JOHN 3: 1-17

Jottings on  John…Lent 2…Revised 2017 

(For MT 17:1-9 see Last Epiphany)

There's so much here, we need to choose wisely. Here are some possibilities to choose from, bearing in mind personal discernment & local need. Of course there are lots more! 

Coming as he does by night, Nicodemus might imaginatively represent all those trying to fathom God & Jesus from darkness of one kind or another. He starts off here by doing his coming privately. Others do, too. They & N deserve credit for coming at all. There’s no congregation that doesn’t have its Nicodemus or two!

Both the 'anew' & 'from above' aspects of being born are positive, important, & need to be considered together. Matthew Fox somewhere quotes Meister Eckhart as preaching: “God is always the newest thing there ever is”. May our birthing & re-birthing always be renewal like that. That goes that far. Are we living anew & from above, out in our margins?

Being born of ‘water & Spirit’ isn’t necessarily to be restricted to baptism. What about the waters of birth? In context that makes good sense. Over-all, Jesus doesn't appear too fazed about baptism, unless, that is, we believe He really is personally behind MT 28:19 & not a later follower. Here in JN He's both linking & contrasting human physical birth & divine Spiritual birth in powerful imagery. Should we ponder the water from Jesus’ side, too?

Jesus’ use of the metaphor ‘wind’ here for the Spirit is a great help to our understanding of the Spirit’s role - both in the Godhead & in our lives. Let’s not shackle the Spirit with doctrinal bonds of our making. Instead, accept & rejoice in the freedom that comes with the Spirit of Jesus blowing where He/She/It will. Sometimes that will mean flying kites!

The serpent in the wilderness theme is burned deep into Jesus' psyche. It's there smouldering away throughout His Ministry; not least in His Passion, nailed up there like a dead snake on a pole! It's a potent link between God at work in old Israel raising people from spiritual if not physical death. God raising Jesus from death. God raising a new Israel we see ourselves as from death. This way, God is the Great Healer! In ways we don’t always discern. What are we most in need of healing from? 

It’s possible to quote JN 3:16 yet act as though God is more damning  than rescuing. Sure, v.18 follows v.17, & there’s no clearer contrast than that between light & darkness which follows today’s passage. But is it sometimes tempting to preach about the darkness rather than demonstrate the Light. Blake's view of the Spirit as 'the love that flows between the Father & the Son' isn’t just a Trinitarian insight. It’s a reminder of the present tense of all ‘God business’. And that where there’s love there’s also light. Could it be needing to love & be loved that leads Nicodemus off on his adventurous evening journey in the first place?