Lent
March 5, 2023
Scripture Reading: John 3:1-17
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’ Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You must be born from above.” The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, 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 said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Who is this teacher, this Jesus, that performs miraculous signs? These signs are real and often related to healing human bodies, but he speaks in terms of Spiritual things we cannot see or touch but are somehow real. The Spirit of God was not a new concept to Nicodemus; it appears 14 times in the Hebrew Bible.
Shakespeare, in his play Hamlet, may have said it best. In Act 1 Scene 5, Hamlet tells his friend: “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Jesus is explaining the unexplainable, which is the beginning of faith. Hebrews 11:1 says it this way; Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
God’s love comes to us in many ways, but none more meaningful than the life, death, and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for the wonderous gift of your Spirit. Amen.
All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.