Tag Archives: John 3:16

John 3:1-21 [NLT]
There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. 12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”

Dear God, I want to take apart this conversation a little bit because I think it is important that John is the only Gospel writer who told us about Nicodemus. There is obviously something about him that John wants us to know. Much like good story telling, I think one of the things John is doing is giving us something early in the story that he will pay off in the end at the crucifixion.

So let’s start at the beginning:

There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”

John sets up that Nicodemus is one of the dreaded Pharisees that are so ridiculed throughout the Gospels, but he immediately lets us know there is something different about this one. He didn’t come to publicly challenge, trap, and, hopefully, humiliate and disprove Jesus. He came to get to know him a little. He came with an open mind. He came to learn. And he doesn’t lead with a question. He comes “after dark” to speak directly with Jesus, one-on-one, and acknowledges that he recognizes that Jesus is from God.

3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”

According to John’s account, Jesus immediately initiates the conversation, ignoring the flattery that Nicodemus gave him. He seems to want to challenge Nicodemus–to test him and see why he is really there.

We take the phrase “born again” and put it into the context of this passage, but Nicodemus didn’t have this passage. He was really trying to understand. Jesus is like one of those teachers who asks the vague, esoteric question that is hard to answer, or, in this case, says the provocative thing that will either send someone away or draw them in deeper. In this case, he drew Nicodemus in. Jesus had a lot more to say, but he wanted to first know if Nicodemus was ready to hear it. Would he scoff at Jesus’s statement and leave, or was he really there to learn? Apparently, Nicodemus was there to learn.

5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.

Water and Spirit. That’s the answer to Nicodemus’s question. Jesus acknowledges that, no, you can’t go back into your mother’s womb, but there is a new baptism that is of water and the Spirit. The problem is, the concept of being born of the Spirit is something that can’t be explained in words. So Jesus tells him that being born again means being born of water and the Spirit, but it’s a process that Jesus can’t put into words. But Nicodemus doesn’t give up. He wants to understand: “How are these things possible?”

10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. 12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.

I’m going to break Jesus’s little speech to Nicodemus up into parts. I think this first part is about setting the context. Jesus is basically saying forthrightly to Nicodemus, “I am the Messiah.” Skipping verses 10-12 where he exhibits his exasperation with Nicodemus, Jesus goes on in verse 13 to say that he has come from God in heaven. Then in verse 14 he compares himself with the snake that was sent to save the Israelites from their sin and the snake bites that resulted in Numbers 21:4-9. But then he says that he, Jesus, will be the one lifted up so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.

We never get Nicodemus’s reaction to this little speech, but I can only imagine what it was like to hear it in that context. Who does this guy think he is? On the other hand, Nicodemus entered this conversation earnestly trying to get an answer to that question, and now he was getting it. This guy claims to be the Messiah.

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

Now Jesus gives us a glimpse into your heart. You love us. How much? Well, so much that you gave us Jesus, your one and only son, so that we would have the opportunity to commune with you for eternity. Your heart is to give us a pathway to salvation. He is saying, “Nicodemus, you need to understand that this God that you worship as all powerful is everything you can imagine and so much more. But don’t miss this one fact that might be hard to believe. He loves you and he wants you. He loves and wants you so much that he sacrificed for it. God gave out of his own being and love just so that you and your fellow humans, Jew or Gentile, will be with him.”

18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”

And finally, the wrap-up. You are doing your best to not judge me, but I have to at least love the light more than the darkness. I have to let go of my sin. I have to take the hand that is reaching out to me. You care about me, but as much as Nicodemus had to come to terms with his pride, as a Pharisee and as a man, so I must come to the end of my own pride and love the light more than the darkness.

Father, help me to not only internalize the words that John shared in this passage, but to reflect them to the world as well. Help me to be your ambassador. Help me to take your hand, receive your light, and the humbly share it with the world.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen

Nicodemus Part 2
Nicodemus Part 3