And I know that people have traditionally read a particular meaning into that. Most every commentary and interpretation of this passage I have read assumes that Nick came under the cover of darkness because he didn’t want anyone to know of his interest in Jesus or his teaching. They invite us to imagine him hiding his face behind his cloak and looking over his shoulder, deathly afraid that someone might see him.

I Don’t Agree

But I don’t agree. I don’t think that the gospel writer is saying that Nick was frightened or embarrassed to be seen with Jesus. (You don’t mind if I call him Nick, do you? We’re going to be talking about him a lot.) Nick has no particular reason to be embarrassed at this point in the story. No, the meaning of his nocturnal visit is simpler than that. It has a symbolic meaning and is related to one of the most important ideas in this gospel – the idea of the darkness and the light.

The Gospel is telling us that Nick is in the darkness. He may think that he understands the truth, but he does not. He is on the wrong track. And Jesus is about to correct him. Indeed, Nick is so much in the dark that he will not be able to understand the truth when Jesus lays it right out in front of him.

Contrast with Story in Next Chapter

Next week we will read from the next chapter of this Gospel in which Jesus will have a similar conversation with someone else: a woman at a well. That encounter will take place at the brightest time of day, which is a clear symbol to us that she is much closer to the truth and more open to the truths Jesus declares.

But Nick? Nick comes at night. Nick may have studied and taught the scripture. He may have been given an honoured position as leader of his people, but he is in the dark when it comes to understanding who Jesus is, and what his coming is all about.

Are We Like Nick?

And that is something that we all need to pay close attention to today. Because there is a danger, a very real danger, that we may be like Nick. We, too, may be coming to Jesus here today in the night. We, too, may be lost in confusion concerning what Jesus is all about.

In particular, I myself may be in the most danger. For I, among us all, am most like Nick. I have studied the scriptures and have presumed, like him, to teach others about them. I have dared to take a position leading God’s people. This story is prompting me to ask, “Am I coming to Jesus in the night as well?”

An Opening Statement

Nick comes to Jesus at night with what is obviously a well-thought-out opening statement. “Rabbi,” he says, “we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person.”

That opening statement shows us exactly what is important to Nick on this night. He is obsessed with the question of authority. He has been trying to work out whether Jesus has the authority to teach what he has been teaching and do what he has been doing. He is seeking confirmation that Jesus has indeed come from God.

Now, to be clear, that is a valid concern. Of course, it matters that Jesus has come from God. It matters that Nick has decided he believes that, and it matters what we believe about Jesus too.

Wrong Priorities

But Nick has come at night. Have I made that point clear to you yet? And that means that he is not coming with the right priorities in mind. Yes, it matters what you believe about Jesus, but Nick has missed a crucial step.

And so, Jesus cuts him off. He doesn’t respond at all to the concerns that Nick is raising. Instead he changes the subject. Why does he do that? Well, obviously, because Nick has come at night.

He is fumbling around in the darkness and doesn’t even know what he is dealing with. He thinks that what really matters is questions of authority and where Jesus’ teaching comes from. But Jesus wants to let him know that something else comes first. That is why Jesus interrupts him.

Born from Above

“Very truly, I tell you,” Jesus says, “no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Jesus is telling him what matters, what comes first. But Nicodemus is so much in the dark that he totally misunderstands what Jesus is saying.

This Gospel was written in Greek. And the Greek word that Jesus uses there is ἄνωθεν, which means “from above.” Jesus clearly means that someone needs to have a new birth that comes from God, from heaven above.

A Misunderstanding

But did I mention that Nick came to Jesus at night? He is so totally in the dark that he can’t understand the plain meaning of what Jesus says. Rather than understanding that Jesus is telling him that he needs to change his entire life with a new orientation that comes from God, he becomes obsessed with the question of how. He wants to know what he has to do to obtain this new beginning.

Now, the word that Jesus used, the word ἄνωθεν, also had a secondary meaning. It could also mean “anew,” in the sense that we might say that someone was made over from top to bottom. And so, Nick, floundering around in the dark, completely misunderstands Jesus’ meaning and assumes that he is saying that he needs to be born again.”

And that is why his comeback is to say that what Jesus is suggesting is simply impossible. It can’t be done. “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” And so Nick misses the point. He concentrates on the method of obtaining entrance into the kingdom and discovers that he can’t do it.

Two Problems

And so, Nick represents the two main stumbling blocks that, to this very day, get in the way of those of us who are in the darkness. The first problem we have is that we become concerned with questions of correct belief about Jesus, and the second is that we get sidetracked by questions of how we obtain that birth from above.

