From: John 3:1-8
The Visit of Nicodemus
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Commentary:
1-21. Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin of Jerusalem (cf. John 7:50).
He must also have been an educated man, probably a scribe or teacher of the
Law: Jesus addresses him as a “teacher of Israel”. He would have been what
is called an intellectual—a person who reasons things out, for whom the search
for truth is a basic part of life. He was, naturally, much influenced by the Jewish
intellectual climate of his time. However, if divine things are to be understood,
reason is not enough: a person must be humble. The first thing Christ is going
to do in His conversation with Nicodemus is to highlight the need for this virtue;
that is why He does not immediately answer his questions: instead, He shows
him how far he is from true wisdom: “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do
not understand this?” Nicodemus needs to recognize that, despite all his stu-
dies, he is still ignorant of the things of God. As St. Thomas Aquinas comments:
“The Lord does not reprove him to offend him but rather because Nicodemus still
relies on his own learning; therefore He desired, by having him experience this
humiliation, to make him a fit dwelling-place for the Holy Spirit” (”Commentary on
St. John, in loc.”). From the way the conversation develops Nicodemus obviously
takes this step of humility and sits before Jesus as disciple before master. Then
our Lord reveals to him the mysteries of faith. From this moment onwards Nico-
demus will be much wiser than all those colleagues of his who have not taken
this step.
Human knowledge, on whatever scale, is something minute compared with the
truths—simple to state but extremely profound—of the articles of faith (cf. Ephe-
sians 3:15-19; 1 Corinthians 2:9). Divine truths need to be received with the sim-
plicity of a child (without which we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven); then,
they can be meditated on right through one’s life and studied with a sense of
awe, aware that divine things are always far above our heads.
1-2. Throughout this intimate dialogue, Nicodemus behaves with great refinement:
he addresses Jesus with respect and calls Him Rabbi, Master. He had probably
been impressed by Christ’s miracles and preaching and wanted to know more.
The way he reacts to our Lord’s teaching is not yet very supernatural, but he is
noble and upright. His visiting Jesus by night, for fear of the Jews (cf. John 19:39)
is very understandable, given his position as a member of the Sanhedrin: but he
takes the risk and goes to see Jesus.
When the Pharisees tried to arrest Jesus (John 7:32), failing to do so because he
had such support among the people, Nicodemus energetically opposed the injus-
tice of condemning a man without giving him a hearing; he also showed no fear,
at the most difficult time of all, by honoring the dead body of the Lord (John 19:39).
3-8. Nicodemus’ first question shows that he still has doubts about Jesus (is He
a prophet, is He the Messiah?); and our Lord replies to him in a completely unex-
pected way: Nicodemus presumed He would say something about His mission
and, instead, He reveals to him an astonishing truth: one must be born again, in
a spiritual birth, by water and the Spirit; a whole new world opens up before Nico-
demus.
Our Lord’s words also paint a limitless horizon for the spiritual advancement of
any Christian who willingly lets himself or herself be led by divine grace and the
gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are infused at Baptism and enhanced by the Sacra-
ments. As well as opening his soul to God, the Christian also needs to keep at
bay his selfish appetites and the inclinations of pride, if he is to understand what
God is teaching him in his soul: “therefore must the soul be stripped of all things
created, and of its own actions and abilities—namely, of its understanding, per-
ception and feelings—so that, when all that is unlike God and unconformed to
Him is cast out, the soul may receive the likeness of God; and nothing will then
remain in it that is not the will of God and it will thus be transformed in God.
Wherefore, although it is true that, as we have said, God is ever in the soul, gi-
ving it, and through His presence conserving within it, its natural being, yet He
does not always communicate supernatural being to it. For this is communica-
ted only by love and grace, which not all souls possess; and all those that pos-
ses it have it not in the same degree; for some have attained more degrees of
love and others fewer. Wherefore God communicates Himself most to that soul
that has progressed farthest in love; namely, that has its will in closest conformi-
ty with the will of God. And the soul that has attained complete conformity and
likeness of will is totally united and transformed in God supernaturally” (St.
