Daily Office Readings for Monday in the Week of the Second Sunday after the Epiphany: Year 2
Psalm 25; Psalm 9, 15 Gen. 8:6-22; Heb. 4:14-5:6; John 2:23-3:15
“He came to Jesus by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” (John 3:2)
This is the way we all approach our Lord Jesus, in the darkness of ignorance. Nicodemus was somewhat condescending in his talk with Jesus knowing that a person cannot re-enter the womb to be born again. Jesus was explaining a rebirth using metaphor. This only further explains the dark cloud of ignorance in which Nicodemus found himself.
We do not know how much we do not know. I am thankful for seminary training. It is not that this religious education made me smart. Well sort of; it informed me of just how much I had no clue about. I think knowing how much you don’t know is the beginning of being smart.
But just like the Confession of Peter of two days ago, we don’t figure out God, God shares with us through revelation as it pleases God. This is a good time to recall a quote from Kallistos Ware: “It is not the task of Christianity to provide easy answers to every question, but to make us progressively aware of a mystery. God is not so much the object of our knowledge as the cause of our wonder.” (Kallistos Ware)
If Nicodemus believed that our Lord Jesus was a teacher who has come from God because no one can do what our Lord Jesus does apart from the presence of God, then, I say, behave that way Nicodemus! Instead of challenging Jesus, follow him. And that goes for us too.
Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to and through the saints of God and then ponder anew what the Almighty can do. John
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