5/24/18
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
In our Gospel reading for this week Jesus makes an oddly cryptic remark. When Nicodemus is confused by Jesus’ statement about being born again, Jesus speaks of the Spirit and wind (the same word) and says that you can hear the wind but can’t really tell where it came from. How is Nicodemus supposed to understand this? In verses 10 and following Jesus points out that being a teacher is not merely a matter of having a particular knowledge base. Nicodemus needs to believe God even though he doesn’t fully understand him.
Like Nicodemus, we often fail. We may fail to understand what should be clear. We may fail to believe what would be easily trusted by a child. Regardless, we depart from the power of God’s love when we leave trust behind and depend only on what we can analyze.
Here Jesus calls Nicodemus and us to trust him. Just as we can feel and hear the wind, we can know that Jesus is present, working forgiveness and restoration in our world.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
Many churches throughout the world use a Bible reading schedule called a "lectionary." It's just a fancy word meaning "selected readings." Posts like this reflect on the readings for an upcoming Sunday or other Church holiday, as found in the three-year lectionary.
In our Gospel reading for this week Jesus makes an oddly cryptic remark. When Nicodemus is confused by Jesus’ statement about being born again, Jesus speaks of the Spirit and wind (the same word) and says that you can hear the wind but can’t really tell where it came from. How is Nicodemus supposed to understand this? In verses 10 and following Jesus points out that being a teacher is not merely a matter of having a particular knowledge base. Nicodemus needs to believe God even though he doesn’t fully understand him.
Like Nicodemus, we often fail. We may fail to understand what should be clear. We may fail to believe what would be easily trusted by a child. Regardless, we depart from the power of God’s love when we leave trust behind and depend only on what we can analyze.
Here Jesus calls Nicodemus and us to trust him. Just as we can feel and hear the wind, we can know that Jesus is present, working forgiveness and restoration in our world.
If this brief meditation was helpful to you, I hope you will check out the other materials on our website at www.WittenbergCoMo.com and consider supporting us.
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