Year 2, Week 30, Day 3 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 30, Day 3

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of John 3-4.

Today’s reading involves two personal encounters involving Jesus. John 3 records Jesus’ interaction with a teacher of the Law: “Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 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” (John 3:1-2). Nicodemus represents a highly reputable religious name who is very complimentary of what he had seen and heard from Jesus. Perhaps John places this encounter where he did in his Gospel account to illustrate his intriguing statement at the end of the previous chapter: “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man” (John 2:23-25). What Jesus would say to Nicodemus concerning what he needed was the same thing that the people whom Jesus would not entrust Himself to needed. John 4 records another interaction had, but who would have been seen as a very different person: “A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”…The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?…Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” (John 4:7,9,16-18). Not supplied with her nam, Jesus encounters a social outcast both ethnically and morally; but He reveals who He is to her: “The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he” (John 4:25-26).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was the absolute importance Jesus placed on being born again: “Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God…Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God…Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again” (John 3:3,5,7). Nicodemus is very affirming of Jesus, but Jesus knows something very important about him. At the end of John 2, there were people who “believe” in Jesus in some sense of the word because they have seen Jesus’ miracles, but Jesus did not entrust Himself to them for he “knew what was in man.” This encounter with Nicodemus represents someone who is impressed with Jesus' signs, thus, he has a positive regard for Jesus and is eager to learn more from Jesus; but Nicodemus is not born again.

Nicodemus is not only not born again, he is not even sure what Jesus is talking about: “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?…Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” (John 3:4,9). This conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus is providing additional information to what John introduced about being born again in the opening segment of his Gospel account: "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). Truly believing in Jesus is connected to becoming a child of God; but the correlation between believing and becoming is undergirded by being born again, which is an action that occurs by the will and power of God, not the will and power of man. Nicodemus has seen the signs, but if he has not been born again. Those signs have impressed him, but have not revealed to him  the glory of Jesus. In contrast, when those who have experienced the new birth see the signs, they see something of the glory of Jesus: “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him” (John 2:11). There is a difference between believing Jesus is someone special from God, and believing Jesus is the true display of the glory of God. One has been born again, while the other has not yet been born again.

Jesus directs Nicodemus to look again at the Scriptures: “Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 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” (John 3:10-11). Jesus explains that He is not saying anything that can’t be considered from the Old Testament. For instance, Jesus’ words concerning being born of the water and the Spirit as the necessary requirement for entering the kingdom of God, is the language of the prophets as they spoke of the New Covenant: “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:25-27, see also Ezekiel 37). Being born again is required, but Nicodemus could not perform such a requirement; it is a requirement that only God’s Spirit can perform. And yet as the Spirit, “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” (John 3:8); nevertheless, what was required of Nicodemus was to understand his dire need to look to Jesus as the source of life: “And 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” (John 3:14-15, see Number 21:4-9). All who trust in the work of Jesus on the Cross, have their curse and condemnation removed and receive eternal life.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe