If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

 

 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 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 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.  How do we know that Christ's earthly ministry lasted three years?  It is in John's Gospel that Jesus is recorded attending three Passover feasts between His Baptism and His Passion.  The other two occurrences are at John 6:4 and 11:55.  Here John testifies to Christ as the "knower of hearts,"  an attribute of God (see also 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."   My study Bible says that Nicodemus, this man of the Pharisees, believed that Jesus was from God, but here his faith is still week, as he was afraid of his peers and so therefore came to Jesus by night.  After this conversation, Nicodemus' faith will grow to the point of taking the brave step of defending Jesus before the Sanhedrin (John 7:50-51), and eventually making the bold public expression of faith in preparing and entombing the Lord's body, together with Joseph of Arimathea, another prominent member of the ruling Council (John 19:38-42).  According to some early sources, my study Bible adds, 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."  My study Bible notes that the term in Greek translated as born again can also be translated as "born from above."  It clearly, therefore, 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).  The new birth, my study Bible tells us, is just the beginning of our spiritual life.  The goal of this life is the 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?"  Here Nicodemus misunderstands, and so questions the possibility of a second physical birth.  Misunderstandings are frequent occurrences in John's Gospel (see John 2:19-21; 4:10-14, 30-34; 6:27; 7:37-39; 11:11-15).  Jesus uses such 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."   Christ makes clear that to be "born again" (or "from above") is a reference to Christian baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit given at chrismation; that is, to be born of water and the Spirit.  

"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.'"   To be adopted as a child of God is not a matter of the flesh, but a matter of the spirit.  My study Bible calls it a spiritual birth by grace, through faith, and in the Holy Spirit.  This is the action in the sacrament of Holy Baptism (see also Titus 3:4-7). 

"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 used by Jesus:  the Greek word πνευμα/pneuma means both wind and Spirit.  My study Bible comments 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 He cannot be contained by human ideas or agendas.  This is yet another attribute of God.

 

 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."  According to St. John Chrysostom, my study Bible notes here, earthly things refer to grace and baptism given to human beings.  These are earthly, not in the sense of "unspiritual," but only in the sense that they happen on earth, and that they are given to creatures.  The heavenly things would concern the ungraspable mysteries of the eternal generation of the Son from the Father, and 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 begin to understand the things that would pertain to God Himself.  

 

 "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 time during Israel's wandering when Moses lifted up an image of a serpent to cure the Israelites from deadly bites of poisonous snakes (Numbers 21:4-9).  This miracle-working image, my study Bible notes, prefigured Christ being lifted up on the Cross.  As believers behold the crucified Christ in faith, it says, 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.  

There is a lot of what we might call "paradox" to contemplate in today's reading.  First of all there is the classic sort of misunderstanding that occurs when Nicodemus hears Christ's "earthly" descriptions of being "born again" or "born from above" in Baptism.  This is the way that we are introduced to this subject through Christ's teachings with Nicodemus in John's Gospel.  This paradox of earthly understanding and what we might call the sacramental understanding contained in the things of the Church and the ministry of Jesus Christ to us in the world becomes the foundation of our faith, and what we experience in our faith.  It is this paradox of spiritual things coming together with worldly things -- the spiritual reality of Christ permeating worldly things to be present to us -- in which we find the practice of our faith.  Thus, Christ uses worldly terms to describe what is a sacramental event, the "washing" of the Holy Spirit in Baptism.  When we are "born again" or "born from above" it is in this sacramental coming together of earthly elements and the Holy Spirit working through them.  This sort of paradox gives us a picture of so much that is a part of our faith, of the birth of Jesus Christ Himself through the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, so that as Son of Man He is both fully divine and fully human.  As He indicates in today's reading, He is that Son of Man who came down from heaven, so that He is both heavenly and earthly at the same time.  Moreover, Jesus gives us in today's reading a teaching about the final sign that will come in His ministry, His "lifting up" on the Cross.  So, just as Moses was directed by God to lift up the image of the snake for the people to focus on, to save them from the venom of the snakes biting them, so Jesus will also be the life-giving image on the Cross for all of us -- and through this instrument of dreaded death by Roman punishment, He will be the ultimate Liberator from death for all of us.  This paradoxical event is perhaps the greatest paradox for us of all, but it is the way our God comes into the world as one of us, interacting with all that we know, and transforming all of it, even with us in this world.  But just as Christ says in today's reading, it's important to remember that "the wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes."  This power of the Holy Spirit is the power of God at work, as unpredictable to us as where the wind comes from and where it goes, for God works in ways we don't know and don't understand -- we cannot contain nor prescribe the way of God.   "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord (Isaiah 55:8).  As Jesus says, these things are "earthly things," for Nicodemus as a teacher of Israel surely must know of the working of the Holy Spirit through the events of the Old Testament, God finding ways to be present and active among God's people.  But these are sacramental things, where God comes to work with us, within us, and among us amidst the things of this world.  In our sacraments of the Church, earthly things become vehicles by which and through which God is active in the world -- such as in the sacrament of the Eucharist.  These are mysteries to us, but they are mysteries made for us here in this world, just as the Son of Man has come down from heaven for us as well.  Let us be grateful for the things He reveals, and the gifts of sacrament we are given.  

