Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Salvation the Gift of God
John 3:1-16
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

                   Chapter 2 begins with Jesus' first sign in Cana of Galilee. Later in chapter 2 and 3 the scene shifts to Jerusalem, the geographical and spiritual centre of the Jews. When Jesus clears the temple  courts they ask him to prove his authority to do it. In chapter 3 the teaching of Jesus is contrasted with that of the Pharisees.
               Nicodemus acknowledges Jesus as 'a teacher come from God'. He speaks to Jesus in the first person plural, ("we know you are a teacher.."v.3), which means that he is a representative of the community. Jesus emphasizes that a person must be born' again' (or 'from  above') to enter the kingdom of God. He/she must be born of water and the Spirit. This statement has raised great controversies. Entrance to the Kingdom of God will require a double birth, 'physical birth' (water) and 'spiritual birth'. Spirit and flesh are held together. The Greek word for 'spirit' is 'pneuma' . Like the Hebrew word 'ruah', it 'has two inherent meanings- 'wind' and 'spirit'. A question that people usually ask is whether you were baptized right? Persons who were baptized in their infancy sometimes have doubt about their baptism. Verse 16 says nothing about being baptized right. It speaks of a great eternal love and extends a glorious guarantee to those who respond to that love.
 According to John, this encounter with Nicodemus happens at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. Nowhere in St. John’s Gospel or in other Gospels do we read about Jesus giving importance to baptism or baptizing anybody. None of the sayings of Jesus mentions baptism as a prerequisite for salvation.
                 In the sacrament of baptism we may use water but it is the Holy Spirit who does the work.  There is 'word' and 'sacrament' in Christian worship. There is body and spirit. If we were only breath (sprit) we would be ghosts. If we were only bodies (flesh) without breath we would be corpses. So body and breath must go together. When Jesus speaks of being born again, Nicodemus takes it literally. You had nothing to do with your first birth. It was a gift. We don't control our birth. The best things in life are free. To receive we must let go, to win we must surrender, to live we must die. Rebirth is a matter of total reorientation from the world to the Kingdom of God. It is the refocusing of our lives on the cross of Christ.
             There is an ever present danger that some people consider themselves to be spiritually 'elite'. They look down upon others as though they are the only ones to inherit the Kingdom of God. Martin E. Marty has said that one of the problems we have been having in recent years is that "the tolerant are uncommitted and the committed are intolerant". There is no one 'right way' of being born again just as there is no one right way of falling in love.

Prayer:  Loving Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus for our salvation. Help us to realize that you send Him for the salvation of the whole world and not for a prejudiced and self righteous minority. Forgive our failure to grasp the true meaning of the Gospel message. Amen.

Thought:  for the Day:  Jesus did not come to condemn, but to save the whole world through Him.

Rev. Dr. Philip Varghese, Sinai, NY.


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