In this passage, a rabbi named Nicodemus comes to Jesus during the night to ask him some questions and find out more about him.
It is interesting to note how he comes at night, and this is probably because he would be judged by the other teachers of the law for approaching Jesus. Indeed this can be likened to Christians like myself. I certainly feel that I try to avoid speaking about my faith to others, and I know many Christians feel the same way. It's hard to speak out, in an age where Christianity is usually frowned upon, especially in the society I live in now, but it's important to remember that God is with us always.
Jesus tells Nicodemus that no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born again. Nicodemus takes this literally, and says that this is impossible.
Indeed, here again Jesus is speaking through a metaphor. We cannot literally be born again, but spiritually, we can. We can do this by building a relationship with him, by getting to know him. If you've never tried doing this, how about starting off with a simple prayer? Asking God to reveal himself to you and showing that you are waiting and listening for him.
Then Jesus speaks about Moses lifting up the snake (verse 14). This links to a passage in Numbers 21: 4-9. 'But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!’
6 Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, ‘We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people.
8 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.’ 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
Here, the people must have been in great disbelief, how could looking at a bronze snake keep them alive? But sure enough it did, just as being born again means we can enter the kingdom of heaven.
I had some queries about this bronze snake business. Firstly, I thought that the snake represents Satan, after all, it was a serpent that Satan took the form of in the garden of Eden, when he appeared to Adam and Eve. Also, there's another passage in the bible (I can't remember which one), where the people stray away from God and create bronze statues that they idolise and worship, and Moses becomes furious when he learns of this. Why would looking at this bronze snake cure you? What about prayer to God? Surely that would have been a better solution. I asked this to our leader and I think she said that the point was that in both instances, the unbelievable was the truth.
Then there is this matter concerning laws and rules. Apparently the Old Testament contains 613 laws!! Now that is a lot. The book of Ezekiel tells us (Ezekiel 36:26-27) 'I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.' Here we find out that the Holy Spirit will fill us and help us keep these laws. And my question is- why create all these rules if we are told that all we must do is believe in God and he will help us keep them? What's the point? I guess what I'm taking away from this is that it's the believing that matters, and the effort that we put in to try and live a 'good' life. Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit (mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6:19) , and we must do our best to honour them and God.
Now verses 16 and 17 of John are some of the most famous verses in the bible ever. I've grown up with this one. We can unpick this for hours, and still not fully unwrap the whole message. But some takeaway points- God is loving. That is what he is doing. Not putting rules on us, not punishing us. He is loving us. And he made a sacrifice- he gave his only son to us, to die on the cross. He did not send Jesus to blame us or make our life harder, but to provide us with a promise- a promise of eternal life with him- to save us. Yes, it's hard. It is hard as a Christian trying your best to have this relationship with God, and sometimes God tests us- he challenges us, and like in every relationship, there's ups and downs- but ultimately it is a rewarding relationship- and our God is an ever-loving God- and his love knows no boundaries.
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