John 3:1–10 (NRSVUE)
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by 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 do unless God is with that person.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?”
Devotion
We don’t know what Nicodemus looked like or even how old he was, but from the job-based description that John gives us, I’m comfortable with him looking like and being a similar age to the wonderful actor Erick Avari, who played him in The Chosen. That is to say, mature and gray. We also know he was a Pharisee. I am not the first to read the bullet point description of who the Pharisees were and see them as the Presbyterians of their day.
So it is with great sympathy that I, a mature, gray Presbyterian, read Nicodemus’s encounter with Jesus. Certainly my lived experience is that the world is full of young people who in their innocence and inexperience are happy to tell me how things truly are. As if my learning and experience and caution all came from a different, largely irrelevant world.
And yet Nicodemus does what for me is the hardest thing. He sets aside his pride. He listens. He does that most Presbyterian of things: he learns. It can’t have been easy. I say that because 2000 years later I don’t find it easy. Life is conducted in the day to day. Decently. And in order. To humble myself and to reach for the forgiveness and salvation that God is eagerly extending is not what my world has taught me to do.
Prayer
Dear God, forgive me for my pride and my pretension. Abide with me faithfully and be there with me when there is more to learn, no matter the manner or the vessel. Help me bend to know you better and to accept the forgiveness and rebirth that comes from you. Amen.
Eric Baker