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 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 3:16–21 

 

Yesterday we read that when Jesus 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 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."  My study Bible comments that in order to show the reason the Son must be crucified ("lifted up" -- see yesterday's reading, above), Jesus here declares the great love of God not only for Israel, but for the world.  This single verse, it says, expresses the whole of the message of John's Gospel, and even 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."  While Christ came to save and not to condemn, my study Bible says, human beings have free will.  So, therefore, we can reject this gift, and become condemned by our own rejection. 

 

 "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 is a reason why this verse (John 3:16) is perhaps the most frequently encountered verse quoted around us.  But the reason may be much bigger and broader than one thinks.  This is because, quite simply, this verse not only sums up the Gospels, or John's Gospel, or even the story of salvation.  That is because when we think of the word "salvation" that also needs to be broader than what we usually think of when we encounter the word in our religious context.  Mostly we tend, for various reasons, to focus on sin as the reason for the necessity of Christ's Incarnation, so that we are saved through Him from our "fallen" or sinful state.  But the truth about Christ's Incarnation, as early Church Fathers testify, is really much, much bigger than that.  For Christ as the Lord populates the whole of the Bible, Old and New Testaments, in the many encounters with the Lord we can read about -- from the Lord walking in the Garden (where Adam and Eve heard the sound of God walking - Genesis 3:8), to Abraham being visited by the Lord (Genesis 18), to Moses encountering the Lord in the Burning Bush (Exodus 3), or on Mount Sinai in Exodus 33 or 36, and the various other encounters with the Lord documented in both Old and New Testaments.  This is partly because, while we are used to thinking of time in terms of the linear way in which you and I experience it, God is not bound by time, and as Christ is the only begotten, He is also God.  Thus these encounters with the Lord are encounters with the Son, the Logos, who not only brought the world into existence as the Word together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, but becomes incarnate Himself as Jesus Christ, and also makes these other appearances among God's creation.  Our salvation is so much more than salvation from sin, because God the Son has come among us in the person of Jesus, but also in other encounters we read about in Scripture.  Why?  Each encounter, including the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, is for this purpose:  so that we know that God so loved the world (the κοσμος/cosmos) that He sent His only begotten so so that we creatures should not perish but have eternal life.  This is the reality of the Incarnation; it is an expression of God's love seeking ultimate union with us, with the creation that God loves.  It cannot be minimized to a kind of chance happenstance because human beings have sinned, or even a kind of benign projection because God knew that "would" happen.  Why?  Because Scripture also tells us that Jesus Christ the Lord is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8).  His sacrifice of the greatest love (John 15:13) is one already made ("slain" in the Greek describes a state that already exists) from the very creation of the world.  Whatever we are, from the greatest saint to the greatest sinner, and even for the whole of creation, the cosmos, Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of creation.  The Son's sacrifice speaks to us of pure love, and this is indeed the message of the Gospel, the message of the Christ, the one thing necessary we must always know and carry with us -- that He is the Lord who died for us.  Keep this sense with you at all times, and be grateful for it, because this is ultimately the message that saves, in all circumstances.  While Christ indeed calls us to repentance, He does so first and before all else out of love as the foundation for everything else.  He calls us to the light and away from the darkness for this reason.  He gives us His truth and asks us to walk in that truth.  He calls us forward to be with Him for an eternity, He asks us to accept His gift, He defeated death out of love for us, He died for you and for me and for the whole world.  Let us always keep this understanding with us.  

 

 

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. 

But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God

 

 "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 3:16-21 

 

Yesterday we read that when Jesus 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 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."  My study Bible comments on today's passage that while Christ came to save and not to condemn, human beings have free will.  Therefore, a person can reject this gift.  But through one's own rejection, one will not be saved and is therefore "condemned" in that sense.  In the Prologue to John's Gospel, we read, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12-13).  The self-exile of rejection, therefore, becomes a deprivation of that right to become children of God, because of the choice not to receive the the light He offers, the "true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world" (John 1:9).

 

