Our Gospel this coming Sunday (John 3:1-17) is the first of three stories of encounters people had with Jesus.
There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.Someone who was a leader of the Jewish people, a prominent citizen, a member of the Pharisees who were a source of much of the criticism of Jesus. Interestingly, this would be the description much later of Saul of Tarsus, who became known as St. Paul.
He came to Jesus by night
Which has the distinct implication that he did not want to be seen coming to Jesus.
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."
Nicodemus makes a nice compliment, leading us to think he had seen and heard Jesus before. Note the emphasis on the word “signs” – “these signs that you do” – which is the word the writer of John uses for the extraordinary actions or miracles Jesus did. Nicodemus compliments Jesus, I think quite sincerely. But Jesus turns the discussion back to Nicodemus, and what he has seen.
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."
Jesus places a very great emphasis on the Spirit – the Spirit will also be a theme in his encounter with the woman of Samaria. “Spirit” – the Holy Spirit – is the name for God who is present with us and within us, unseen, like the air we breathe.
We need to be born of water (perhaps a reference to Baptism) and Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps us see who Jesus is, what he has done, what his story means to us. The Holy Spirit gives us the love of Jesus to give – to God in prayer and worship, and to others in loving service. The Holy Spirit gives us the strength and wisdom and courage to love, to see how to love.
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.”
Now Jesus turns to the story of Moses in the Book of Exodus, to a scene where Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. Just so Jesus must be lifted up – and here I think there is a play on the image, for Jesus will be lifted up on the cross, where we will see his love for everyone human being fully and completely given. He will be lifted up in the resurrection from the dead and exalted to glory at the Father’s right hand. There is the double meaning of “lifted up.”
“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.”
Then come the great words Martin Luther called “the gospel in miniature.” If you see someone holding up a sign at Wrigley Field saying “John 3:16” this is what they are referring to!!!
"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.”
God so loved the world, the whole world, all the people in the world, everyone one – that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him – trusts in his love – may have 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."
A WORD ABOUT OUR FIRST READING
Our first and second readings are tied together in an important way, and I should offer some notes about them as well.
Our first reading is from Genesis 12:1-4a.
In the Book of Genesis, Abraham and his wife Sarah were the first people to believe in God. Abraham’s original name was Abram, and Sarah’s was Sarai. Their new names were a sign of their new faith in God.
God sent Abraham to live in the new land. God promises Abraham and Sarah that a great nation will descend from them. Both the Jewish people. And also everyone who believes in God.
The Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him.A WORD ABOUT THE SECOND READING
Our second reading is from the Letter of Paul to the Romans 4:1-5, 13-17.
In this passage from his Letter to the Romans, Paul takes a verse from the story of Abraham in the Book of Genesis, to be at the center of his theology in this letter.
“Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” As noted above, in the unfolding story of Genesis, Abraham and his wife Sarah are the first people to believe in God. Belief meant acceptance of faith that God truly existed, and it also meant trust in God – trust in God’s mercy and loving kindness.
Paul takes this verse to mean, that Abraham was put right with God not by being perfect, but by his faith in God. Our righteousness is not based on our works, but on our faith – our own trust in God’s mercy and loving kindness.
What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.
For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.
For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations") -- in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
This is a very great passage: that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, who Paul goes on to define as those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations").
Pope Pius XI, who died in 1939, is said to have told a group of Belgian pilgrims, We are all Semites – a courageous statement in the face of the anti-Semitism of the late 1930s. That statement is rooted in the words of Paul today.
(Raymond Webster)