John of the Cross, “Ascent of Mount Carmel”, Book II, Chapter 5).
Jesus speaks very forcefully about man’s new condition: it is no longer a ques-
tion of being born of the flesh, of the line of Abraham (cf. John 1:13), but of being
reborn through the action of the Holy Spirit, by means of water. This is our Lord’s
first reference to Christian Baptism, confirming John the Baptist’s prophecy (cf.
Matthew 3:11; John 1:33) that He had come to institute a baptism with the Holy
Spirit.
“Nicodemus had not yet savored this Spirit and this life. [...] He knew but one
birth, which is from Adam and Eve; that which is from God and the Church, he
did not know; he knew only the paternity which engenders to death; he did not
yet know the paternity which engenders to life. [...] Whereas there are two births,
he knew only of one. One is of earth, the other is of Heaven; one is of the flesh,
the other of the Spirit; one of mortality, the other of eternity; one of male and fe-
male, the other of God and the Church. But the two are each unique; neither one
nor the other can be repeated” (St. Augustine, “In Ioann. Evang.”, 11, 6).
Our Lord speaks of the wonderful effects the Holy Spirit produces in the soul of
the baptized. Just as with the wind—when it blows we realize its presence, we
hear it whistling, but we do not know where it came from, or where it will end up
— so with the Holy Spirit, the Divine “Breath” (”pneuma”) given us in Baptism: we
do not know how He comes to penetrate our heart but He makes His presence
felt by the change in the conduct of whoever receives Him.
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
|
First reading |
Acts 4:23-31 © |
As soon as Peter and John were released they went to the community and told them everything the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard it they lifted up their voice to God all together. ‘Master,’ they prayed ‘it is you who made heaven and earth and sea, and everything in them; you it is who said through the Holy Spirit and speaking through our ancestor David, your servant:
Why this arrogance among the nations,
these futile plots among the peoples?
Kings on earth setting out to war,
princes making an alliance,
against the Lord and against his Anointed.
‘This is what has come true: in this very city Herod and Pontius Pilate made an alliance with the pagan nations and the peoples of Israel, against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed, but only to bring about the very thing that you in your strength and your wisdom had predetermined should happen. And now, Lord, take note of their threats and help your servants to proclaim your message with all boldness, by stretching out your hand to heal and to work miracles and marvels through the name of your holy servant Jesus.’ As they prayed, the house where they were assembled rocked; they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to proclaim the word of God boldly.
|
Psalm |
Psalm 2:1-9 © |
Blessed are they who put their trust in God.
or
Alleluia!
Why this tumult among nations,
among peoples this useless murmuring?
They arise, the kings of the earth,
princes plot against the Lord and his Anointed.
‘Come, let us break their fetters,
come, let us cast off their yoke.’
Blessed are they who put their trust in God.
or
Alleluia!
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord is laughing them to scorn.
Then he will speak in his anger,
his rage will strike them with terror.
‘It is I who have set up my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.’
Blessed are they who put their trust in God.
or
Alleluia!
I will announce the decree of the Lord:
The Lord said to me: ‘You are my Son.
It is I who have begotten you this day.
Ask and I shall bequeath you the nations,
put the ends of the earth in your possession.
With a rod of iron you will break them,
shatter them like a potter’s jar.’
Blessed are they who put their trust in God.
or
Alleluia!
|
Gospel Acclamation |
Col3:1 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ,
you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is,
sitting at God’s right hand.
Alleluia!
|
Gospel |
John 3:1-8 © |
There was one of the Pharisees called Nicodemus, a leading Jew, who came to Jesus by night and said, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who comes from God; for no one could perform the signs that you do unless God were with him.’ Jesus answered:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
unless a man is born from above,
he cannot see the kingdom of God.’
Nicodemus said, ‘How can a grown man be born? Can he go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?’ Jesus replied:
‘I tell you most solemnly,
unless a man is born through water and the Spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God:
what is born of the flesh is flesh;
what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Do not be surprised when I say:
You must be born from above.
The wind blows wherever it pleases;
you hear its sound,
but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.
That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit.’