Laying Aside One's Position

Scripture: He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” John 3:2

Observation: These are Nicodemus' first recorded words to Jesus, and they sound complimentary. Nicodemus acknowledges Jesus' status as a teacher, and as someone with special authority directly from God. In addition, he uses the plural 'we' implying that this is something the Sanhedrin have both discussed and are in agreement upon.

However, there is another way of interpreting this. Nicodemus could be putting Jesus in his place ... identifying him as 'just' an inspired teacher, and therefore clearly not on the level of the Sanhedrin. This, in fact, would explain Jesus' response, where beginning in verse 3 Jesus immediately begins teaching Nicodemus about faith requiring one to be born of the Holy Spirit and that he is testifying about what he absolutely knows and has personally seen. Nicodemus doesn't understand, and this emphasizes that Jesus isn't just some teacher with the inspired word of God, but is in fact Messiah who knows more than all the Sanhedrin combined.

Application: I remain inspired by Nicodemus, a high-ranking and extremely well-respected expert with position, status, and title, who was at least open to learning ... and eventually would humble himself in unique and public ways. Nicodemus would speak up on Jesus' side before the Sanhedrin (John 7) and later he would be among the people who removed Jesus from the cross (John 19), making himself ceremonially unclean at a critical time. In both of these, Nicodemus was acting in a way that would have had public consequences, and he was willing to accept those consequences for his faith.

Nicodemus encountered Jesus in order to compartmentalize his faith ... he wanted to create a way that he could believe what Jesus said and did but not "believe in" Jesus. I know I do that sometimes. I want to believe in heaven, salvation, grace, righteousness, etc., but on my own terms. Jesus is clear that we do, in fact, have all these blessings and gifts, but they are given to us by God's terms. Those terms are to believe in Jesus as Lord and savior, and thus obey his commands.

I am to feed Jesus' sheep ... love others especially other believers, care for the meek and struggling, and pronounce the gospel message. Everything of this earth - title, position, possessions, and intelligence - are pointless. Nicodemus learned this, and so can I.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for words whispered in the dark. I am one who believes. Please forgive me for my continued pride, and give me the strength to set aside my life, pick up my cross, and follow you daily. Amen.