It would have been a strange moment in a way. Nicodemus, a religious man, a ruler of the Jews, sought out Jesus to speak with Him about the things he had heard. The Pharisees, of whom Nicodemus was one, had a lot of problems with Jesus, and on many occasions sought to shut Him down. Apparently, Nicodemus saw something, however, that intrigued and fascinated him; so, regardless of his standing in the community he came to talk with Jesus.
Nicodemus believed that Jesus had come from God because of the works that Jesus had performed. Yet, Jesus didn’t seem to be impressed with the fact that Nicodemus had seen the works. Jesus called him to a deeper awareness. He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again (born from above) he cannot see the kingdom of God” (vs. 3). This troubled Nicodemus, and he inquired, “How can a man be born when he is old. He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” (vs.4). Jesus then spoke to him of spiritual realities, of faith and belief, of laying aside one way of being and coming into a new way of being in the world.
We human types or captivated by what we might call the miraculous. We love a good magician, don’t we. But magician’s don’t do magic, they do illusion. So, you can’t always trust what you see. What we see may, in fact, be a miracle, but we don’t need miracles; we need God. We need to come to life in Jesus and to practice a new way of being in the world. The problem, if there is one, is that the things of God aren’t designed to wow us; they are designed to point us to God, who seeks to work amazing grace into our lives and in our world. We want the spectacular. Jesus wants to embrace us in the love and majesty of God.
In this Lenten season, we don’t need miracles, even though some of us would love to see a few. We need the life energizing presence of God in us. This comes in the life of Faith. Jesus said, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (vs. 16). Perhaps, the greatest miracle, if we still want to use this word, is a life transformed by God’s grace, energized by God’s power, and motivated by God’s love. Now, that would be a miracle.
A lot of people think God is only about judgment. Jesus didn’t think this. He said, “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” (vs. 17). That’s a totally different reality, is it. Jesus came to save us because this is what we most need. None of us will get out this world alive, but we can get out of this world “saved” (vs. 17). In fact, it is a saving relationship that begins today, continues throughout our lives, and takes us home to heaven when we die.
Who would have thought it?
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