Discourse with Nicodemus

Today's Reflections 

 

 

Discourse with Nicodemus

Jn 3:1-8

¹There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ²He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.” ³Jesus answered and said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” ⁴Nicodemus said to him, “How can a person once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother’s womb and be born again, can he?” ⁵Jesus answered, “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit. ⁷Do not be amazed that I told you, ‘You must be born from above.’ ⁸The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Being born of water and Spirit. As a Jew and a Pharisee, Nicodemus is proud of his race. Understandably so, for which nation can say, “We are God’s chosen people,” but the Israelites? To be God’s chosen people in heaven, however, is another matter. As regards the kingdom of heaven, the Jews may still be God’s elect, but not “the only” chosen people, for God loves everyone and desires everyone to be in heaven.

Jesus makes it clear to Nicodemus that physical birth, no matter how noble, does not earn one the right to enter heaven. Being born of flesh, every person—Gentile or Jew, slave or free—is corruptible. Heaven is for the incorruptible. Hence, one must first be born (again) in the Spirit to be incorruptible and enter heaven. To be born in the Spirit, one must believe in Jesus and accept him as one’s Lord and Savior. In other words, Jesus must first be in us before we can be with him in heaven.

“Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we,

who have been renewed by paschal remedies,

transcending the likeness of our earthly parentage,

may be transformed in the image

of our heavenly maker” (Collect for today’s Mass).