Jesus: The Heavenly and the Earthly

Jesus: The Heavenly and the Earthly

¹ There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”

³ Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴ “How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. ⁸ The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

⁹ “How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.

¹⁰ “Are you a teacher of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied. ¹¹ “Truly I tell you, we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony. ¹² If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven—the Son of Man.

¹⁴ “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
_{John 3:1–17 [CSB]}

This is a very familiar passage of Scripture—our Gospel lesson. Most of us know it by heart—John 3:16, but is it too familiar?

Too many rattle it off… like many things… without thinking about what the words are all about…and yes, miss its meaning just like Nicodemus did.

You see, we are so convinced that it—that God when at work… doing things in the world and in and with us…that for some reason it has little or nothing to do with what is going on now— not in a concrete way— not in this physical world… not in what we call real life… our personal life…

…when in fact Jesus was telling him that it was. Earthly things, yes. The very thing. Jesus in the flesh… dwelling among us… you and me now, yes.

But, how can being born again—being born from above, and of the Spirit—being spiritual, be about earth-bound physical things?

Maybe somewhere, if we could just get there… concentrate enough…

Maybe someday, if we keep at it long enough.

That is the heavenly, though…and we cannot get there from here…just like Nicodemus thought.

But it is not so much the spiritual… That was Nicodemus’ mistake here. He was getting spiritual mixed up with that which goes on in heaven—that which Jesus only saw because He was from there.

Yes, I know that some had got a glimpse—St. Paul and St. John…but far and few between do.

That is for us to see, but not here and now. Later…on the last day.

But no, they are not the same thing. The spiritual and heavenly, that is.

Yes, spirits do live in heaven. Our dead brothers and sisters in Christ live as spirits with Christ right now in heaven, while they await their what?

Their bodies. Funny that. Not so spiritual if you have a physical body, is it?

Yet… yet, if Jesus still has His—His human body, I mean—does that make Him less spiritual than, say the Holy Spirit?

But anyway, to be a spirit, you have to be dead. But that really is not being spiritual—that is being, well…just dead.

And we were not meant to be that—not just that…not just spirits. We are physical too, and to be human is to be both.

You see we are a special part of creation. Different from all the rest. Angels are only spirit beings. They have no physical bodies, even if they are allowed to pretend from time to time.

And animals, trees and such are living things, but are only physical, not having spirits… at least we think so….

But what about the dead people not in heaven? Yes, spirits, they are, but still not spiritual.

You see, and this may be confusing to you, when the Bible speaks about being Spiritual vs. not, and when it talks about the spirits or the spirit realm; it is not talking about the same thing.

Being spiritual is being God-minded. Facing God, not away. Agreeing with God. Speaking and acting like He wants us to. And this is the problem—our problem. We are not born that way—we are born facing away from God—so not spiritual at all.

And those in hell are forever facing away from God. They remain dead spiritually, while being spirits.

And this is and is from original sin. The making of our own spirits the object of our spirituality—thinking and acting as if we can—that we can be so without God and His ways and His Words—is the worst sin.

Which is not being spiritual at all. It is self worship. This was the devil’s sin, and what we are always tempted to do. We are, aren’t we—always told to look inward, to ourselves, rather than outward to God and His things? Very unspiritual, that.

Only being in God, doing the things of God…trusting Him…listening to Him in His Word, is truly being spiritual. All else is faking it. All else is that same lie that was spoken in the garden.

Yet, like I said, to be truly human is to be physical and spiritual at the same time—in and with all that we do.

That is what we were created to be. Not just here in church, but at home and at work. In all things and at all times and in all places. Changing diapers even. I know first hand—yes, very spiritual. Seriously.

Yet, that is what sin has kept from us, and us from. To be truly human is to be spiritual beings living and breathing in this good creation on and about our Heavenly Father’s business… just like Jesus did.

But because of sin, we are either too physical, and live as if there is no such thing as the spiritual, or we are too—what we would call—spiritual, and live as if the physical were something to distain—to be done away with to get on with real life—which really means to be dead….

That whole thing about being so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good—well, case in point.

And being a teacher in the church, Nicodemus should have understood this. Yet, he was thinking in either or.

We as a church should understand and practice this, but we end up doing, thinking, acting and speaking as if it were an either or too.

We either get so practical…so earthly…so pragmatic… that we go too much only with what we think works. What seems to work for us out there in the world. As if it was now up to us or something. This is a disaster for and in the church.

It has come in the form of what is called the social gospel, and therefore no Gospel at all, because sin is not dealt with when we do just that—only the temporal and physical needs of people are taken care of….

And so, what about eternity? What about when they meet their end?

It has also come in the form of the Pharisee and his rules, or the monk in a monastery beating his sins out…or in the legalism of the puritans…Whesley and his methods…

It has come to be for some the running of the church like a business, when in fact the bottom line is not the thing, nor is the customer always right.

Then when all that does not end up working for too long, we head the other way.

Or we rather like from the start, what we would think to be the more spiritual…things that seem to be or bring people closer to heaven…

Like art and music…poetry…I mean as church here…instead of … or equal to being in church—thought to be all God stuff—the real spiritual…

Or all those inner light step programs, meditation in the Eastern sense, yoga—or inner healing and renewal or the revivals in the Charismatic and Pentecostal movements.

All of these are not spiritual, though. Each of these is of that same answer that Nicodemus gave, and why he did not understand. These always have been the very reasons for the problems in the church.

We don’t—and won’t remember that our ways are not His ways, nor are our thoughts His thoughts.

We cannot just call spiritual what we want to. Only He gets to do that.

We must work with what Jesus has given the church to work with—the both/and. Word and Sacrament. Which is Spirit and truth…the physical empowered by the Spirit Himself.

Yes, Jesus said that His Word was Spirit and it was life. All on physical paper and heard by living ears. To be preached—repentance and the forgiveness of sins in His name—by human lips. Law and Gospel—the all powerful Spirit of Christ in both—by human voices and in paper and ink.

Yes, it is Water with the Word that actually, and not just symbolically, saves us.

It was not the ark that actually saved Noah and His family! No…read St. Peter on this. He says it was the water… read it… the water was what saved them!

Yes… you see… this is all true spirituality. It is so because Jesus made it so—putting these real things in place for us—for the church on earth…just as He came as both.

He is human… and… He is also the Way, the Truth and the Life—Him…the Word made flesh. God the Son, who from the beginning was pure Spirit, but who became flesh and blood. Both/and! Born a man, and always now a man…but and also…

Only the truly spiritual things can make humans truly spiritual…or make them ready for the heavenly—to be able to see the heavenly like He did…and does…like we will on that last day. That is what He does for us in the Supper.

Yes, always in the both/and, which is the truly spiritual in the here-and-now on earth, connecting us together—the communion of saints, here and then fully there…

That is where we are heading—to that here-after, the heavenly.

Which, if you didn’t know will one day not be hidden—and not THERE, as we so often say…but openly part of creation…but that only when all of this will be very good again—a place once again that can be heavenly and earthly at the same time.

All because Jesus, who was God—yes… the entire Trinity—the Three in One Unity—God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, so loved the world…and became one of us…

…in real time and in a real space, here on earth… among sinners…touching all… so all of that eventually… will be fully spiritual and heavenly… as it was created to be…

… as He was lifted up, dead on a cross, God and man…for man, rising so we will rise…

…ascending so we will meet Him for the re-creation of all things…

Yes, all things to be NEW AGAIN… from everlasting to everlasting, world without end.

Amen, Amen, Amen.

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