Today’s Scripture Readings

Gospel Reading

NRSV

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.

Jesus encounters Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin at night due to his fear of being discovered by his peers. Later in Ch 7 Nicodemus defends Jesus at a meeting of the Pharisees and finally after the Crucifixion, Nicodemus assists Joseph of Arimathea with the burial of Jesus, supplying expensive spices. These encounters show a pattern of gradual growth in his courage in openly aligning himself with Jesus.

Today’s encounter is curious because it seems that Jesus bamboozles Nicodemus with his need to be ‘born from above’ if he is to enter the kingdom of God. Puzzled as to how he can be physically reborn, Nicodemus is at a loss to understand how one can “enter a second time into the mother’s womb.” He seeks to understand Jesus’ words from his own perspective, his own logic and his own frame of reference, namely as a Jewish religious leader, steeped in the Mosaic Law.

Our encounters with God will likely bamboozle us because “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8-9) and will ask of us to think and act differently. This poses us with a challenge to make a change to our ways of thinking and acting to accord with what God asks of us. For each of us, it will be something different: maybe it will be facing a fear or speaking up for a person being humiliated or sharing our faith with a family member or…..

What might Jesus we be asking of us to change today so that we can be born anew and enter the Kingdom of God?