Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you

 

 "Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.  Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. 

 

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!  Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

 

- Matthew 7:1-12 

 

We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7).  Yesterday we read that Jesus taught, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

 

  "Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."  My study Bible comments here that we will be judged with our own level of judgment because we are guilty of the same things we judge in others (Romans 2:1).  We have failed in repentance and in fleeing from sin also.  To pass judgment is to assume God's authority.  Moreover, my study Bible points out that the second part of this verse is found in Mark 4:24 and Luke 6:38, each used in a different context, as Christ clearly repeated this message many times.  This repetition teaches us something about the significance of the principle He names here.

 

"And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."  Here is an elaboration on the warning against judgment, and a teaching on our own blindness to our flaws and what that does to us.  We are to look to ourselves to correct our own errors and mistaken thinking and practices before we can ever help others.  For Christ's teaching on mutual correction in the Church, see Matthew 18:15-35.  Let us remember also that Jesus is preaching to those who are His disciples, and who will in turn become teachers and authorities in His Church.

 

 "Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."   Dogs and swine, my study Bible explains, refer to heathen peoples (Philippians 3:2; Revelation 22:15), but this would also include Jews who do not practice virtue.  According to patristic teaching, "dogs" are those who are so immersed in evil that they show no hope of change, while "swine" are those who habitually live immoral and impure lives.  The pearls are the inner mysteries of the Christian faith, including Christ's teachings (Matthew 13:46) and the great sacraments.  These holy things are restricted from the immoral and unrepentant, not to protect the holy things themselves, for Christ needs no protection.  On the contrary, we protect the faithless people from the condemnation that would result from holding God's mysteries in contempt.  Additionally, this extends the warning about judgment to protection from those who would respond with hostility to what is intended as helpful correction given through grace ("removing the speck in another's eye") such as Christ gives to His disciples.  

 

 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"  My study Bible tells us that in the Greek, the verbs ask, seek, and knock are present progressives:  "be asking," "be seeking," "be knocking."  Note the synergy here:  our effort is commanded, but not ever apart from the immediate help of God.  We ask in prayer; seek by learning God's truth; and knock by doing God's will.  Human beings are called evil not to condemn all of us, but rather to contrast the imperfect goodness in people (in other words, our goodness is also mixed with sin) with the perfect goodness of God (see Matthew 19:16-17).  If imperfect and even wicked people can do some good, my study Bible explains, all the more will God work perfect good.  

 

"Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."  This verse is known as the Golden Rule.   Jesus' expresses that it fulfills the demands of the Law and the Prophets; my study Bible remarks that it is also a practical application of the commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself (see Jesus' statement of the two greatest commandments, found at Matthew 22:37-40).  This Golden Rule is a first step in spiritual growth, according to my study Bible.  There is also a negative form of the Golden Rule which was already well known in Judaism ("Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you").  But Christ's fulfillment of the Law and Prophets renders this into a positive statement:  this is the action that begins to draw us toward God.  

 

