining us this week, and we'll talk again next week.