May 26, 2014
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

From the Wind of the Spirit

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Opening Prayer

Help me come to You today, as Nicodemus did: seeking to know You more and the truth You have for me.

Read John 3:1-21

[1] Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. [2] He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” [3] Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” [4] “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” [5] Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. [6] Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. [7] You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ [8] The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” [9] “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked. [10] “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? [11] Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. [12] I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? [13] No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven-the Son of Man. [14] Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, [15] that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” [16] For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. [18] Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. [19] This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. [20] Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. [21] But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright &copy 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.&reg Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflect

The faith that Jesus speaks about is the gift that is realized in one’s life only by the power of the Holy Spirit.

John’s Gospel, unlike Matthew, Mark and Luke, reflects a deep, personal, abiding relationship with the One whom the gospels are about. John writes the way one might speak at a Memorial Service, with themes (such a light and truth) and anecdotal, eyewitness stories (such as those in chapters 3,4,5, and 9). This chapter contains one of the most well known and beloved Scripture verses as well (16)!

Nicodemus is a leader (his name means “conqueror”) and a Pharisee. He was considered holy, and was most likely wealthy and successful. He would be older, being an “expert” in the law. Because of his age, it is conceivable that he was at the Temple when the baby Jesus was prophesied over by Simeon and Anna. He could also have been at the Temple when as a boy of twelve, Jesus was teaching there. And he may have been there when Jesus cleared the Temple (2:13-22).  There was something about this poor, itinerant Rabbi that intrigued Nicodemus. He should have been “put off” or offended when this young upstart cleared the Temple. Rather, he was drawn to Jesus and willing to risk much by coming to Him, albeit by coming under cover of darkness (2).

Maybe he was tired of the hypocrisy of the religious leaders or desired an “alive” faith that he failed to see around him. Jesus went to the heart of what Nicodemus was missing: “You must be born again.” The faith Nicodemus sought is not found in the right pedigree, education, or by following a “moral” or “religious” code. It comes by the movement of “the wind,” the Holy Spirit (7,8), who brings new birth that’s spiritual, not physical. Like Nicodemus, we, too, must come, by night or by day, and receive that same new birth!

Apply

“God so loved the world…” (3:16), and he loves you! How can you take that love, that “born again” experience, and take the Gospel to a world that desperately needs him?

Closing prayer

Lord Jesus, may I be so moved and changed by Your Holy Spirit that I know that I have been born from above.

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