Jesus teaches, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"  We may be tempted to think of these words, taken apart from the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, as indicating material blessings to be given by God in exchange for our good behavior.  But to keep asking, and keep seeking and keep knocking in this context is to seek the blessings of discipleship, the blessedness of the Kingdom, the reality of what it is to be an adopted "son" of your Father who is in heaven.  The good things Jesus preaches about are the fruits of discipleship, the spiritual gifts meant for those who love God, and seek to do God's will.  Jesus begins today's reading by teaching, "Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."   These are words that teach us, as followers of Christ, to pay attention to what we are to be about -- not to what everyone else is supposed to be doing.  In the final verses we find in St. John's Gospel, there is a story that is illustrative of this same principle.  Jesus comes, in one of His resurrectional appearances, to St. Peter.  In a striking dialogue, meant to be taken as a restoration of St. Peter to his place as apostle after his three-time denial of Christ (Matthew 26:69-75), Jesus asks St. Peter three times, "Do you love Me?"  Each time Peter answers positively, and Jesus indicates that his work going forward is to feed His lambs (John 21:15-19).  This moving scene is tremendous in and of itself.  But -- perhaps just because it's St. Peter -- that's not all there is to the story.  Peter then turns, see the apostle St. John (the author of the Gospel) following, and asks Jesus, "But Lord, what about this man?"  Jesus' response bears out His teaching in today's reading.  He tells St. Peter, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me" (John 21:20-22).  If it is even so for one as great as St. Peter, the first among equals of the apostles, consider how it is so for us that our job is to look to ourselves, our place as disciples, the "plank" in our own eye that needs removal, our own flaws, and our own ways we're called to follow Christ.  If we think about it carefully, casting pearls before swine or giving what is holy to dogs is also outside of our purview, not staying in our own lane, so to speak, nor remembering what it is we are supposed to be about.  Moreover, the grace and mercy we are capable of expressing will be measured back to us.  Let us remember that Jesus is speaking to those who would be His disciples, and that this sermon's theme is the righteousness of the Kingdom.  Beginning with the Beatitudes, He teaches us about blessings that seem to stand the values of the world on their heads, and here the promises and teachings are all about how we grow in discipleship, and the good things bestowed by our Father.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you

 

 "Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.  

 

"Do not give what is holy to dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. 

 

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!  Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

 

- Matthew 7:-12

 

We are currently reading through the Sermon on the Mount.  Yesterday we read that Jesus taught, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow:  they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

 

 "Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."  My study Bible comments here that we will be judged with our own level of judgment because we are guilty of the very things we judge in others (Romans 2:1).  We ourselves have failed in repentance and in fleeing from sin.  To pass judgment is to assume God's authority.  The phrase "with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you" is also found in Mark 4:24 and Luke 6:38.  Each is used in a different context, and there is no doubt Jesus taught this important message many times.  

 

"Do not give what is holy to dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."  My study Bible says that dogs and swine refer to heathen peoples (Philippians 3:2; Revelation 22:15), but would also include Jews who do not practice virtue.  According to patristic commentary, "dogs" are those so immersed in evil that they show no hope of change, and "swine" are those who habitually live immoral and impure lives.  Pearls are the inner mysteries of the Christian faith, it notes, including Christ's teachings (Matthew 13:46) and the great sacraments.  These holy things are restricted from the immoral and unrepentant.  This is not in order to protect the holy things themselves, as Christ needs no protection.  But we protect faithless people from the condemnation that would result from holding God's mysteries in contempt.  See also Luke 23:8-9 for Jesus' response to Herod's questioning.

 

 "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"  The verbs ask, seek, and knock are present progressives.  In other words, their effect is to say "be asking," "be seeking," "be knocking."  There is a synergy here which my study Bible cites:  our effort is commanded, but never apart from the immediate help of God.  We ask in prayer, we seek by learning God's truth, and we knock by doing God's will.  My study Bible also comments that people are called evil here not to condemn the whole race of human beings, but to contrast the imperfect goodness that is in people (that is, our goodness is mixed with sin) with the perfect goodness of God (see Matthew 19:16-17).  If imperfect and even wicked people can do some good, so all the more will God work perfect good.  

 

"Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."  The "Golden Rule" fulfills the demands of the Law and the Prophets, says my study Bible, and it's also a practical application of the commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself (Matthew 22:39-40).  My study Bible calls it a first step in spiritual growth.  It adds that the negative form of the Golden Rule ("Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you") was well-known in Judaism.  Jesus' form, however, is positive, and this is the action that begins to draw us toward God.  See also Luke 6:31.

