The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit

 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."  Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"

Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

- John 2:23-3:15

In yesterday's reading, we were told that the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up."  So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.  This is the first of three Passover feasts reported in John's Gospel between Jesus' Baptism and Passion (see also 6:4, 11:55), and it is from this fact that we know Jesus' ministry lasted three years.  John tells us so much about Jesus and the nature of what sort of person He is.  Here, we understand Him as the "heart-knower," for He knew what was in man.  "Heart-knower" in the Greek is encapsulated in one word (καρδιογνώστης), used twice in the New Testament  (Acts 1:24, 15:8). 

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."  John's Gospel introduces us to those who are among the ruling leadership, and yet do believe in Christ.  Clearly, Nicodemus, a Pharisee, does not demand a sign because he knows already that "no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."  Thereby we know the Pharisees are not monolithic in their opinions and attitude toward Jesus.  He comes to Christ by night to learn for fear of the rest of the Sanhedrin which is antagonistic to Jesus.  Nicodemus' faith will grow; later He will defend Jesus before the Sanhedrin (7:50-51), and even make a bold public expression of faith by preparing and entombing the Lord's body (19:39-42).  My study bible says that according to some early sources, Nicodemus was baptized by St. Peter and consequently removed from the Sanhedrin and forced to flee Jerusalem.

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  In the original Greek, that which is translated as again (in born again) can also be translated "from above."  So we are clearly given an understanding that to be born again is to experience a heavenly birth from God through faith in Christ (1:12-13).  This is baptism, and the adoption by God as our Father (Galatians 4:4-7).  This new birth, says my study bible, is only the beginning of our spiritual life.  Its goal is entrance into the kingdom of God.   

Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"   The kind of confusion that Nicodemus expresses here is a common occurrence in John's Gospel.  John frequently reports language used by Jesus that implies meanings beyond the surface or literal meaning in order to convey spiritual understanding.  Christ uses these opportunities to take an idea from its superficial or worldly meaning to a "heavenly and eternal meaning" (as my study bible puts it).  

Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."  Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"   To be born of water and the Spirit is a clear reference to Christian baptism, and the gift of the Holy Spirit given at chrismation.   Jesus uses a play on words here to teach about the mysterious action of the Spirit.  Pneuma in Greek means both wind and Spirit.  My study bible says that the working of the Holy Spirit in the new birth is as mysterious as the source and destination of the blowing wind.  So likewise the Spirit moves where He wills and cannot be contained by human ideas or agendas.

Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?"   According to commentary by St. John Chrysostom, Jesus is referring to grace and baptism that are given to man when He speaks of the earthly things Nicodemus finds hard to believe.  They are earthly in the sense that they are experienced by we in the world, given to us human beings.  Heavenly things would involve the great mysteries that belong only to God such as God's eternal existence before time or God's cosmic plan of salvation.  My study bible says that a person must first grasp the ways in which God works among human beings before he can begin to understand things that pertain to God Himself.

"No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."  Jesus is referring to when Moses lifted up an image of a serpent in order to cure the Israelites from the deadly bites of poisonous snakes (Numbers 21:4-9).   My study bible says that this miracle-working image prefigured Christ being lifted up on the Cross.  It notes, "As believers behold the crucified Christ in faith, the power of sin and death is overthrown in them.  Just as the image of a serpent was the weapon that destroyed the power of the serpents, so the instrument of Christ's death becomes the weapon that overthrows death itself.

We're given a great deal of information in today's reading.  Jesus not only teaches Nicodemus about baptism and birth of water and the Spirit, but He also gives us the image of the Cross and what that will do for us.  Moreover, in John's Gospel, Jesus' teaching elevates us from one place to another.  We're invited to think about what these concepts mean, how heaven and earth can interact, and more specifically what we have been given through grace.  We're invited to participate, in the fullest sense possible for us, in the actions of heaven even while we are on earth.  It invites our thinking to be expanded and challenged, to come to terms with the revelation of grace and its gifts, and what His life and ministry -- the fullness of Incarnation -- gives to us.  He gives us mysteries to ponder, like the working of the Cross in our lives.  How can such an instrument of the death, reserved for the worst criminals under the Roman system, be the instrument of eternal life and our salvation?  These are the workings of heaven on earth, the "earthly things" of which Jesus speaks to Nicodemus.  But they are all clearly signs that point to the greater life and existence far beyond what we know and has been revealed in the world.  They also point deeply within us, into our hearts, the place that Christ knows, and the place where even the kingdom of heaven can be hosted within us, and where its seed planted by Christ can take root and grow.  These are the realities that John's Gospel points us toward, prepares us to think about and to grasp, to open our minds and hearts to.  Like Nicodemus, what we are given here must grow and be nurtured.  The story unfolds now as it did then, and continues in each of our own lives.  Let us be open to the reality of the mystery.