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

 

 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw 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 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 

 

On Saturday 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 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 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.  My study Bible points out that in the Gospel of John, there are three Passover feasts reported between Christ's Baptism and Passion (see also John 6:4; 11:55).  These who that Jesus' earthly ministry lasted three years.  Let us note also that John testifies here to Christ as the "knower of hearts" (Acts 1:24; 15:8) in that 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."   My study Bible comments 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.  After the conversation reported here in John's third chapter, Nicodemus' faith will grow to the point of defending Jesus before the Sanhedrin (John 7:5-51) and eventually making a bold public expression of faith in preparing and entombing Christ's body (John 19:39-42).  My study Bible also notes that according to some early sources, Nicodemus was baptized by 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."  The term "born again" is something with which many people are familiar.  But in the Greek of the Gospel, the word translated as again may also be mean "from above."  It is a distinct reference to the heavenly birth from God through faith in Christ (John 1:12-13), my study Bible notes.  It says that this heavenly birth is baptism, and our adoption by God as our Father (Galatians 4:4-7).  Moreover, this new birth is simply the beginning of our spiritual life, the goal being entrance into the kingdom of God.  Thus we may think of our baptism as something that is meant to be fulfilled throughout our lives.

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?"  Nicodemus misunderstands Christ's words, and questions the possibility of a second physical birth.  My study Bible instructs us in noting that misunderstandings are frequent occurrences in the Gospel of John (see John 2:19-21; 4:10-14, 30-34; 6:27; 7:37-39; 11:11-15).  This is a teaching method, whereby Jesus 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."  My study Bible says that this birth of water and the Spirit is a direct reference to Christian baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit given in chrismation.

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."  My study Bible references John 1:13 here, and reminds us that adoption as a child of God isn't a matter of the flesh (such as ethnic descent or natural birth), neither is it by a decision of a human being.  Becoming a child of God is a spiritual birth, born of the Spirit, by grace, through faith, and in the Holy 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."   In Greek, this is a play on words.  The Greek word πνευμα/pneuma (similar to its Hebrew counterpart) 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.  Similarly, the Spirit moves where He wills, and cannot be contained or driven by human ideas and agendas.

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."  Citing the commentary of St. John Chrysostom, my study Bible explains that earthly things refer to grace and baptism given to human beings.  These are "earthly," not meaning "unspiritual," but in the sense that they occur on the earth and they are given to creatures (that is, created beings).  The heavenly things referred to here would include those ungraspable mysteries of the eternal generation of the Son from the Father.  That is, they relate to the Son's eternal existence before all time and to God's divine plan of salvation for the world, even the entire cosmos.  My study Bible says that a person must first grasp the ways in which God works among human beings before one can even begin to understand things that pertain exclusively to God.

 

"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 refers to the event when Moses lifted up and image of a serpent, in order to cure the Israelites from deadly bites of poisonous snakes, recorded in Numbers 21:4-9.  My study Bible explains that this miracle-working image prefigured Christ being lifted up on the Cross, as Jesus expressly indicates here.  As believers behold the crucified Christ in faith, it notes, the power of sin and death is overthrown in them.  So, just as the image of a serpent was the weapon that destroyed the power of the serpents, so the Cross, and Christ's death upon it, becomes the weapon that overthrows death itself (Hebrews 2:14-15).

Already in chapter 3, the image of the Cross makes its appearance.  And this first time Jesus refers to the Cross, it is not with dread nor dismay, but He gives this image as life-giving, salvific, protecting and preserving human life against the poisons of the enemy.  The deadly serpents to which Jesus refers, whose poison killed the Hebrews during the Exodus, are an image of the devil's poison, intrinsically tied up with death.  But just as Moses, holding the brilliant copper image of the serpent -- a reflection suggesting the seraphic hosts in triumph over their fallen brethren -- took away the sting and power of death during that incident described in Numbers 21:4-9, Jesus gives us the image of Himself "lifted up" on the Cross, a powerful beam of the true Light reflected for us to draw our focus heavenward, which all the more powerfully works to defeat the power of the evil one, of death in its many forms, and to work for all time, throughout this age in which we await His return.  This is what we are given by Christ's very description and understanding, reflected in the image of Moses raising his staff with the copper serpent to draw the Israelites from the venom of the biting serpents. So let us delve a little more deeply into this image and understanding by considering what it is that the Cross works in such a powerful way -- even using the venom of the devil and the devil's most potent and feared weapon, death, in order to defeat death.  In this we are given to understand that Christ -- and the Cross -- have the power to reflect back upon the evil one the sins that begin there.  In Hebrews 2:16-18, continuing from the verses cited above, St. Paul goes on to describe Christ as "a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people" in the same sense that in ancient Israel, a goat was sent out into the wilderness (the "direction" of the devil) carrying the sins out of the community and back from where they came.  In this same sense the Cross is a reflecting weapon, a kind of mirror that sends back death to death, and Christ Himself and His life and mission and ministry in this world the ultimate weapon against evil, turning back the devil's sin upon the devil, the one from whom sin and death came into the world.  Note that St. Paul, in this passage cited, also states that Christ was tempted as we are, even as Adam through temptation the first sin entered into the world.  Whatever way we approach these subjects, as symbols or literal worldly truths, they remain spiritually true, a reflection of what St. Paul called our struggle or contest "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12).  So we are to understand the saving power of Christ and the Cross as that which bestows defeat through the power to turn back evil upon itself, as the "stronger man" (Luke 11:20-22), as Son of Man, has come to claim and redeem for Himself those who trust in Him, that they should not perish but have eternal life with Him.