 

 In the context of the Sermon on the Mount as a whole, and in particular today's reading, we need to make sense of it in terms of being directed at disciples, those who follow Him.  We're first told, "Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."  This is another form of the Golden Rule in today's last verse, but applied specifically to judgment.  How do we look at our neighbors, or in particular our fellow disciples of Christ?  We should consider how we wish to be judged, for we will be judged the same way.  It seems to me this is directly invoking how we treat one another.  Jesus goes on, "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye"  In chapter 18 of St. Matthew's Gospel, Jesus will speak of mutual self-correction in the Church.  This verse reflects this notion of mutual correction as a way of helping with discipleship, and emphasizes the humility necessary to do this appropriately.  In monastic practice, a good elder is one who is experienced spiritually, so that their own knowledge of themselves and their mistakes and corrections can be beneficial to others, and they may correct helpfully and with love and mercy, not the kind of judgment Christ forbids here.  If we're blind to our own errors, we're in no position to help, and will easily practice projection upon others.  In this context we read, "Do not give what is holy to dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."  For a person to benefit from spiritual help, they must be disposed toward acceptance and not rejection.  Even the greatest spiritual treasure may be hated by one who does not wish to accept it.  Jesus then says, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"  This is a great exhortation to spiritual growth and discipleship, for it emphasizes the generous nature of God for those who do seek and ask and knock with sincerity.  As my study Bible points out, these are meant to be ongoing always with us; it's a continual pursuit and practice. We keep asking, keep praying, keep knocking through the practices and resources we have in the Church. And the world needs that resource and experience.  Finally, here again is the summing up:  "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."  Do you want to learn?  Then help teach.  Do you value kindness, humility, mercy?  Then offer it to others, and in particular we need to model this among the faithful in the ways we treat one another.  Do you wish to gain self-knowledge, spiritual understanding?  Offer what you have, but be properly discerning.  This message of the Golden Rule is a deep emphasis on the communion involved in all of this pursuit of following Christ in discipleship.  God is first of all our Father in heaven, as Jesus references God, so let us understand what we are to be about, all the time.  Let us understand that the good God who gives to us may also reward us with knowledge of ourselves, even of what we need to change in our habits or ways of thinking.  But we continue to ask and seek and knock for how to go forward in God's love and teaching.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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. 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

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

 

 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 

 

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.  In Saturday's reading (above) was the first of three Passover feasts reported in John's Gospel, between the Lord's Baptism and Passion (see also John 6:4, 11:55).  This shows us that His earthly ministry lasted three years.  Here John tells us quite clearly that Jesus is the Heart-knower or Discerner of hearts, that He knew all men and 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."  It is important that John gives us the story of Nicodemus, and that we know that Nicodemus was himself a Pharisee.  It teaches us that there were believers in Christ among the religious leadership.  Nicodemus is a significant figure of the early Christian church.  My study Bible points out that Nicodemus believed that Jesus was from God, but his faith was still weak, as he was afraid of his peers and so came to Jesus by night.  After this conversation, his faith would grow to the point of defending Jesus before the Sanhedrin (John 7:50-51), and eventually he would make the bold public expression of faith of preparing and entombing Christ's body (John 19:38-42).  According to some early sources, my study Bible says, Nicodemus was baptized by Peter and consequently was 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 phrase born again literally reads born "from above" in the Greek.  My study Bible comments that it clearly refers to the heavenly birth from God through faith in Christ (John 1:12-13).  This heavenly birth, it says, is baptism, and our adoption by God as our Father (Galatians 4:4-7).  This new birth is the beginning of our spiritual life, its 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?"  Nicodemus misunderstands, and questions the possibility of a second physical birth.  This type of dialogue involving misunderstanding occurs frequently in John's Gospel (see John 2:19-21; 4:10-14, 30-34; 6:27; 7:37-39; 11:11-15).  My study Bible comments that Christ uses these opportunities to elevate an idea from a superficial or earthly meaning to a heavenly and eternal meaning.  

Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'"   The birth of water and the Spirit is a clear reference to Christian baptism, and the gift of the Holy Spirit given at chismation.  Christian baptism is a spiritual birth by grace, through faith, and in the Holy Spirit, in which we become adoption as children of God (see 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."   Here is a play on words:  the Greek word pneuma/πνευμα means both wind and Spirit (also breath).  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.  Likewise, 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?  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, who says that earthly things refer to grace and baptism given to human beings.  It explains that these are earthly, not in the sense of "unspiritual," but in the sense that they occur on earth and are given to creatures.  The heavenly things involve the ungraspable mysteries of the eternal generation of the Son from the Father; they relate to the Son's eternal existence before all time and to God's divine plan of salvation for the world. 

"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."   We are reminded that Moses lifted up an image of a serpent in order to cure the Israelites from deadly bites of poisonous snakes (Numbers 21:4-9).  This miracle-working image, my study Bible explains, prefigured Christ being lifted up on the Cross.  It says that 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 becomes the weapon that overthrows death itself.

How do we think about the mysterious power of the Holy Spirit?  Here in John's Gospel is perhaps the most clear statement we receive on the working of the Holy Spirit in the world, Christ's illustration of the wind.  Jesus says, "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 Christ's description of the "birth from above," the second birth that is Christian Baptism.  If we look closely at His words, we can understand that the Spirit goes where it wishes, and we can somehow detect its effects, but we cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  This teaches us that God's will is simply that:  it belongs to God, and this is the work of the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.  St. Paul writes specifically about fruit of the Spirit, naming "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" as specific witnessed effects.  He adds, "Against such there is no law" (see Galatians 5:22-23), also testifying to the work of the Holy Spirit.  The Creed declares that Christ "was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man."  The Holy Spirit is also called the "giver of life" in the Creed.  This magnificent creative power of the Holy Spirit, therefore, apparently is initiated in our lives via Baptism, when "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."  It is a beginning, a birth that gives us the capability to receive things which are spiritual in nature, to grow in the fruits of the Spirit, to enter into a life of growth in following Christ and participating in the whole life of the Church and all that it offers, including Scripture, prayer, worship, sacraments, and the communion of saints among all of its tradition.  As Jesus says, it is what enables us to enter and participate in the kingdom of God.  An Orthodox prayer to the Holy Spirit declares, "Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth, everywhere present and filling all things, Treasury of Blessings and Giver of Life, come and dwell in us, and cleanse us of all stain, O Good One."   In this prayer we read many experienced and known attributes of the Spirit, including the names Heavenly King, Comforter, Spirit of Truth.  We learn the Spirit is everywhere present and filling all things, contains uncountable blessings, and once again is the giver of life -- and that in His action, the Holy Spirit may dwell in us and cleanse us of flaws or stain.  This is the lifelong working of the process begun in Baptism, which is, through the action of the Spirit, something that is always working in us, working itself out, helping us to be disciples of Christ, to correct what needs correcting, to transform us and help us to produce the fruits of the Spirit that St. Paul describes.  All of these actions belong to the Spirit in the whole history and understanding of the Church, which includes the testimony of Old and New Testament Scriptures, the witness of the saints, the uncountable and unmeasurable action of the Spirit, described by Christ as like the wind, which blows where it wills, although we can't know where it came from or where it is going.  The Orthodox prayer to the Holy Spirit begins every service for all kinds of occasions. We would all be wise to remember His mysterious and gracious presence and work at all times and in all places.  His capacity to create and to "give birth" to our true spiritual selves is always working.

Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces

 

 "Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.  And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.  Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.  

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Or what man is there among you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!  Therefore, whatever you want me to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

 

- Matthew 7:1-12 

 

We are currently reading through Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5 -7).  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on.  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not of more value than they?  Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  So why do you worry about clothing?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they either toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore, do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  For after all these things the Gentiles seek.  For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

 

"Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."  My study Bible comments that we will be judged with our own level of judgment because we are guilty of the very things we judge in others (Romans 2:1).  In modern terms, this is frequently called "projection."  My study Bible adds that we ourselves have failed in repentance and in fleeing from sin.  To pass judgment is to assume God's authority.  The second part of this verse is found in Mark 4:24 and in Luke 6:38, each in a different context, as Christ no doubt repeated this particular message many times.  Let us note also how this teaching ties in with His teaching on the practice of mercy and forgiveness elsewhere in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:7, 6:14-15).

