John 3:1-4
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?”
It’s quite easy at this point in the story to feel a bit sorry for old Nicodemus. Actually, we don’t know how old he is, but whether influenced by art or tradition, most of us tend to think of him as elderly. And we also tend to assume that he just didn’t get it, that he was too bound to his tradition, or thought to narrowly or literally, to comprehend Jesus.
But I suspect John has other things in mind. As we’ll see, John regularly provides us with characters who don’t understand what Jesus is saying. Actually, they quite often misunderstand him by, indeed, taking him literally and missing his deeper theological point and invitation he is making.
So the problem isn’t really with Nicodemus, at least not according to John, the problem is with us. With our own tendency to take Jesus, and the life of faith more generally, rather superficially, as a means to an end, or as an after thought, all the while missing the depth of grace and life Jesus offers. And so each time we encounter in John’s Gospel a character who misreads Jesus, assume that John is thinking of us and wants to give us a chance to go deeper with Jesus.
And so in this scene, old – or maybe young! – Nicodemus misunderstands Jesus, wanting to reduce Jesus’ words to a mechanism, to a vehicle by which to enjoy the same kind of relationship with God that Jesus obviously has. And this provides Jesus with an excuse to enlighten Nicodemus – and us! – by offer him/us not a new tool by which to gain access to God, not even with a new relationship with God, but rather with a whole new way of being in the world. It’s a way of being that is governed by recognizing our identity as those God loves. As those God loves, as we’ll soon here, more than we could possibly imagine.
Prayer: Dear God, help us to perceive and recognize in Jesus just how much you love us that we may share that love with others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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