John 3:9-15
Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
John’s Gospel, as we have already seen, is distinct from the other three in a number of aspects, the chief of which is that while the other three follow a pretty similar plot (based on Mark’s original work), John follows his own path. Hence, John reports Jesus’ driving the moneychangers out of the Temple at the beginning of his ministry rather than at the end to symbolize that, with his coming, people no longer need to make sacrifice. John also introduces characters we don’t meet anywhere else, like Nicodemus.
But in addition to these differences, John also imagines Jesus somewhat distinctly as well, and we get a clue to how John thinks about Jesus in this verse: “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony.” Jesus, as John wrote about in the Prologue, is the one who is close to the Father’s heart and therefore can make visible the otherwise invisible God. Jesus is, in other words, a Witness, the one who testifies to what he has experienced of God. And Jesus is the Revealer, the one who discloses God’s character and disposition toward humanity.
Witnessing and revealing, however, are not passive activities. They are what all of Jesus’ ministry is about. Hence John names what we might call “miracles” “signs,” as they are part of Jesus’ testimony and point to the truth he comes to reveal. Moreover, this testimony and revealing will come at a price. Jesus already knows that and so looks ahead to his crucifixion and prepares Nicodemus to see in his cross not just a similarity to a story from Israel’s past but the pattern of God’s relentless commitment to work good from evil and wrest life from death.
Prayer: Dear God, let us listen to the testimony of Jesus that we might know first hand your love for us and all the world. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Post image: Nicodemus and Jesus, by Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov c. 1850.
Firstly, thank you for these devotions, I try to keep up with them as they are quite often truly daily bread for me.
Secondly, the last line is what stirred me to comment in hopes of encouraging you as you continually take time out of your busy life to post these devotions. It is a powerful and succinct summary of the Gospel of the whole of our scriptures. I will be pondering God’s relentless commitment and probably using your line to help others in their understanding.