"And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?  Hypocrite!  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."  While Jesus' teaching here exemplifies what He has just taught about judgment, and applies in general to our behavior, we may also look at this in the context of discipleship.  Correction is part of discipleship, and mutual correction is a teaching Christ has given to the Church in Matthew 18:15-35 (at the end of which, He repeats His warning about forgiving trespasses found in Matthew 6:14-15).  In that context of mutual correction and discipleship, it is important also to apply what Christ is saying here.  Only with our own experience of correction and growth could we successfully advise another, and with the proper understanding.  The very word in Greek for disciple means "learner," and we must remember that in this context.  Any way we look at it, we see that correction and growth within ourselves (in other words, learning) is the great thing necessary as disciples, and even as potential teachers or help to others who are brothers (and sisters) in the Church.

"Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."  My study Bible says that dogs and swine refer to heathen peoples (Philippians 3:2, Revelation 22:15), but this would also include Jews who do not practice virtue in the context of Christ's time and place (and audience).  According to the patristic writers, "dogs" are those who are so immersed in evil that they show no hope of change, while "swine" are those who habitually live immoral and impure lives.  The pearls are the inner mysteries of the Christian faith, which include Christ's teachings (Matthew 13:46) and the great sacraments.  These holy things, my study Bible explains, are restricted from the immoral and unrepentant, not to protect the holy things themselves, for Christ needs no protection.  Rather, we protect the faithless people from the condemnation that would result from holding God's mysteries in contempt (see also Luke 23:8-9, in which Jesus did not answer the questions of Herod Antipas).  If we view this verse in the context with the verses above it, we see also that one's "pearls" can also be teaching resulting from the work and spiritual growth of discipleship and personal correction, hard-gained through experience, which would be appropriate to those who truly desire discipleship, but a stark warning about those who do not.

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."  My study Bible points out to us that the verbs ask, seek, and knock are present progressives:  "be asking," "be seeking," "be knocking."  Note the synergy:  our effort is commanded, but never apart from the immediate help of God.  It says that we ask in prayer; seek by learning God's truth; and knock by doing God's will.

 

"Or what man is there among you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!"  My study Bible comments that people are called evil not to condemn the whole race of human beings, but rather to contrast the imperfect goodness in people (that is, our goodness is also mixed with sin) with the perfect goodness of God (see Matthew 19:16-17).  It notes that if imperfect and even wicked people can do some good, all the more will God work perfect good.

 

"Therefore, whatever you want me to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."  This "Golden Rule" fulfills the demands of the Law and the Prophets and it is a practical application of the commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself (Matthew 22:39-40).  My study Bible describes it as a first step in spiritual growth.  The negative form of the Golden Rule ("Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you") was well known in Judaism.  Jesus' form is positive, as with so many of His "proactive" teachings:  this is the action that begins to draw us toward God. 

 

