The Second Sunday in Lent | 1 March 2026 | John 3:1-17 | Timothy Eichler |

John 3:1-17 English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles

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.

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.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

We hear our gospel reading from John on this the eleventh day since Ash Wednesday. Eleven days we have been walking in the season of Lent. Eleven days of walking in the wilderness of Lent. There are many more days and weeks of walking a head of us in the wilderness of Lent. As with any walk there are things that we crave or desire along the way. What is it that your soul craves?

Do you crave healing for a physical, emotional, or spiritual ailment?

Do do you crave assurance that your behavior is acceptable in the eyes of God?

Do do you crave assurance that your way of life is acceptable to God?

Our cravings drive our lives. Our cravings are what we pursue; they are our passions. We observe or hear of Nicodemus’s craving as approaches Jesus in the quiet of the night. His craving is so intense that he cannot wait til morning or he needs to reach out to Jesus because of his observation of Jesus’ behavior in the second chapter of John.

In the second chapter of John Jesus cleanses the temple.

“When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the Temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and over turned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, ‘Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!’”

Now Nicodemus having at least heard of Jesus’ behavior or even witnessing cleansing the Temple courts is curious as to what is really going on. So he approaches Jesus during the cover of darkness saying 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,” (John 3:2). Nicodemus recognizes the signs thereby recognizing Jesus a teacher coming from God, but this behavior. What does it mean?

Does this sound like something you would do? Would you be as curious as Nicodemus and approach Jesus? Would not like to know what Jesus is doing? Would you like to know what Jesus’ intent is with the cleansing of the Temple?

Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple is the wiping out of everything the people thought about the Temple as exhibited by Nicodemus’ response. If Jesus did those things here among us it would wipe out our understanding of the role and purpose of the Temple or of the Church. It would wipe out our understanding on how our cravings are to be satiated … filled. How are our cravings of our souls: physically, psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually to be filled. We have the ways that we know, but now that those have been wiped out. Now what? Where are we to turn?

Like Nicodemus we seek out Jesus to have the cravings of our souls filled … satiated. This is especially true when the cravings of our souls are walking in the wilderness.

The immediate satiation of the soul is when we jump to verses sixteen and seventeen of our Gospel reading: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 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.”

The reality of the satiation of the cravings of our souls resides earlier in the text as Jesus responds to Nicodemus’ question: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” One needs to be born again. Born not of flesh, but of Spirit. This is what Jesus does in the cleansing of the Temple. He wipes out the solution to satiate our cravings with fleshy things to satiate our cravings with spiritual things … with things from God. In other words, in the wilderness of the cravings of our lives we need to return to God: Repent. In our repentance we are born again. For in our repentance we become born of God. This is not a one-time rebirth. It is a way of life. This rebirth is a life-long journey of transformation into a new creation in Jesus Christ.

The best example I can give of the transformation one goes through in being born again is similar to learning a new occupation or profession. When I was at the University of Minnesota the particular field of study I had taken up was like any other course of study. One dressed as student, one attended class, one took tests, etc. The only difference was during our senior year. There was one requirement though small had each of being transformed into the new professionals of our field of study. Every Friday we were required to wear a suit. The entire day we were to be in a suit, with a long-sleeve white shirt, and a tie. Though formal inspections were not held our professors took notice of appearance. We were expected to dress as we would dress once out in the world working in the profession.

Did the clothes make a difference? Yes. The clothes help shape our attitude and how we carried ourselves. It did not matter the weather conditions or what class one had, the expectation was that one would dress appropriately for the profession. Still to this day if I am wearing a suit and tie 90% of the time it will be with a white long-sleeve shirt.

We were transformed or one could say born again into a new way of working, thinking, and behaving. This is what happens to us in the practice of our faith. Every time you pray, worship, read Scripture you are being reborn. You are being transformed into the humanity that God wills for you.

To God be the glory now and forever. Amen

Pastor Timothy Eichler, STS