 John writes, "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."  Christ comes into the world on a saving mission.  We can take the image He gives of Himself as the "stronger man" when He is accused by the religious leaders of casting out demons by the power of demons, as illustration of a Deliverer or Savior.  In Mark's Gospel, Jesus asks, "How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house" (Mark 3:23-27).  This is the image of one who has come to take a strong man's fortress; the initial strong man is the devil who holds people hostage in this world (his "goods").  But Christ is the stronger, who can bind the strong man, and plunder his goods, delivering people from captivity.  This was an image of what it meant that Christ could exorcise demons, to set free and to heal.  So we can look at that particular image He gives of Himself and think of His mission to save the world in those terms.  We can think of those "captive" to the darkness (for any particular reason) who reject the help of the "stronger man," of the Light coming into the world to penetrate that darkness.  Suppose we refuse that help?  Suppose we identify with the darkness instead, and refuse to be "set free" from what we're used to, in the home or fortress of the strong man we know?  This is what it means to fail to receive the Light, to fail to  receive Christ, and reject faith in Him.   Once again, we look carefully at the language of faith to understand belief as "trust," which is the root of the Greek used here.  It implies not so much an intellectual belief about Jesus, as it does a deep experiential response to the Person of Christ, to the Light itself, to the truth.   John provides us with a deeper motivation for the rejection, and John's language employed here indicates not a simple choice or preference, but rather what people love ("men loved darkness rather than light"), and for that matter, what is a first love.  And yes, that word in the Greek text means "love."  This is about a deep response of the heart and soul, not an intellectual persuasion.  We do not love by intellect or even emotion alone, but love comes from a place deeply linked to who we are.  The one act of choice here is in our works, in the "deeds" we do.  And that, indeed, is where we may be asked to change.  What is it we need to hide from the light, and why?  And we must ask, from whom are these deeds thought to be hidden?  For the One who comes to save is the "Heart-knower" from whom nothing is hidden.  But darkness blinds us to this too.  Let us consider only what it means to hide from One who loves us better than we love ourselves, who knows us thoroughly, and wants life and healing for us.  For this is what is refused, and we can only ponder the unfortunate reasons why.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 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.  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."  John's Gospel makes it clear to us that not all of the Pharisees, and not all the members of the Council (Sanhedrin), were antagonistic to Jesus.  My study Bible says that Nicodemus believed that Jesus was from God, but his faith was still weak.  As we can read, he was afraid of his peers and therefore came to Jesus by night.  As we will read in future chapters in this Gospel, Nicodemus faith following this conversation with Jesus will grow to the point of defending Christ before the Sanhedrin (John 7:50-51), and eventually he will make a bold public expression of faith in preparing and entombing the Lord's body (John 19:39-42).  In the Orthodox Church, Nicodemus is commemorated together with the Myrrhbearing Women and Joseph of Arimathea.  My study Bible 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."  In terms of the phrase born again, the word "again" in the Greek (ἄνωθεν/anothen) can also be translated "from above."  My study Bible says that 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 (Galatians 4:4-7).  My study Bible comments that this new birth is just the beginning of our spiritual life, with the goal 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?"   In what we will come to see as characteristic of John's Gospel, Nicodemus misunderstands, and so asks this question about a second physical birth.  Misunderstandings occur frequently in John's Gospel (see John 2:19-21; 4:10-14, 30-34; 6:27; 7:37-39; 11:11-15), and are ways to help us to grasp the concepts Jesus conveys, often needing to use metaphor.  As my study Bible puts it, these opportunities are used by Jesus 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.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' "  Here Jesus "fleshes out," so to speak, the idea of baptism, and our adoption as a child of God (see John 1:13).  My study Bible reminds us that to become a child of God is a spiritual birth by grace, through faith, and in the Holy Spirit.

"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."  This is a play on words:  the Greek word πνεῦμα/pneuma means both wind and Spirit.  The working of the Holy Spirit in the new birth is as mysterious and unknown to us as the source and destination of the blowing wind.  Likewise, my study Bible says, the Spirit moves where He 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?"  According to St. Chrysostom, earthly things is a reference to grace and baptism which are given to human beings.  These are earthly in this sense; not that they are "unspiritual," but in the sense that they occur on earth, and they are given to creatures.  The heavenly things, my study Bible explains, involve the ungraspable mysteries of the eternal generation of the Son from the Father.  They relate to Christ's eternal existence before all time and to God's divine plan of salvation for the world.  It 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.

"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."  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).  This miracle-working image, my study Bible tells us, prefigured Christ being lifted up on the Cross.  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, it says, 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.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."  To show the reason why the Son must be crucified ("lifted up" -- see above), Jesus declares the great love of God not only for Israel, but for the world.  This single verse, my study Bible says, expresses the whole of the message of John's Gospel, and even of all salvation history.  

"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 explains that while Christ came to save and not to condemn, human beings have free will.  Therefore we are free to reject the gift of God -- but one is effectively self-condemned by one's own rejection of this light, a preference for spiritual darkness (John 1:4-5).  The word "condemn" here in Greek also means to "judge."