We note how the "Golden Rule" -- "Therefore, whatever you want me to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" -- gives us a summing up and echo of so many of Jesus' teachings on mercy, on forgiveness, on judgment (as in the first verse in today's reading).  As we noted above, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus applies this teaching explicitly to mercy (Matthew 5:7), to forgiveness (Matthew 6:14-15), and in today's reading, to judgment (see today's first and second verses:  "Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you").   All together, and in varied passages cited by my study Bible in notes on today's reading, Jesus will teach the same thing many times.  But we can see clearly the link between mercy, forgiveness, and good judgment (or, as in today's reading, refraining from bad judgment).  In John 7:24, this teaching becomes more explicit:  "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."  In today's reading, the patristic exegetes remind us that what we so often judge in others are flaws we have in ourselves, and we're reminded that St. Paul explicitly says the same thing in Romans 2:1, where he really spells it out:  "Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things."   Taken altogether, as a whole these statements remind us about discipleship: that it's all about learning, discipline, correction, and growth.  That is, the whole of discipleship is learning to identify and remove that plank that is in our own eye, otherwise we can't really be truly helpful to others.  We'll just continue to project that plank in ourselves (to which we're blind) onto others.  We see this so often in public life that I feel I don't have to point out examples for any reader to know what I'm talking about.  In the context of Christ's clear instructions regarding discipleship under Him, such behavior is a sign of clear immaturity, and in particular, a complete lack of spiritual discipline and experience in that discipline.  The true disciple is not a hypocrite, but rather one who knows and undertakes to grow in spiritual discipline, in self-awareness, and in the correction of one's own flaws.  That true disciple is also one who is aware that as we judge others, so we are judged ourselves.  In action, this deeply implies the practice of the Golden Rule:  "Therefore, whatever you want me to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."  In Luke 6:31, in the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus phrases it this way:  "And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise."  Let us note that if our true desire is for discipleship and growth in Christ's model, with Himself as the life in which we seek to participate, finding our own image in Him, then what we want (a merciful judgment, a lifetime of learning and growth, the good things of God, and good teachings which help us to be corrected in love) is the gift of discipleship.  In that context, this is what we may also seek to offer to others when we profess His teachings.  In this context, however, we must also take to heart as true counsel what He says, not to share our pearls with those who have no use for them, cannot value them, and do not desire them, " lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces."  Those things that are precious pearls, the things that are holy, in Christ's words, are for those who desire to enter into discipleship, who are willing to take on the mantle of learning and growth and loving correction, and as we know from the whole of His teaching and the lives of the apostles and saints uncountable, this naturally includes a willingness to sacrifice and serve in order to fulfill the image in Christ He offers to us -- for the "hand" or "eye" we're asked to separate from ourselves (Matthew 5:29-30) is the flaw that keeps the whole of us from that growth in discipleship.  These all refer to aspects of selfishness or self-centeredness, a spiritual immaturity, that which is not compatible with the things that are holy, the fire of God's mercy and grace.  In all, He offers us a better life, a true focus, a way to go forward in which there is always the work to do which is right in front of us, as He seeks for us to become more like Him, "like God" (Genesis 1:26).  Let us hastily note that Jesus did not suffer fools gladly, and nor did He tolerate hypocrites.  He told the truth, and gave "what for what" when it was necessary.  But always this was in the context of His mission, of what He had to accomplish.  And He invites each of us in to take up that mission, to do what is necessary, to find the big things within us that we're blind to and make correction, to grow in His love and teachings, to challenge our own hypocrisy, and to pay attention to what is our business -- in this sense, it extends to forgetting about the "dogs" and "swine" who have no use for the things that are holy and the pearls of God's beauty, truth, and goodness.  Let us seek to practice what He teaches.

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone born of the Spirit

 Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."  Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone born of the Spirit."  Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

- John 2:23-3:15

Yesterday we read that the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  And he found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business.  When He had made a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables.  And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away!  Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"  Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten me up."  So the Jews answered and said to Him, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"  Jesus answered and said to the, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."  Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?"  But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did.  But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.  John reports three Passover feasts in his Gospel, between the Lord's Baptism and the Passion (see also 6:4; 11:55).  From this we understand that Christ's ministry on earth lasted three years.  Here John tells us of Christ's ability to know the hearts of people.  There is a Greek word coined for this characteristic:  καρδιογνώστης/kardiognostes.  We might translate it as "heart-knower."  It is used in Acts 1:24 and 15:8. Here John speaks of this capacity of Christ to know what was in all people, to know their hearts, and how this works in Christ's discernment of those who would follow him in true faith or not.  It is an important distinction to note the difference between those who follow because of the signs He did, and those who follow from faith in the heart, their own quality of discernment, loyalty, and love.  It also tells us that our faith is not a product of coercion or manipulation, but of genuine communion of the heart.

