Enter this uplifting article to learn with us about the conversation of Jesus and Nicodemus. Where the Lord explains how you can be born again, in order to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus and Nicodemus
On this occasion we will be reflecting on a passage from the Bible where Jesus talks with a Jewish man named Nicodemus. This biblical passage of Jesus and Nicodemus is found in the gospel of John 3: 1-15.
Prior to the encounter of Jesus with Nicodemus, the Lord had performed in Jerusalem and in front of many people, a large number of miracles. Jesus was in Jerusalem on the occasion of the celebration of the sacred festival of Passover.
The sacred festival of Passover was one of the three annual events that, by God's command, every Jew had to make a pilgrimage to the city of Jerusalem. For this reason, Jews from all regions of the Palestinian territory were found in the city.
Meet here the map of Palestine at the time of Jesus, because it is convenient to make an analysis of it. Due to the importance of understanding even more the value of the message and the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In this link you will also have the opportunity to see aspects such as the political organization, theological doctrines, social groups and more of the territory where Jesus moved when he was on earth.
an incomplete faith
After the great signs and wonders that Jesus performed on Easter in Jerusalem, the passage says that many believed in Him. But for Jesus this was an incomplete faith, because it was manifested only by the miracles they were seeing.
That incomplete faith caused Jesus not to approve of them as true followers of his way. One of the people who applied this logical reasoning to believe that Jesus was someone in whom God was with Him; It was the man named Nicodemus.
Later Jesus and Nicodemus They have a private meeting. Because this man, Pharisee and leader among the Jews felt the need to know more about Jesus. During this conversation the Lord takes advantage of making him see the need to be born again, in addition to believing in order to enter the kingdom of God.
Jesus knows the interior of all men
Before the day for Passover was over, Jesus had already arrived in Jerusalem and when he arrived he purified the temple. This event was welcomed by the vast majority of Jews who were targets of extortion from money changers and merchants selling sacrificial animals.
Because Jesus had confronted with authority all these extortionists and profiteers for turning his Father's house into a market. What led to great suspicion among the people, who grew older, after seeing the signs that Jesus did when performing great prodigies.
The evangelist John writes before the passage of Jesus and Nicodemus; that many people in Jerusalem believed in Jesus when they saw him perform mighty wonders. Prodigies that people saw as signs vested with divine authority.
John 2:23-25 (NASB): 23 When Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in His name when they saw the signs that He did.. 24 but Jesus, instead, they were not trusted, because he knew them all, 25 and he did not need anyone to bear witness to him about the man, because He knew what was inside the man.
But, as can be seen from this biblical passage, Jesus distrusted this way of believing. What was it that Jesus saw to object to this kind of faith? The answer is that Jesus beyond listening to what these people said, He knew the interior or heart of each one of them. Well said Jesus, quoting the scriptures in Isaiah 29:13:
Matthew 15:7-8 (NKJV):Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 8 “This town honors me with its lips, but its heart is far from me".
Jesus did not trust the early believers in Jerusalem
That is why Jesus did not trust this faith, which was expressed to him by the first believers in Jerusalem. It was a faith far from what truly pleases God.
The true faith that Jesus wants to see in the hearts of men and not only that which says: I believe in God. This is the faith, the true one, the one that gives access to eternal life to salvation in Christ Jesus.
John 17:3 (KJV-2015) AND this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
In the Bible we can find a large number of words that speak to us of eternal life, which contain God's main promise of salvation through his Son Jesus Christ. That is why we invite you to read these eternal life verses and salvation in Christ Jesus and meditate on them.
Jesus seeing the legalism that existed in the Jews of Jerusalem, saw the need to carry out drastic reforms within Judaism. An example of this was the purification of the temple, where he also announced there that in three days he would be raised from the dead.
But this was an announcement that only people with authentic faith could understand when the day of the fulfillment of his word arrived:
John 2:22 (NKJV): 22 Therefore, when he rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed in the scripture and in the word that Jesus had spoken.
Jesus in Jerusalem encountered a Judaism that went beyond professing a genuine faith in God, and believing in his word. They had become simply religious, legalistic people, knowing the law, but not knowing God.
Not everyone who says they believe is a believer in God
The gospel we are studying from the passage from Jesus and Nicodemus, also enlightens us on the fact that: Not everyone who says they believe is a believer in God. “Many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he did,” Juan tells us.
