Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar and Nevim Arith Hayomin:
John 3:3: “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again he can not see the kingdom of God.”
I remember as a child having to memorize the entire chapter of John 3. I was always bothered by this verse. Here a great man like Nicodemus greets Jesus with a nice compliment and the first words out of Jesus’s mouth was to tell him he was a lost sinner and if he did not get born again he would die and burn. Well, being raised a Baptist where evangelism took priority over everything else, this is the way I was conditioned to read this verse. I just could not help but feel Jesus was being very rude to this guy.
Years later as I passed through Bible College, Seminary, Teaching etc., the puzzle began to come together. It started making even more sense as I began studying the works of the ancient sages. I came to realize that the old Christian teaching that Nicodemus came to Jesus at night because he was afraid to be seen with Him may not be true.
For one thing it was not night as we know it, this “night” meant it was about 10:00 A.M. in the morning just before Nicodemus was to make his daily visit to the Sanhedrin. I, also, doubt very much that this meeting was generated by Nicodemus’s desire to get “saved.” as I had been taught.
More than likely the greeting Nicodemus gave Jesus was a more a request than a greeting. Apparently many teachers in Jesus day longed to be a miracle worker. There was a belief that if you understood the inherent power of the Hebrew letters and formed them into words correctly and spoke the names of God with Kavanah (deep sincerity) you would be able to perform miracles. As few who practiced this actually performed miracles it was felt there was some hidden key or code which would unlock these powers. Since Jesus was a master teacher who was performing real miracles, he obviously knew this key. I mean these were not just headaches and sore backs He was healing, these were the genuine articles, blind made to see, lame walking, dead rising etc.
Nicodemus, as a leader of the Jews, longed for this power and he sought out Jesus privately in hopes that Jesus would reveal the secrets. Jesus did, “unless you be born again, you can not see the kingdom of God.” To the Jews of that day, the “kingdom of God” represented a few different things, all related to each other. As the Jews did not want to speak the name of God for fear of violating the command to not take the Lord’s name in vain, they often substituted the name of God for “kingdom of God.” Also, the “kingdom of God” represented the deep knowledge and mysteries of God. The one bearing such knowledge could perform miracles.
One wonders how the Jews could reject Jesus when they saw Him perform undisputed miracles. Actually, it was easy, they just assumed He had this hidden knowledge and performed miracles as a result of this knowledge. It did not mean he was the Son of God, just one who had studied and researched enough to discover this knowledge.
Now here is Nicodemus who spent his life living a righteous life, searching out the Scriptures and not even able to heal the wing of fly. He obviously felt it was his due, his right to have this knowledge and he confronted Jesus who basically pointed out one key factor. “You must be born again.” Now the phrase, “born again” was a common phrase used in that day. It was used for a Gentile who converted into Judaism. They said he was “born again.” Yet, Jesus is telling the Jew of all Jews that he had to be born again. Old Nicodemus could not comprehend that, after all he was a born Jew, follower of the law, you can’t get more born again than that.
But Jesus said he had to be born of water and of the spirit. Now enough books have been written about being born of water and spirit to fill a warehouse, so I won’t comment on that. Ultimately, the point Jesus was making is that the important thing is one’s relationship with God. There were no “magic” words or formulas to performing miracles. Like the wind which blows, no one knows where it comes or goes, so is the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God moves as He wills and we can not control Him with secret words or formulas. You do not get the Spirit of God to move by playing music fast, or slow, loud or quiet. You do not get the Spirit of God to move by preaching loud and boldly or quiet and meekly. The power of the Spirit of God does not come in proportion to your level of righteousness as old Nicodemus learned. There is only one thing we can control and that is our relationship with God and allowing His Son Jesus Christ to cleanse us of our sins. From that point on, it is up to God whether He will move through us or not.
Lately in Chicago, it has been very hot and when that wind blows, I do not think where it is coming from or what makes it blow, I just try to find a place to enjoy it’s maximum benefit. When the Spirit of God moves, I do not try to figure out how or why, I just try to enjoy His maximum benefit when He does move.
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