The Nicodemus Question?
A reading for Monday, August 11, 2014: John 3:1-21.
Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a Jew by birth and thus a child of Abraham. As a teacher and a leader of the Jewish faith, he was also a follower of Moses. The story of God delivering the people from the hand of Pharaoh through the work and the leading of Moses would always be at the front of Nicodemus' mind. This is the life of a faithful Jew, salvation through deliverance from bondage.
Jesus proclaims that same Holy Spirit as being present in him as he leads the people out of bondage. Jesus says, it is not through birth that you are saved as most Jews believe but in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, just as Moses lifted up the staff that all might follow him, God is lifting up Jesus that all might follow. Finally, Jesus says those that stay behind (I wonder if there were Jews who stayed behind in Egypt rather than follow Moses) are condemned not by God but because they did not follow the procession into the Promised Land. So that Nicodemus could understand, Jesus put salvation into images he understood as a faithful Jew.
What does salvation look like to us? We recognize the story of Moses. We know the story of Jesus. How do these stories connect with how God is delivering us out of the hand of bondage and into the Kingdom of Heaven? What does salvation look like for our neighbors, our spouse, our children, and even our church? Perhaps these are the questions we might ask in order to determine what God is up to in the world around us.
It's the same question Nicodemus asked. Truth is, it's the same story we are interested in...
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life."
Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a Jew by birth and thus a child of Abraham. As a teacher and a leader of the Jewish faith, he was also a follower of Moses. The story of God delivering the people from the hand of Pharaoh through the work and the leading of Moses would always be at the front of Nicodemus' mind. This is the life of a faithful Jew, salvation through deliverance from bondage.
Jesus proclaims that same Holy Spirit as being present in him as he leads the people out of bondage. Jesus says, it is not through birth that you are saved as most Jews believe but in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, just as Moses lifted up the staff that all might follow him, God is lifting up Jesus that all might follow. Finally, Jesus says those that stay behind (I wonder if there were Jews who stayed behind in Egypt rather than follow Moses) are condemned not by God but because they did not follow the procession into the Promised Land. So that Nicodemus could understand, Jesus put salvation into images he understood as a faithful Jew.
What does salvation look like to us? We recognize the story of Moses. We know the story of Jesus. How do these stories connect with how God is delivering us out of the hand of bondage and into the Kingdom of Heaven? What does salvation look like for our neighbors, our spouse, our children, and even our church? Perhaps these are the questions we might ask in order to determine what God is up to in the world around us.
It's the same question Nicodemus asked. Truth is, it's the same story we are interested in...
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life."
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