Good Tuesday morning! Not as cool this morning as we have seen and the predicted high temp is more like August than October. Our fall rains have not yet arrived, the sprinklers are still running all over town, and the wind blows from the south... exactly what time of the year is it again? As with the past couple of years, our autumn seems late and the normal temps bear this out. So, as I babble on about a condition of our circumstance, what is really important in this world? Right, God's word. Today, we have finished the great third chapter of John. A review of what went on in this past chapter might be good for me and you.
In the third chapter of John's gospel, Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. You will recall how Nicodemus started off the conversation as he might have with a visiting professor from the College of Religious Studies. Jesus didn't acknowledge the compliments, but got right to what Nicodemus was seeking. The great teacher of religious law was set back a step by what Jesus had to tell him. We learned through the discomfiture of Nicodemus that we must be born again to have eternal life. Not born again as in the first birth from our mother, but born of the Spirit. While our systems of religion will tell us that we must qualify for heaven through some effort or practice, Jesus gave Nicodemus and all those who read his words the real lowdown on getting to heaven: You must start your life all over again. As Nicodemus sputtered and stalled for time, Jesus explained further the central mission of his coming to earth. We can't explain the process of being born again by the Spirit, but we learned that is the second birth that must take place.
Jesus further went on to explain why God did this: He loved the world so much that He sent His one and only Son. Jesus spells it out in plain text for us: Believe in Him and be saved for all eternity; fail or choose not to believe in Jesus and face God's judgment. Jesus came down from heaven to give us this message and this chance for redemption. Jesus also tells us that he came not to condemn the world, but that through him the world might be saved. Also very important for us to remember since the world will often complain about how Jesus came to make everyone feel guilty. Jesus says it first and then later in the chapter John the Baptist explains it further.
John the Baptist takes a position of humility in the latter half of John 3 as he explains to his disciples that he must become less and Jesus becomes greater. John used the metaphor of the bridegroom and best man to explain that he would be leaving the center of attention as Jesus had arrived to begin the wedding. John would rejoice at the success of Jesus, but he was also a bit saddened at how few people would believe in the Son of God at this time. Again John tells us that Jesus has come down from Heaven with the Good News. Two witnesses to the light of eternal life: Jesus and then John the Baptist. Both witnesses tell us and those gathered with them that we must believe in the Son to have eternal life. The Good News is that both tell us this belief in Jesus is all that we need for eternal life. No long road march with little to eat or drink, no lifetime of religious observances, and most important of all: no absolute, every day, keeping of the Law, which we already know that we cannot keep in any case.
The Good News has arrived in the person of Jesus. John the gospel writer and disciple of Jesus introduces this Good News to the world. The deity of Jesus is told both by Jesus himself and by John the Baptist. Nicodemus takes the lead and learns what we need to know to have eternal life. Nicodemus represented the sinful and law-burdened world for a moment so that Jesus could give all of us the Good News. We know that Good News as John 3:16: "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." That's some good news in a dark world!
Have a great and wonderful day in Christ!
Bucky
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