When we come to Jesus at night, we will get sidetracked by arguments over what we believe about Jesus. Is Jesus the Son of God? What was the nature of his birth, his life, his resurrection? How do we define the relationship between the Father and the Son? These are, of course, all important questions. But they are also questions that we will never understand completely or logically. We will never all conceive of the answers in perfect unison.

Believing the Right Things

But, in the darkness, we make the mistake of thinking that believing all the right things about Jesus in the right ways is what it means to believe in Jesus. But it does not. When we reduce faith to a question of accepting a number of intellectual propositions, we only end up arguing, like Nicodemus, over questions of where Jesus came from and how. We will never arrive that way at the birth from above.

And I believe that that is exactly what the church has been getting wrong almost from the beginning. We have become obsessed with the questions of what we are supposed to believe.

Battles Over the Trinity

In the third century and especially the fourth, the church literally split itself in two over the question of what people believed about the nature of the relationship between the Father and the Son and how to reconcile that to Greek Philosophy.

And I mean that literally. There would be riots in the streets of Alexandria over the question of whether the Father and the Son shared the same substance or had a similar substance.

And again, to be clear, it does matter what the relationship is between Jesus and God. It matters to our salvation. But do you know what matters more than that? It matters that you experience God in Jesus Christ and that that changes your life. You can have all the “correct” formulations of the nature of the Trinity in the world, it will not matter unless you have that encounter with God first, and you have it through Jesus.

Divisions

But what have we done again and again throughout the history of the church? We have divided and condemned fellow believers over questions of correct belief. You name it, we have condemned people over it: the date of Easter, what actually happens during communion, when and how to baptize, how scripture is inspired and how the church should be governed.

That is by no means an exhaustive list. We have argued over the correct belief about just about everything in the life of the church. That is what you do when you come to Jesus at night. You fumble around in the dark over things that you will can never entirely grasp hold of.

Perhaps we think that if only we can come up with the list of all the correct things that you are supposed to give your intellectual assent to, that will be the thing that brings us out of the dark and into the light of day. It does not work like that. You can believe all the right things intellectually. That alone will not give you access to the kingdom of God. That is what Jesus is saying to Nick at night.

The Question of How

So, what will? And how is it to be done? That is the next question that Nick turns to. If what is needed is birth from above, he wants to know how.

And the church, lost in the night, has often obsessed over the same question. We have not been quite as ridiculous about it as Nick. We have not tried to put people back into their mothers’ wombs to come out again, but we have piled on certain expectations of what you are supposed to do.

The church, floundering around in the night, has said that you have to be baptised just right, receive the sacraments in the right way, confess just right, give the right testimony in church, or say the right prayer with the right kind of sincerity. And the list of requirements that we have piled on people goes on and on.

Getting First Things First

Now, such actions matter – of course they do. They are natural and important parts of a balanced Christian life. But Jesus is telling Nick at night that it is not the doing of these things alone that gives the birth from above. In fact, they really accomplish nothing if you don’t get first things first.

So, we all have the same tendency as Nick does when he comes to Jesus at night. We give priority to the wrong things. We make it all about correct belief and correct methods to get us into God’s kingdom. But those are all secondary things. It is all about being born from above.

Jesus Makes it Simple

And how does that happen? We, in our darkness and in the night, want to make it so complicated like Nick. But Jesus makes it simple. He tells Nick and us what it is all about. It works, he says, just like the bronze serpent worked in the desert. “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”

In that story, when the Israelites were dying in the darkness of the wilderness, they were saved by the bronze serpent. And what did they have to do to be saved? Did they have to adopt particular intellectual beliefs about the serpent? No. Did they have to go through particular rituals or prayers? No.

They simply had to look upon the serpent with trust. That is all. Simple trust is all that Jesus asked for too. “That whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

Coming in the Day

You see, because we come at night, because we have given in to the darkness and the suspicion that goes with it, we miss the simple truth. The one thing that Jesus really wants to know from us is simply this: Will you trust me?

So will you come to Jesus in the light of day? Will you lay aside the ways of the night and come with open trust? This is the promise he gives to all, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him – everyone who looks upon him with simple trust – may not perish but may have eternal life.

“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world – And certainly not so that we would be torn apart one from another with our arguments – but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

A Year in Review Celebration

Posted by StAndrewsHespeler on Saturday, February 28th, 2026 in News

A Year in Review for 2025!

Women’s Empowerment group

Posted by StAndrewsHespeler on Saturday, February 28th, 2026 in

Group begins at 1:00 pm

The Sacrament of Holy Communion

Posted by StAndrewsHespeler on Saturday, February 28th, 2026 in

Worship begins at 10:00 am

Why Doesn’t God Just Speak Directly to Us Today?