 

 

 

He who has the bride is the bridegroom

After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized. For John had not yet been thrown into prison. Then there arose a dispute between some of the John's disciples and the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified -- behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!" John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before Him.' He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

- John 3:22-36

In yesterday's reading, Jesus spoke with Nicodemus, who was one of the important rulers in the Council, the leadership of the Jewish people. He came to Jesus at night. He said to Jesus, "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 said, "How can these things be?" Jesus told him, We speak what We know and testify to 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.”

After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized. Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. And they came and were baptized. For John had not yet been thrown into prison. It is early days yet in Jesus' ministry, and this passage shows us the cooperation between John's ministry and that of Jesus. As we know, many of Jesus' early disciples had been John's disciples first, and it was John the Baptist who pointed the way to Jesus as Christ.

Then there arose a dispute between some of the John's disciples and the Jews about purification. And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified -- behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!" John answered and said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before Him.' He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease." Here we have the great display of what is called the greatest of the virtues in John the Baptist, and that is his humility. In that humility, he is open to truth at all levels. He witnesses to the status of Jesus, who is the Christ, the Messiah. First John places all things in the hands of God ("A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven"). This is the key to humility and right-relatedness. Jesus is the bridegroom, because the people of God flock to Him; that is, the bride. In the Old Testament the bride is Israel, God's people; in the New, Christ is the Bridegroom of the Church. And in this John's joy is fulfilled. In "He must increase, but I must decrease," John's words indicate that what is happening, though difficult for himself, is fitting. My study bible says, "The Forerunner [the Baptist] expresses profound humility and acceptance of his role in the service of God. He renounces all earthly glory and reputation and glories only in Christ. John's aspirations of hope and joy as a minister and servant of God have now been fulfilled."

"He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. And what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true. For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Here, John the Baptist's testimony comes to the divine status of Christ as Son, and in some ways these words reflect Jesus' words to Nicodemus in yesterday's reading. The One who comes from heaven knows of heavenly things and is "above all" -- He testifies to what He has truly seen and heard which others have not. My study bible says, "John the Baptist gives his final witness to Jesus as the One who is greater. Jesus has the Spirit in fullness, He He possesses all the authority of the Father, and He grants eternal life to those who believe." In John's words here, it notes, "is a summary of the teaching of the Gospel about the origin, dignity, and saving work of Christ." Again, we have words and teachings echoed from yesterday's reading, in which those who loved the light received, but others refused the light, preferring darkness. Here the Judgment of this time inaugurated by Jesus is reiterated, brought back to our awareness yet again. To see, know and recognize the Son, the One who is sent, is to encounter and embrace truth, the reality given by God, in grace. To refuse is a kind of inner refusal of grace, of this Gift, a living truth and its offer of encounter in us.

To refuse grace is a kind of encounter in which a great Gift is spurned. Here, the gift is far greater than what we can imagine, because it is an offer of life -- not just as we know and understand it, but life as an offer of abundance and eternal living, something unlimited. It is an encounter with Christ which God desires for each of us. What we must remember is that this is not about just what happened 2,000 years ago in a particular time and place, but that this very life is a Gift in itself to all of us, each of us. It is something that lives, and is brought to us as an offer of participation in it. So when we read John's words here about Judgment, we must come again to its real meaning and impact: it's an offer, a Gift, of eternal life, life in abundance, and an encounter with the Person who is truth. To live and dwell in that light, in that encounter, is to find it, and to participate in it. We allow His light to work within us, and to make us also sons of God, to encounter our Bridegroom and find union and what that makes of us in our own lives. A refusal of this Gift is a refusal of an abundance of life on offer, a welcoming into an eternal Kingdom. To spurn it is to encounter a condition of exile, hardness and difficulty, the things we know in our world as that which is without God. In this is "wrath" and difficulty, what it is to be outside of that abundance of love in the refusal of a Gift. Let us remember that the Gift's eternal presence means that it's always on offer. What will you decide? The encounter is there for us, always there.