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Sunday 8, 2023

While Being Questioned

John 3:1-15

Nicodemus was a teacher belonging to the Pharisees and a member of the Jews. Nicodemus came to visit Jesus quietly “one night. He recognized Jesus as “the Teacher from God” and expressed his approval of his words and actions. In response to Nicodemus’ praise of Jesus, Jesus urged him, “Unless one is born again, one cannot see the kingdom of God. You think that you can see the kingdom of God, that you can enter the kingdom of God. But you cannot see the Kingdom of God as it is now, unless you are born again,” Jesus said. The Kingdom of God is a “gift of grace” that God gives us out of love for us, regardless of our strength or our deeds. Realize that grace and be truly humble. Acts of love, done in humility and gratitude for grace, are the real acts that please God. This is what Jesus must have wanted to say to Nicodemus.

Since that night, Nicodemus must have been drawn to Jesus’ words, but he was too afraid to accept them because of the Pharisees’ prejudice, and he must have secretly struggled with his own foolishness. In other words, a “dialogue of questions and answers” continued in his mind. Nicodemus may have felt the question in Jesus’ words that night, “Is there a law in Judea? As we receive the words of Jesus, let us also reflect on ourselves, and let us walk forward, questioning and being questioned.

(Pastor Kei Miura)