But these signs also placed Jesus as a target of the hatred of Jews, who claimed to believe in God and obey his precepts. These religious Jews followed Jesus not precisely because they could understand what they saw him do, that is why the Lord tells them:
John 6:26 (NLT): Jesus answered them, “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed them not because they have understood the miraculous signs.
John 8:31 (PDT): Then Jesus began to tell the Jews who had believed in him: -If you continue to obey my teaching, you will truly be my followers-.
These Jews, just to see the signs, said only by their mouths to believe, but when Jesus demanded that they follow his teachings, this bothered them. In response to those who said they believed, they brought out what was really in their hearts: Hatred and reproach towards the Lord:
John 8:48 (GNT): Then, some Jews told him: -When we say that you are an undesirable foreigner, and that you have a demon, we are not wrong-.
In these times and like these Jews the same thing happens to many who say they believe in the Lord. God manifests himself in his life in a prodigious way.
But when they are demanded by the Lord to remain in Him and keep his word. These believers do not assume the responsibility and commitment that comes with genuine faith.
They end up abandoning the path of following Jesus, these believers generally seek God motivated to solve a specific problem, but they are not interested in the eternity that he offers.
Jesus and Nicodemus, one of the Pharisees
So far we have already seen how Jesus knew just by seeing what was in the heart of each man. And among the men who had been amazed more than believed in Jesus, because of the signs that he did, there was one named Nicodemus.
Nicodemus was also a Pharisee, with this presentation the biblical passage of John 3:1-15 begins. This man was one of the Jews in awe of Jesus.
With the knowledge that Nicodemus had as a Pharisee, he identifies Jesus at the beginning of his conversation, as a Rabbi or teacher. Nicodemus was also clear that these signs that Jesus did could only be done by someone with authority from God.
But Jesus, knowing the heart of every man, knew that the knowledge Nicodemus had was not enough. It was necessary for Him to make her understand that in addition to believing in signs, she had to be born again.
But let us remember that the passage begins by presenting Nicodemus as one of the Pharisees. So it is important to stop for a moment to know who the Pharisees were, in order to understand what was in Nicodemus's mind when he sought Jesus.
Who were the Pharisees?
Etymologically, the term Pharisee comes from the Hebrew word perushim, whose meaning is separate or pure. The verbal form of these terms is parush, to indicate the verb to separate.
This term is adopted as a definition of one of the Jewish sects of the times of Jesus. And the Jews of this sect adopted the name of Pharisees, considering themselves separate from other Jews.
Such separation was due to the fact that the Pharisees believed themselves to be stricter than the other Jews. As for fulfilling and faithfully following what refers to liturgies, ceremonial acts and Jewish laws.
The Pharisees had a large number of members, who were proud of their religiosity. Among the Jewish society of the time of Jesus, this sect was highly respected for the knowledge and interpretation they had of the sacred writings.
That was what society and themselves believed, that they were fulfilling God's mandate. However, they had corrupted the law, substituting their own traditions for it, settling for only fulfilling the law only from the outside. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection and therefore in salvation, but in a wrong way.
Since they said that salvation had to be earned through works, rigorously complying with the Law of God. So, if they believed themselves and called themselves separate because they considered themselves pure, such purity was only external.
This makes us understand the many times that Jesus spoke of the Pharisees as hypocrites, religious or false. Because these also believed themselves superior to other people, whether they were Jews or not.
Jesus and Nicodemus, a leader among the Jews
The presentation of this man in the passage from Jesus and Nicodemus, goes beyond being a Pharisee. The evangelist completes his presentation by telling us that he is also a ruler among the Jews.
That is to say that Nicodemus was not just any Pharisee, he also belonged to the Jewish Sanhedrin. That is, the high court or the Jewish court, so that Nicodemus was a man who enjoyed a good reputation, due to his status or position within the society of Jerusalem.