Posted by Scott McAndless on Sunday, February 15th, 2026 in News

Watch sermon video here:

https://youtu.be/jdC3AdwTihc

Hespeler February 15, 2026 © Scott McAndless – Transfiguration Sunday
Exodus 24:12-18, Psalm 99, 2 Peter 1:16-21, Matthew 17:1-9

Six days ago, Peter had made an extraordinary confession and declared that Jesus was the Messiah and the Son of the living God. (Matthew 16:16) Jesus had praised Peter for his insight and understanding. And he had even given him a promise. “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here,” (and yes, Peter was sure that Jesus was talking especially about him). “There are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” (v. 28)

But ever since Jesus had been so depressing, talking about nothing but suffering, death and such things. Peter had tried to talk him out of his funk. I mean, sure, he understood that life was hard and the work they were doing was draining, but that was no reason to get so negative. But Jesus wouldn’t hear of it. He told Peter off for daring to rebuke him. (v. 22-23)

A Long Six Days

In short, it had been a long six days. Peter was getting so impatient. He had been promised that he would see a new kingdom coming. And sure, the full coming of such a kingdom might take some time, but could he not be given some glimpse, some indication that he had not been wrong to put his faith in Jesus.

And so, when, on the sixth day, Jesus pulled him and James and John aside from the others, Peter couldn’t help but feel as if this was finally it. Surely Jesus was going to reward them for their faithfulness with some glimpse of what the kingdom was like.

A Tough Climb

But all that Jesus did was point to a high mountain on the horizon. It soared about two kilometres above sea level and, though it was now well into spring, it was still topped with some snow. “What do you say we head up there?” he suggested

They had brought no provisions with them. Their well-worn sandals offered little protection for their feet and were constantly filled with sand and gravel as they scrabbled up the slope. And the higher they went, the colder the winds blew. They wrapped their cloaks as tightly around them as they could and struggled to keep up with the pace Jesus had set.

What Was the Point?

Peter couldn’t help but grumble along with his stomach. What was the point of putting them through such a difficult ordeal? He appreciated that Jesus wanted to give them a special experience that would be denied to the others. But did it have to be so hard? Couldn’t they have just gone off a bit into the bushes or something?

Jesus did not explain why. He just encouraged the three of them to try to keep up as he went on ahead. By the time they had finally reached the summit, they were all exhausted and starving. They shivered in the cold air and panted as if there were not enough oxygen.

When the white mist began to form before his eyes, Peter honestly didn’t know if a cloud had come down from the heavens to kiss the mountaintop or if he was about to pass out.

A Story Told Thrice

The story of the transfiguration is told in three of our four gospels, and the three accounts are virtually identical. I mean, for the most part, they are word-for-word the same. Which, if I can be completely honest for a moment here, can be kind of annoying for Christian preachers who follow the lectionary, which tells us to preach on the story using one of the three basically identical passages every single year.

As a result, we tend to obsess over the smallest variations between the three stories. So, this morning, we read Matthew’s version. And there is one tiny difference in Matthew’s account that I believe contains a very important message for us today. It goes to the question of what actually happened on that mountain.

Mark and Luke’s Vagueness

Now clearly, all three gospel writers see what happened on that mountain as real and significant. All three disciples experienced something that was mind-blowing up there. But Mark and Luke are vague about the material reality of that experience.

They talk only about what the three saw, felt and heard. That leaves open the possibility that they were observing physical reality. In other words, Jesus’ appearance was physically changed. Moses and Elijah were standing there, and you could have touched them. A voice boomed from heaven at a particular volume and frequency.

So, as Mark and Luke tell it, if a film crew were there that day, it is possible that they could have captured all of that. And that would definitely be the most amazing documentary to hit the theatres in all time. Why, it would be even bigger than “Melania!” That is all possible, at least the way the other two evangelists tell it. Though, of course, it is also possible that they are describing a mystical experience rather than a physical one.

Matthew’s Difference

But Matthew describes the experience differently. On the way down the mountain slope, Matthew tells us that Jesus warned the three men, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

So Matthew intentionally removes the ambiguity for us. He tells us, in no uncertain terms, that it was a vision. And so, I have to ask the question: what does that change?

First of all, let me say that it doesn’t mean that their experience was not real or that it did not come from God. Visions are real, people have them and they can make enormous differences in this world, either for good or for ill.

Vision Limitations

Visions can also be shared, as happens in this story. Presumably, each of these three men have individual and unique experiences, but they are in such physical and spiritual alignment in this moment that there is also a commonality to their experience.

But there is one limit on such visions. They cannot be objectively verified. Matthew is effectively telling us that, if a film crew had been there that day, they would only have been able to capture the ecstasy of the individuals. There would have been no footage of Elijah or Moses, no audio of the heavenly voice.

