Living Stones – Tuesday, November 21, 2017
Understanding
John 3:10
Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?
Jesus seems to be surprised that Nicodemus couldn’t understand the very simple statement that He made to him. This lack of understanding, expressed by Nicodemus, was after Jesus had amplified for him what it meant to be “born again.”
In this nighttime encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus, John 3:1-21, Jesus said many profound things to him. The description of some Christians as, “born again Christians” was taken directly from this conversation.
This conversation appears to be very strange if you try to follow it, however, it is not unlike many that Jesus had with others. Nicodemus approaches Jesus and starts the conversation with an acknowledgement, or recognition at least, of Jesus’ demonstrated status as a messenger of God. Jesus responds with something that seems totally disconnected from the opening comment, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
The way Jesus responded is like the way public relations professionals tell their clients to respond to questions from the media – regardless of what they ask, take the opportunity to answer with what is our key message today.
Nicodemus, who must have given deep thought to his approach to Jesus, is now knocked off his game by the response, so he asks what is an obvious question, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Now this, obviously, couldn’t be what Jesus meant.
Nicodemus was not a fool, this man was a Pharisee, this man was a ruler of the Jews, and later evidence suggests that this man was also wealthy. The Pharisees were a brotherhood of about 6,000 Jews who pledged to spend their entire lives observing the details of the written law. So, as a Pharisee, he was familiar with the law and could discuss and understand complex religious and doctrinal arguments.
As a “ruler of the Jews”, he was most likely a member of the Sanhedrin, the 70-member supreme court of the Jews which heard the arguments in many religious cases. More evidence that Nicodemus could understand complex things.
Some theologians have argued that even the concept of a rebirth shouldn’t have been strange to Nicodemus because the idea had already been introduced by some of the writings in the Old Testament. William Barclay argues this point saying that “The Jew knew all about rebirth. When a man from another faith became a Jew and had been accepted into Judaism by prayer and sacrifice and baptism, he was regarded as being reborn. “A proselyte who embraces Judaism,” said the rabbis, “is like a new-born child.”
Barclay argues further that, “Ezekiel, for instance, had spoken repeatedly about the new heart that must be created in a man. “Cast away from you all the transgressions, which you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 18:31). “A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you” (Ezekiel 36:26).”
Yet, after further explanation, Nicodemus declares, “How can these things be?” This is when, and maybe why, Jesus seems to ask exasperatingly “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Many translators render the verse as “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things?
Understanding here seems to have nothing to do with intellect. How we understand things is often a function of prior knowledge, education and training, social status, and our worldview. Charles Colson describes Christianity as a worldview “a way of understanding every aspect of the world and human life.” The Jews, the Pharisees among them, were not prepared for Jesus as the Massiah because He did not fit into the model of the Massiah that they had constructed for themselves and so when Nicodemus goes to meet Jesus, all of these things become impediments to his understanding.
There is one other aspect of understanding that we should consider before getting into arguments about spiritual things. Not everyone is coming from a position that makes it easy for them to appreciate spiritual things. The Apostle Paul makes a case in 1 Corinthians 2:6-16, verse 14 says “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
Think on these things:
- Try to remember an argument you had with someone who seemed not to understand what you were saying, what might have been the reasons why it was so hard for them to understand?
- How has your upbringing helped or hindered your understanding of spiritual things?
- Do you know the basic Christian beliefs well enough to be able to explain them to someone who is struggling to grasp them?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today for those with whom we are trying to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that the Holy Spirit would bring them an understanding of spiritual things.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex