John 3:10-21
“Notice what you notice.” Quite a few thoughts for today, some lingering over from yesterday. The first, in fact, is from yesterday, that Nicodemus came to Jesus “by night” (John 3:2). I’ve always heard that it was because of Nicodemus’ fear of condemnation from the Jewish rulers. But one of the Internet sites suggested that by nighttime the crowds would have gone home and Nicodemus would have a better chance of some one-on-one time with Jesus. So my further thought was that instead of being scorned by the Jewish leaders, they may have seen Nicodemus as an emissary (“Who is this new ‘teacher’ who has come on the scene? Can we learn from Him?”) or a spy (“Find out what you can about this guy!”).
A second item is John 3:16 – a verse citation that regularly pops up on our television screen during football games and other sporting and entertainment events, possibly the most memorized verse in the Bible. I’m sure I’ve seen this item before, but now looking more intently at small Gospel passages, there comes the reality that this verse, these words come from Jesus’ encounter with Nicodemus. Jesus is trying to explain heaven and the Holy Spirit world to Nicodemus – who clearly is much more earthly focused: How can these things be? (v. 9).
It’s virtually impossible to understand Jesus in today’s reading without connecting back to yesterday’s verses, especially verse 5 (born of water) and verse 6 (born of the flesh), contrasted with born of the Spirit (John 3:5-9). Today’s reading continues with Jesus speaking of heavenly things and eternal life (John 3:12-13, 15-16), essentially teaching Nicodemus about a spiritual world that Nicodemus has not well understood. The entire passage in verses 10-16 makes so much more sense when we see the contrast with Nicodemus’ earthly understanding.
There is more that I could chat about – condemnation and salvation, light and darkness, belief and unbelief – I leave these contrasting pairs for your own ruminations!
Slava Bohu!!