In the biblical verses quoted below we can see some of this. First, the evangelist John recognizes Nicodemus as a member of the Sanhedrin and in the second, Jesus himself identifies him as a teacher of Israel, the rabbis had a good name among the Jews:
John 7:50-51 (NKJV): 50 Nicodemus, who I had gone to talk to Jesus at night and was one of them, said: 51 – Does our law judge a man without first hearing him and without knowing what he has done?? -
John 3:9-10 (NKJV): 9 Nicodemus asked him: – doY How could this happen? – 10 Jesus replied: - And you are a teacher of Israel, and you do not know it?? -
Therefore, being a Pharisee and also a leader among the Jews, Nicodemus, must have had a great baggage of knowledge. But, in spite of all this knowledge, I need to go in search of Jesus to be able to have a private conversation with Him, to be able to understand what the Lord was saying.
This leaves us with a great lesson, and that is the cognitive capacity that man may have. It has nothing to do with the ability to understand the spiritual truths hidden in the word of God, as for Nicodemus, what Jesus wanted to teach him.
Why did he go to see Jesus at night?
Upon his arrival in Jerusalem for Passover, Jesus had several clashes with the Jewish leaders. Both with the priests of the temple, as with the Sanhedrin and interpreters of the Law, such as scribes and Pharisees.
These confrontations caused Jesus to earn the dislike of the main Jewish leaders. If we look at verse fifty quoted above, we see that Nicodemus goes to talk to Jesus at night.
This behavior of Nicodemus can be understood in two ways, first, he wanted to protect himself because of his status or social position, so that they would not see him speak with Jesus privately. Second, he was overcoming his own inner bias to recognize the superior wisdom that was in Jesus.
It was difficult for him to overcome, above all, that this superior wisdom was carried by a man from Galilee. That, for the Judaism of the time, being a Galilean was the lowest among Jews.
Furthermore, Nicodemus knew that Jesus did not come from any recognized rabbinical school in Jerusalem. For Nicodemus it was lowering to have to go to Jesus to talk about religious matters of notable importance.
What makes us understand today, that Nicodemus chose the night hours to visit Jesus. He thus could hardly be seen by any other member of the Jewish Sanhedrin.
Born again, to enter the Kingdom of God
When Nicodemus arrives in the presence of Jesus, he justifies his visit with the following expression:
John 3:2b (RVC): -Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, because no one could do these signs that you do if God were not with him-.
First Nicodemus with the word “we know”, makes Jesus see that not only he had made the logical deduction. That someone did such signs, it was because God was over him.
It means, if we rely on the following quote, that several members of the Sanhedrin or the Pharisees agreed on the same conclusion as Nicodemus:
John 12:42 (BLPH): In spite of everything, there were many, even among the Jewish leaders, who believed in Jesus. But they did not dare to express it publicly, because they feared that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue.
Going back to the conversation Jesus and Nicodemus, we have a Pharisee before the Lord. But, what differentiated this Pharisee from the other Pharisees and the rest of the main ones?
The difference was that Nicodemus wanted to know more about Jesus, the Lord knew Nicodemus's thoughts, that's why he answers him without him having asked him any questions:
John 3:3 (NKJV): Jesus answered him: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who is not born again cannot see the kingdom of God-.
How can I enter the Kingdom of God?
The question that Jesus answered was in the heart of Nicodemus and it was: How can I enter the Kingdom of God? The type of answer that Jesus gave to this Pharisee and chief was very common in Him, in a metaphorical way or in a parable.
But in this answer, Jesus was teaching Nicodemus a key point of great importance regarding salvation: Man cannot save himself, as the Pharisees thesis defended.
The sinful nature of man does not allow him to save himself, whatever works he has done in life. Man needs to clothe himself with a new nature, putting to death the old one and this can only be done through Christ Jesus.
It is to die to be born again, but even in the wisdom of man that Nicodemus carried, he did not understand this new way of being born that Jesus wanted to teach him:
John 3:4 (RVC): Nicodemus said to him: – And how can a man be born, being already old? Can he enter his mother's womb, and be born again? –
Nicodemus could not understand the language in which Jesus spoke to him because he interpreted Jesus' words literally and in his logical reasoning. This rigid Pharisee in the interpretation of the law could not understand that Jesus was teaching him about a different kind of birth, being born in the spirit.
We invite you to continue building yourself in the word, entering here: ¿What language did Jesus speak with his disciples?? We know that Jesus during his life and public work on earth communicated with the people teaching them the message of the Kingdom of God through parables. But how did Jesus communicate with his disciples? or, What language did Jesus speak with his disciples and with the other people? Enter here to learn about this topic so debated today.