There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."  My study bible says that Nicodemus believed Jesus was from God, but his faith was still weak, as he was afraid of his peers and therefore came to Jesus by night.  Later on, Nicodemus' faith will grow to the point of defending Jesus in front of the Sanhedrin (7:50-51), and eventually making a very courageous public expression of faith in preparing and entombing the Lord's body (19:39-42).  In the church, his memory is celebrated together with the Myrrhbearing Women and Joseph of Arimathea.  Some early sources claim that Nicodemus was baptized by Peter; he was consequently removed from the Sanhedrin and forced to flee Jerusalem.  What we note about Nicodemus in these first verses of chapter 3, and appropriately following the verses before, is his proper response to the signs which Jesus performs.  His intent is to learn from Christ, to find out more.  It is a sign of discipleship, for disciple means "learner."

Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  To be born again can also be translated as being born "from above" in the Greek.  It strikingly refers to the heavenly birth from God through faith in Christ (1:12-13).  My study bible says that this heavenly birth is baptism and our adoption by God as our Father (Galatians 4:4-7).  A "new birth" indicates the beginning of spiritual life; the goal of the new birth being entrance into the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  This is a typical example of a frequent happenstance in John's Gospel:  the misunderstandings that prompt deeper questioning and revelation of faith and the mysteries of God.  Nicodemus understands on worldly terms, asking Christ about a second physical birth.  (See also 2:19-21; 4:10-14, 30-34; 6:27; 7:37-39; 11:11-15 for other examples of misunderstanding which prompts deeper revelation and knowledge.)  My study bible says that Christ uses these opportunities to elevate an idea from a superficial or earthly meaning to a heavenly and eternal meaning.

Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."  The birth of water and the Spirit is a clear reference to Christian baptism, and the gift of the Holy Spirit which is given at chrismation.  This is a spiritual birth, which Christ says is necessary for our spiritual growth and participation in the kingdom of God.  It also indicates the spiritual adoption as a child of God (see 1:12-13).

"Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone born of the Spirit."   This is a play on words in the original Greek of the text.  The same word (πνευμα/pneuma) means both wind and Spirit.  My study bible says that the working of the Holy Spirit in the new birth is as mysterious as the source and destination of the blowing wind.  As such, the Spirit  moves where the Spirit wills, and cannot be contained by human ideas or agendas.  Experiences teaches us that those without spiritual understanding frequently find the truths of faith incomprehensible.

Nicodemus answered and said to Him, "How can these things be?"  Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?  Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven."  St. John Chrysostom comments on this passage that earthly things refer to grace and baptism, which are given to human beings.  They are "earthly" as they occur on earth and are given to creatures, but they are not "unspiritual."  The heavenly things that Jesus refers to here are those great mysteries of heaven, such as the eternal generation of the Son from the Father.  They pertain to Christ's eternal existence before all time, and to God's divine plan of salvation for the world.  My study bible comments that a person must first grasp the ways in which God works among human beings before one can begin to understand things that pertain specifically to the Person of God.  When Christ uses the term We, He is referring to the inner reality of communion between Father, Son, and Spirit, as witness of the heavenly realm itself.

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."  My study bible reminds us that Moses lifted up an image of a serpent in order to cure the Israelites from deadly bites of poisonous snakes (Numbers 21:4-9).  This is another example of "type" (as discussed in yesterday's reading and commentary), in which the miracle-working image used by Moses prefigured Christ being lifted upon the Cross.  As the faithful behold the image of the crucified Christ, the power of sin is overthrown in them.  Moreover, as the image of a serpent became a weapon to destroy the power of the serpents, so the instrument of Christ's death becomes the weapon that conquers death itself.

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