The Gospel according to John (3:7b-15)
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“‘You must be born from above.’
The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes,
but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes;
so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Nicodemus answered and said to him,
‘How can this happen?”
Jesus answered and said to him,
“You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this?
Amen, amen, I say to you,
we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen,
but you people do not accept our testimony.
If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe,
how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
No one has gone up to heaven
except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
Reflection:
At our parish of St Rita, we are doing a Bible Study on the Gospel of John. We started it during Lent and it will take us pretty much all the way through the Easter Season (our last session will be on May 27th). It has been great to start this process, as I hadn’t done a Bible Study in depth on the Gospel of John before and this one is quite well done.
We’ve already gone through John 3 in that Bible Study, and one observation I’ll share is that the presenter from Ascension Press, Dr Edmund Sri, doesn’t paint Nicodemus in a very good light for this conversation with Jesus. In Dr Sri’s view, Nicodemus is trying to control the discussion, rather than being open to the truth of who Jesus really was. In a way, though, that’s a good lesson. Each of us may think we know what is best for us, and so our prayer becomes “MY will be done, not THY will be done”.
Even though Nicodemus is missing the point in this conversation, we know from later in the Gospel of John that he does seem to come around somewhat. He defends Jesus to the Sanhedrin in John 7 and is there with the disciples to anoint Jesus’ body after His death. Maybe that’s the biggest lesson – God is a God of second chances (and third chances, and fourth ones, etc.). God never deserts us. He walks with us, and even when we turn away, He is still there, longing for us to turn back to Him.
In these days of the Easter season, may we always take time to be thankful for God’s loving care for us, and His presence with us that never fails. No matter how our days may be going, know that we are always in His care.
Action for the Day:
May each of us today take a moment and ponder God’s blessings in our lives. Some days, that can be very easy, and if today is like that for you, that is wonderful. But it is especially powerful to seek the blessings when all is not well. So, after thinking of the blessings, pray for anyone in your life who is struggling, that they know that God is with them, and is blessing them, too.
Link to the DEACON5 website: https://deacon5.com/
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