How to Evaluate Such Experiences

I realize, of course, that some will dismiss any vision as having no validity. You can’t prove anything to scientists with a vision – even a shared vision – because there is no data to be verified. That is true. And we do need to be careful not to claim too much for a vision or other spiritual experience

But that does not mean that such spiritual experiences are meaningless or worthless. There is no question that what Peter, James and John experienced on that mountain meant a great deal to them and they descended from that mountain as changed men who had seen confirmation of what they believed about Jesus.

Other people, those who weren’t there on the mountain, might well be moved by hearing the accounts and even choose to believe the truths that the three took away. But it is always harder for the people who were not there, and that is perhaps one reason why Jesus cautions them not to share the vision. Perhaps the others will not be ready to believe just based on the experience of the three.

Why There?

And that leads me to the question that really bothers me about this whole story. Why did this experience have to happen in such a difficult and inaccessible place? And why did it have to be limited to those three? If Jesus really wanted to show the disciples who he was, then why not just book a nice room in a hotel with room service and bring everyone in and let them experience it for themselves?

It happens on the top of a mountain, and I know that mountain tops have long been seen as places for such things to happen. As long as there have been humans, we have built sanctuaries and temples on mountain tops. That includes all of the temples and high places of Ancient Israel. Moses also had significant experiences on Mount Sinai and other mountains.

Where is God?

But is it just a question of spiritual geography? Is God spatially closer to us when we go up because we are getting closer to God’s heavenly abode? No, I don’t see it that way.

God is everywhere after all. We speak of God up in heaven, I know, but we don’t mean it literally. We know that “up there” is merely the edge of the atmosphere and then open space. There is no place on earth where you are closer to or farther away from God than you are right now.

So, the climb up that mountain that day represents something else. It is about the disciples arriving at that state of mind where they are open to the presence of God that is always there. And that is not something that comes easily to most humans.

Human Limitations

We humans have this way about us. We are constantly distracted. We are distracted by all the things we have to do, all the things we have to worry about or fear. So our mind – constantly on the move as it is – gets in the way of us experiencing that presence of God.

But it is not just our mind; it is also the body that houses our mind. Our body is constantly interrupting our quest for God with its appetites, demands and needs. We spend the great bulk of our time, attention and energy making sure that our bodies and the bodies of the people we love are okay. This is something that is a good and necessary part of our human nature.

But, with all of those things going on, how can the presence of God break through to us? And how will we be able to detect that presence in the midst of the chorus of demands that surrounds us all the time?

Preparing for the Vision

That is why visions and other spiritual experiences are so rare. It is not because God is absent. It is because we are distracted. And so, Jesus says to Peter, James and John, “Come, let us climb that extremely difficult mountain over there.”

What did that arduous climb do for them? It exhausted their bodies. It forced them into a state where they had to ignore all hunger and desire. It reduced them to the point where they could only give thought to the most basic of survival functions – getting sufficient oxygen from the thin air into their lungs.

What Jesus was doing was getting them to the place where their human minds were prepared to receive the vision of “the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” That is why it was on the mountain and away from the others.

Visions for Those Who Don’t Climb

And I believe that that is something that still happens. It certainly happens literally, I know, for those who test their bodies and endurance by climbing mountains. Many do report profound spiritual experiences on the peaks that they conquer.

I realize that not all of us will become mountain climbers. So don’t worry. I am not saying that you will never experience the power and presence of God without taking up mountaineering. But I do believe that the mountain-climbing in this passage is a metaphor for the kind of work that we have to do to prepare ourselves for such experiences.

Learning How to Prepare

Learning how to prepare your body and mind to experience God’s presence is something that we can all do, but it generally does not happen unless we work at it.

Those who take up meditation and contemplation, for example, will have such experiences. But it almost certainly won’t happen the first time they attempt it. It can take years and years of practice before you learn to quiet the demands of your mind and body enough for the voice of God to break through.

There are ways that you can learn to do this, and I have provided some pages at the back that you are welcome to take and study. You will not be surprised that many of them include getting your body to a state, much like you might find yourself after climbing a mountain, where all you are thinking about is your next breath. Then you just let even that concern go away.

Seeking the Vision

I do not doubt that, once they came to the top of that mountain, Peter, James and John did experience the presence of God in a powerful way. I also agree with Matthew that it was a vision.

It was a special and unique experience; every spiritual experience is. But that does not mean that it was not the kind of experience that you also can seek and find in this world, whether on the top of some mountain or in the silence of your own meditations.

For resources on Christian Meditation, follow this link: https://thechristianmeditator.com/

Our 2025 Annual Report is ready

Posted by StAndrewsHespeler on Friday, February 13th, 2026 in News

Read all about it!

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