For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life

 

 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 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.  

 

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  

 

"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."

 

- John 3:1–21 

 

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 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."   Today the Gospel gives us a faithful man of the Pharisees.  As the text tells us, this means he was a ruler of the Jews, part of the religious leadership in the temple.  My study Bible comments on these first verses that Nicodemus believed that Jesus was from God, but at this point, his faith is still weak, as he is afraid of his peers, and so therefore came to Jesus by night.  After this conversation, Nicodemus' faith will grow to the point of defending Jesus before the Sanhedrin (John 7:50-51) and finally he will make a bold public expression of faith by preparing and entombing Christ's body (John 19:39-42).  In the Orthodox Church, his memory is celebrated on the third Sunday of Pascha (Easter) together with the Myrrhbearing Women and Joseph of Arimathea (who was also a prominent member of the Council and a wealthy man).  According to some early sources, my study Bible says, 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."  Regarding the term born again, the word translated as "again" from the Greek literally means "from above."  It clearly refers to the heavenly birth from God through faith in Christ (John 1:12-13).  This heavenly birth is baptism and our adoption by God as our Father, my study Bible says (Galatians 4:4-7).  This new birth is just the beginning of our spiritual life; the ultimate 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?"   Nicodemus misunderstands, and so asks about being physically born a second time.  These types of misunderstandings are frequent in John's Gospel (John 2:19-21; 4:10-14, 30:34; 6:27; 7:37-39; 11:11-15).  These become opportunities for Christ 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 direct reference to Christian baptism, and the gift of the Holy Spirit which is given at chrismation.  This is a spiritual birth by grace, through faith, and in the Holy Spirit, and thus adoption as a child of God (see Titus 3:4-7). 

 

"Do not marvel that I said 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."  Here there is a play on words.  In the Greek of the Gospel, the Greek word πνευμα/pneuma means both wind and Spirit.  The working of the Holy Spirit in the new birth, my study Bible comments, is as mysterious as the source and destination of the blowing wind.  Similarly, the Spirit moves where the Spirit wills, and cannot be contained by human ideas or 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."  My study Bible cites St. John Chrysostom, according to whom earthly things is a reference to grace and baptism given to human beings.  These things are "earthly" in the sense that they occur on earth and are given to creatures, although they are spiritual in nature.  The heavenly things referred to here are the ungraspable mysteries of the eternal generation of the Son from the Father, and they relate to the Son'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 even begin to understand the things that pertain exclusively to God in God's identity.

 "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."  In Numbers 21:4-9, we read that Moses lifted up an image of a serpent in order to cure the Israelites from deadly bites of poisonous snakes.  This was a miracle-working image, which, as Jesus indicates here, prefigured Christ being lifted up on the Cross.  As believers behold the crucified Christ in faith, my study Bible says, the power of sin and death is overthrown in them.  Just as the image of a serpent became the weapon that destroyed the power of the serpents, so the instrument of Christ's death becomes the weapon that overthrows death itself.  

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  My study Bible comments that to show the reason the Son must be crucified (or "lifted up" as He refers to it in the preceding passage),  Jesus here declares God's great love not only for Israel but for the world.  This single verse, cited quite often, expresses the whole of the message of John's Gospel, and, my study Bible adds, of salvation history.

"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."  My study Bible says of this passage that, while Christ came to save and not to condemn, human beings have free will.  So, this gift can be rejected; and a person effectively be condemned through one's own rejection.  

What is salvation?  One must consider all the ways in which we come to understand how salvation works.  There is first of all Holy Baptism, of which today's passage speaks.  This is baptism with both water and the Holy Spirit.  We recall that John the Baptist baptized with water, but not with the Holy Spirit, and his was a baptism of repentance in preparation for the coming of the Messiah (the Christ).  Baptism with water is a type of symbolic burial and rebirth; to be submerged is to take off the old life, and rise up out of the waters of sin, to repent and to seek another way.  But to remit sin, to "put away" sin, is the property of God in the person of Jesus Christ.  Through the grace of the Holy Spirit, we are given the capacity to become children of God, and to be transformed into those who may enter the kingdom of God.  So to be reborn in the Spirit is a process of faith, a transformation throughout our lives so that we may be saved in that sense -- to enter into this quality of eternal life.  These are indeed mysteries of God, but they are "earthly" in the sense that they have been given to us, and through the life of the Church and its saints, through the experience of countless faithful, grace has played a role that we know and can experience and see.  Again, we revisit the words of Christ, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God" (Luke 18:27).  To be baptized in Holy Baptism is therefore a tremendous gift, made possible through the life, death, and Resurrection of Christ, and the grace freely given to us all.  But we remain free to reject this salvation, and to lose it.  Let us remember, everything is given to us from God's love, which Christ lives and enacts throughout His ministry.  Let us receive His way to the life He offers to us.