Today's reading is incredibly packed with spiritual concepts to begin to understand.  How does baptism work?  How are we born of both water and the Spirit?  Why must it be this way?  How do we become born again into a spiritual life of adoption as children of God?  Jesus uses the image of being "born again" -- with its context of a word meaning both "again" and "from above," so that we begin to grasp concepts that are truly mysterious in the ways that we can.  He moves forward to explain to Nicodemus, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."  And moreover, this birth and the workings of the Spirit are as unknown to we human beings and as mysterious as the origin and destination of the wind that blows.  And Jesus moves from this expression of the work of the Spirit among us (that is God the Holy Spirit) to His own identity as Son:  Jesus Christ, the unique Son of Man, is from heaven and has come down from heaven, but to be "lifted up" upon the Cross.  That is, He, heavenly being, Second Person of the Trinity, will be lifted up to an earthly death -- so that as Moses with the image of the serpent defeated the sting of the serpents, Christ will defeat the sting of death (1 Corinthians 15:55).  There is an interesting ancient component to this wisdom, in that the Greek word for "poison" also means "medicine."  In our understanding of the Son of Man who comes from heaven to be lifted up on the Cross, to transfigure and transform human earthly life, so He "remits" the poison and venom of the sting of death through His heavenly power to heal.  That word is φάρμᾰκον/pharmakon, from which is derived a similar word that contains the meaning of scapegoat, once thought as a means of purging society of its ills.  In the raising of Christ on the Cross, all three of these meanings are present in some sense -- but with the additional understanding of the Son of Man who comes from heaven, and has the ultimate power to save and to heal everything.  Even as falsely accused and sentenced -- the One who was sinless -- Christ's more potent power, as the "stronger man" (see Luke 11:20-23), works to reconcile and heal all to itself, turning an instrument of cruelty into one of salvation for the whole world.  And this love of God is so all-encompassing and powerful, so absolute over all, that it saves not just the world as we know it, but the entire κόσμος/cosmos (which is the word translated as "world").  That is, the whole universe, the entire created order.  The fullness of this mystery is, once again, beyond what we from an earthly perspective can understand and belongs to God, but God's love we can understand, and we can return in faith, in trust -- in the love we return to God.  If we want to understand, in broad strokes, the character of God and of the light, it is to love (1 John 4:8); while the darkness is cruel and malicious (as seen in demonic behavior in the Gospels).  This is the fullness of the light we're asked to embrace and invited to participate in, by grace in turn illuminating us and filling us with that light.

 

 

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 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 into 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 3:16-21 

 

 Yesterday we read that when Jesus 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 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."  My study Bible comments on this verse that to show the reason the Son must be crucified ("lifted up" in verse 14; see yesterday's reading above), Jesus declares God's great love not only for Israel, but for the world.  It says that this single verse expresses the whole of the message of John's Gospel, and indeed, of salvation history.  This is the message of God's love, expressed through Jesus Christ.

"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 into 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 explains that while Christ came to save and not to condemn, human beings have free will.  Thus, we can reject this gift, and become condemned  through our own rejection.  

Truth and light are concepts central to John's Gospel.  They are images of Christ's being, and also of His action, and the grace which leads us into the Kingdom.  Light and truth are synonymous; they are images of spiritual truth, a desire for the good, and that which leads us into truth should we desire it.  For this reason, John's Gospel is the more mystical or spiritual of the Gospels, the one that conveys how grace works to infuse our lives, through that light and truth, and our desire for it, our response to it.  It's important to understand that while Christ in the fullness of His truth and light is always present, our lives unfold through time.  We, therefore, have time to repent, to change our minds, to grow and to mature.  We have time to change, to seek to desire the light where in the past we ourselves may not have sought it or desired it.  And growing in this light is a journey, a process.  As we can see from the Gospels, the disciples grow in their faith, just as Nicodemus, a perfect example, grows in faith and conviction and understanding from his first appearance in this Gospel (see Monday's reading).  What constitutes acceptance and desire for this gift of light and truth is something that only Christ judges, for we are not the Heart-knower, not the Judge.  In chapter 5, Jesus reiterates what is written here in today's reading:  "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life" (John 5:24).  But He goes on to explain that because He is the Son of Man, He is given authority by the Father to judge; and even so, "I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me" (see John 5:24-30).  We are assured that the depth of our hearts is seen and known, for Christ's sight penetrates us in places even we don't know ourselves.  As life unfolds, we may "walk in the light" with Christ (see John 8:12, 11:9-10, 12:35).  We will find a deepening of this process; perhaps there will be things we need to review or retrace, or new obstacles within ourselves to contend with.  It is not a one-time choice but an everyday, lifelong reality in which we are met with this offer of the light that illumines our way into faith and its growth, its deepening, and its work within us.  We should keep in mind that, as the text reads here, to be saved is to enter into His kingdom, for an everlasting life, and so that He may give us life more abundantly (John 10:10).   For His light and His life, we need to accept the grace He offers, and its work in us.  Let us remember that Jesus has just spoken to Nicodemus about the Holy Spirit and Baptism, the birth "from above," and these are Christ's words which explain His mission into the world.