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 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 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 what We know 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

Yesterday we read 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 the, "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.  John reports three Passover feasts in his Gospel, between the Lord's Baptism and the Passion (see also 6:4; 11:55).  From this we understand that Christ's ministry on earth lasted three years.  Here John tells us of Christ's ability to know the hearts of people.  There is a Greek word coined for this characteristic:  καρδιογνώστης/kardiognostes.  We might translate it as "heart-knower."  It is used in Acts 1:24 and 15:8. Here John speaks of this capacity of Christ to know what was in all people, to know their hearts, and how this works in Christ's discernment of those who would follow him in true faith or not.  It is an important distinction to note the difference between those who follow because of the signs He did, and those who follow from faith in the heart, their own quality of discernment, loyalty, and love.  It also tells us that our faith is not a product of coercion or manipulation, but of genuine communion of the heart.

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."  My study bible says that Nicodemus believed Jesus was from God, but his faith was still weak, as he was afraid of his peers and therefore came to Jesus by night.  Later on, Nicodemus' faith will grow to the point of defending Jesus in front of the Sanhedrin (7:50-51), and eventually making a very courageous public expression of faith in preparing and entombing the Lord's body (19:39-42).  In the church, his memory is celebrated together with the Myrrhbearing Women and Joseph of Arimathea.  Some early sources claim that Nicodemus was baptized by Peter; he was consequently removed from the Sanhedrin and forced to flee Jerusalem.  What we note about Nicodemus in these first verses of chapter 3, and appropriately following the verses before, is his proper response to the signs which Jesus performs.  His intent is to learn from Christ, to find out more.  It is a sign of discipleship, for disciple means "learner."

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  To be born again can also be translated as being born "from above" in the Greek.  It strikingly refers to the heavenly birth from God through faith in Christ (1:12-13).  My study bible says that this heavenly birth is baptism and our adoption by God as our Father (Galatians 4:4-7).  A "new birth" indicates the beginning of spiritual life; the goal of the new birth being 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?"  This is a typical example of a frequent happenstance in John's Gospel:  the misunderstandings that prompt deeper questioning and revelation of faith and the mysteries of God.  Nicodemus understands on worldly terms, asking Christ about a second physical birth.  (See also 2:19-21; 4:10-14, 30-34; 6:27; 7:37-39; 11:11-15 for other examples of misunderstanding which prompts deeper revelation and knowledge.)  My study bible says that Christ uses these opportunities to elevate an idea from a superficial or earthly meaning to a heavenly and eternal meaning.

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."  The birth of water and the Spirit is a clear reference to Christian baptism, and the gift of the Holy Spirit which is given at chrismation.  This is a spiritual birth, which Christ says is necessary for our spiritual growth and participation in the kingdom of God.  It also indicates the spiritual adoption as a child of God (see 1:12-13).

"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 born of the Spirit."   This is a play on words in the original Greek of the text.  The same word (πνευμα/pneuma) 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.  As such, the Spirit  moves where the Spirit wills, and cannot be contained by human ideas or agendas.  Experiences teaches us that those without spiritual understanding frequently find the truths of faith incomprehensible.

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 what We know 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."  St. John Chrysostom comments on this passage that earthly things refer to grace and baptism, which are given to human beings.  They are "earthly" as they occur on earth and are given to creatures, but they are not "unspiritual."  The heavenly things that Jesus refers to here are those great mysteries of heaven, such as the eternal generation of the Son from the Father.  They pertain to Christ's eternal existence before all time, and to God's divine plan of salvation for the world.  My study bible comments that a person must first grasp the ways in which God works among human beings before one can begin to understand things that pertain specifically to the Person of God.  When Christ uses the term We, He is referring to the inner reality of communion between Father, Son, and Spirit, as witness of the heavenly realm itself.

"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."  My study bible reminds us that Moses lifted up an image of a serpent in order to cure the Israelites from deadly bites of poisonous snakes (Numbers 21:4-9).  This is another example of "type" (as discussed in yesterday's reading and commentary), in which the miracle-working image used by Moses prefigured Christ being lifted upon the Cross.  As the faithful behold the image of the crucified Christ, the power of sin is overthrown in them.  Moreover, as the image of a serpent became a weapon to destroy the power of the serpents, so the instrument of Christ's death becomes the weapon that conquers death itself.

Let us jump right in to consider this final statement of Christ, and its understanding of the greatest paradox of our faith:  the Cross.  What Christ tells us in today's reading goes to the heart of our Christian understanding, and into the deep mysteries of how salvation works in our world.  Jesus speaks of witness in today's reading; that is, of Himself as witness to what He knows of heavenly things.  He declares to Nicodemus, "Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness."  In the Revelation given to St. John, we read of "Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth" (see Revelation 1:4-5).  Why is Christ "the faithful witness"?  We must consider witnessing and testimony in the context of the language itself:  it is the language of courts, of justice, of judgment. We know of Christ as Judge, but how is He witness?  As the One crucified on the Cross, He bears witness of God's presence in the face of the evil in that is in the world, against the "evil one."  In the face of evil at work somewhere in our own lives, adverse circumstances, and difficult choices, should we seek the will of the One in whom we place our faith, we too will be witnessing.  We will be bearing witness through our response both to our faith and to that which works against that kingdom.  "Martyr" comes from the Greek word for witness.  Christ has said that the one unforgivable thing is blasphemy against the Spirit (Mark 3:28-30); that is, against the good work of the Spirit in the world.  When we give testimony in faith, we seek to live the work of the Spirit in us.   As Moses lifted up the image of the serpent in obedience to God, so the power of the serpents was turned back upon the serpents tormenting the people of Israel.  Christ will go to the Cross in obedience to the Father; it is the way that salvation comes to the world.  As such, Christ becomes witness, bearing testimony to the faith He invites us to follow, and destroying the power of death by turning it back upon death itself.  This is divine justice; it is how judgment works.  That is the true power of witnessing, of the holy.  It is an action that creates justice in the same way the image of the serpent turned the power of the serpents back upon the serpents.  Christ as witness turns the instrument of death back upon death to destroy death itself.  We may not all realize this great power of our faith and of witnessing, but by inviting each one of us to take up our own crosses, Christ invites us in to the struggle for the salvation of this world, to participate in that same witnessing for which He sets the standard and leads.  Through the power of the Cross, we, too, may witness in our own lives and become a part of the heavenly justice He brings to the world, turning back the weapons of evil upon that from whence it comes.  We may not see nor experience directly such results, but we can rest assured that we enter into the labors begun by others (4:38).  We, too, enter into this cosmic plan for salvation, as part of the great love God has for humankind -- as the next verse of this third chapter of John will tell us in tomorrow's reading.  There is only one Christ, but as witness, He invites us into this struggle for the salvation of the world, to become witnesses ourselves.  It begins with our rebirth from above, so that we, too, may participate and understand what it means to be a part of this Kingdom, even in our lives in this world.  The ways in which we are called to bear witness may be as mysterious and unknown as where the wind will blow.  Nevertheless, this is where we are called to go.