Monday, June 24, 2019
658 - You Better Believe It
Spirituality Column #658
June 25, 2019
June 25, 2019
Common Christianity, Uncommon Commentary
You Better Believe It
By Bob Walters
“…that everyone who
believes in him may have eternal life.” Jesus, John 3:15
Perhaps you
are among those of us who have to concentrate extra hard when trying to
understand the words of Jesus in the third chapter of the Fourth Gospel.
John 3 –
home to the famous John 3:16 verse “For
God so loved the world …” etc. – opens with bold and inquisitive Pharisee
Nicodemus visiting Jesus. Under the
cover of darkness this esteemed Jewish leader has come to investigate this startling
Rabbi whose wisdom has so obviously come from God and who performs miracles
that are so obviously signs of the divine.
Nicodemus wants to know more, but let’s not miss that the Bible offers
no clue as to whether Nicodemus has come in humility and maybe burgeoning
faith, or to gain advantage over his peers.
Motive isn’t mentioned.
One thing
worth noticing is that no ceremonial, laudatory, or even cordial greeting is
offered by Jesus to his visitor: no signal of Nicodemus’s esteemed title or
station, no “Thank you for coming,” no “Nice to see you,” no “What can I do for
you?”
Jesus starts in commandingly with, “I tell you the truth…”
I love that. Jesus tells the truth and tells it straight
away on his terms, not ours.
Jesus proceeds to expound on the
truth of the Kingdom of Heaven, of being “born again,” of water and Spirit, of
flesh, of the wind blowing, of truth, of His testimony, of believing, of
earthly things, and of heavenly things. Jesus then talks of love, of light, of
darkness, of condemnation and salvation.
And then He talks some more about light and darkness, of evil deeds, and
the light of truth. Nicodemus is
mystified.
Here, it’s OK to shake one’s head. What the heck is Jesus talking about?
Nicodemus is still stuck back on
“reborn” and “the mother’s womb.” He is –
at this point – utterly opaque to the wonderful story and opportunity Jesus is
laying out before Him and, later through the Spirit in this Bible we now know,
before all mankind.
Jesus does not belabor Nicodemus’s sin,
disobedience, and guilt; He points to Nicodemus’s
and all the Pharisees’ lack of Godly understanding, their eternal peril of
darkness, their misdirected faith in earthly things, and their lack of belief in Him.
Notice that nowhere in this passage
does Jesus mention forgiveness. Instead
His emphasis is on truth, faith, light, the Spirit, and repeatedly … about believing.
I am thankful my sins are forgiven
but the lesson of John certainly isn’t narrowly about forgiveness of our
earthly and worldly sins; it is about thoroughly believing the divine and
eternal truth of the love of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Over the years I’ve developed an
ear for hearing when Christians are focused on sin and forgiveness vs. when
Christians are focused on belief, faith, truth, love, and the person of Jesus
Christ; it is the difference of legalism vs. freedom; of fear vs. joy.
In this most powerful scripture passage
we discover our key to the Kingdom of Heaven laid out plainly as a matter of God’s
love, our belief in Jesus … and nothing else.
Be thankful for that, and trust Jesus in all that He says.
Even when it makes you shake your
head.
Maybe especially when it makes you shake your head.
0 comments:
Post a Comment