Today’s Scripture:
“Jesus answered him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” — John 3:3 (ESV)
Reflection
Today’s passage is about Jesus and Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a pharisee and he wanted to ridicule Jesus, but Jesus knew this and still decided to be patient and loving towards Nicodemus. Jesus explains the concept of being born again in the Spirit, which confuses Nicodemus at first, but what Jesus means is that those who are born again by the Spirit did not do so by their own will, but God made it happen. P. Abe tied this to the birth of a newborn baby. Like how we have celebrations for brand new babies, we should celebrate the spiritual birth of others. Our faith is not a result of works, but it is a free gift from God. Then, when Jesus is talking about Nicodemus not receiving the testimonies, He is talking about how people are saying that Jesus is the Son of God, yet he still does not believe Jesus through all the signs He has done. Being a teacher of the law, Nicodemus was presumably pretty smart, but he couldn’t understand even the earthly things. The dead snake in Exodus 21 wasn’t special, but it represented God overcoming the serpents for them. In this passage, Jesus represents the snake, as when the Jews and Gentiles looked at Him on the cross, they should have looked to Jesus on the cross and known that their sins were paid for. Also, I believe this sermon was the one where P. Abe quoted Kpop demon hunters, saying “we’re going up up up. It’s who we’re born to be” (P. Abe’s words, not mine).
Not much time left, but I’ll go over the main points briefly:
Being born of the Spirit is not of our own will or accord, but it is by God’s grace and just by God that we are born again. This means we can be assured of our faith, because God doesn’t give faith that just goes away. God’s faith is sure.
Although we are simple beings, and we fail to understand many things, Jesus is patient and loving.
The testimonies to Jesus in the Bible are true and trustworthy.
When we look at the cross, we should know that our sins are already paid for, and that there is nothing more for us to do.