Hi All
This is a reflection on the Gospel of John 3: 1-8. Nicodemus visits Jesus.
There's my audio Bible reading on my site here: Daily Bible Verses Easter Season To Pentecost | Monday Week 2 | Nicodemus Visits Jesus | King James Audio Bible | KJV – Listen To the Bible! | King James Audio Bible | KJV | King James Version
Do please visit and share.
My reflection on the Gospel passage goes like this:
It is a striking moment. Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin of Jerusalem, has come to visit Jesus. He does so secretly, by night, his whole reputation at risk. He must not be seen to be associating with Jesus, and yet he is compelled to seek Jesus and to ask him the questions he has.
Nicodemus acknowledges Jesus as a teacher and master: Rabbi. He knows that Jesus’ teaching is truth and needs to speak with him more. Nicodemus would know every word of the teachings of Moses and the Old Testament. If anyone could be saved by adherence to the Old Law, it would have been him. However, Nicodemus knows that something is missing, that there is more. He is drawn to Jesus, a good man seeing and wanting the truth that Jesus can give to him.
Nicodemus must have been amazed by what Jesus had to say to him: You must be born again. What could this mean? We know that our rebirth is through baptism and our faith in Jesus, in his life, death and resurrection from the dead. These are great mysteries. This is the astonishing truth of our relationship with Jesus Christ.
What we may understand from these Bible verses is the potential of those men, those people, who know all there is to know about the letter of the law, and yet still are potentially receptive to the gift of God, to his great sacrifice, who know that there is infinitely more than the mere letter of the law and turn to Jesus to discover exactly what that excess is, which is the gift of grace, the gift, of himself, of Christ.
We are called to be born anew. This is Christ’s message. We are spirit, born of the spirit, and we are flesh. There is a mortal and immortal aspect to ourselves. The flesh will die, dust to dust; it is the spirit which is truly immortal. It is for us to decide to align ourselves with the spirit, rather than the flesh. This is to hear Christ’s call. Through baptism, through our death and our rebirth in Christ, we are absolved of the sins of the flesh and awakened to our new life of the spirit. We are called through Christ to live in the spirit, in this life and everlasting.
Thank you for reading.
Here is a bonus track from the YouTube channel where I'm creating little slide-show videos of my readings of the KJV psalms:
[It's early days and a work in progress. This is Psalm 22.]
This is a reflection on the Gospel of John 3: 1-8. Nicodemus visits Jesus.
There's my audio Bible reading on my site here: Daily Bible Verses Easter Season To Pentecost | Monday Week 2 | Nicodemus Visits Jesus | King James Audio Bible | KJV – Listen To the Bible! | King James Audio Bible | KJV | King James Version
Do please visit and share.
My reflection on the Gospel passage goes like this:
It is a striking moment. Nicodemus, a member of the Sanhedrin of Jerusalem, has come to visit Jesus. He does so secretly, by night, his whole reputation at risk. He must not be seen to be associating with Jesus, and yet he is compelled to seek Jesus and to ask him the questions he has.
Nicodemus acknowledges Jesus as a teacher and master: Rabbi. He knows that Jesus’ teaching is truth and needs to speak with him more. Nicodemus would know every word of the teachings of Moses and the Old Testament. If anyone could be saved by adherence to the Old Law, it would have been him. However, Nicodemus knows that something is missing, that there is more. He is drawn to Jesus, a good man seeing and wanting the truth that Jesus can give to him.
Nicodemus must have been amazed by what Jesus had to say to him: You must be born again. What could this mean? We know that our rebirth is through baptism and our faith in Jesus, in his life, death and resurrection from the dead. These are great mysteries. This is the astonishing truth of our relationship with Jesus Christ.
What we may understand from these Bible verses is the potential of those men, those people, who know all there is to know about the letter of the law, and yet still are potentially receptive to the gift of God, to his great sacrifice, who know that there is infinitely more than the mere letter of the law and turn to Jesus to discover exactly what that excess is, which is the gift of grace, the gift, of himself, of Christ.
We are called to be born anew. This is Christ’s message. We are spirit, born of the spirit, and we are flesh. There is a mortal and immortal aspect to ourselves. The flesh will die, dust to dust; it is the spirit which is truly immortal. It is for us to decide to align ourselves with the spirit, rather than the flesh. This is to hear Christ’s call. Through baptism, through our death and our rebirth in Christ, we are absolved of the sins of the flesh and awakened to our new life of the spirit. We are called through Christ to live in the spirit, in this life and everlasting.
Thank you for reading.
Here is a bonus track from the YouTube channel where I'm creating little slide-show videos of my readings of the KJV psalms:
[It's early days and a work in progress. This is Psalm 22.]