John 3:1-13, The Living Bible
After dark one night a Jewish religious leader named Nicodemus, a member of the sect of the Pharisees, came for an interview with Jesus. “Sir,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miracles are proof enough of this.”
Jesus replied, “With all the earnestness I possess I tell you this: Unless you are born again, you can never get into the Kingdom of God.”
“Born again!” exclaimed Nicodemus. “What do you mean? How can an old person go back into a mother’s womb and be born again?”
Jesus replied, “What I am telling you so earnestly is this: Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Humans can only reproduce human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from heaven; so don’t be surprised at my statement that you must be born again! Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it will go next, so it is with the Spirit. We do not know on whom he will next bestow this life from heaven.”
“What do you mean?” Nicodemus asked.
Jesus replied, “You, a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? I am telling you what I know and have seen—and yet you won’t believe me. But if you don’t even believe me when I tell you about such things as these that happen here among human beings, how can you possibly believe if I tell you what is going on in heaven? For only I, the Messiah, have come to earth and will return to heaven again.
One thing I’m getting
from this wonderful
collection of readings:
we are going to be surprised.
Surprised by who’s in
and who’s not.
Surprised by grace,
surprised by love,
surprised by God.
Are we open to surprise?
Even if it seems to fly in the face
of what we thought we knew?
I want to be.
I want to be.
Oh, yes, I’m certainly up for this kind of surprise.
Blessings, Diana!
And blessings to you, too, Martha!
I’d say creation and history alone prove God likes surprises. We’d be wise (and blessed!) to be open to them! Thank you for the reminder, Diana.
You are so right! Staying open to the surprising movements of God is a lifelong task — and joy.
Aren’t we lucky to be believers in Christ, the Risen Lord!?! We know the truth of Christ! But how odd we all worry about who is in and who isn’t, who should and who shouldn’t, when this is God’s job. We are asked to believe and be the light to show others the truth, to be surprised by Christ and the joy of knowing Him.
Yep, surprises by God are wonderful.
We are blessed, indeed. And I gave up worrying about ‘in and out’ years ago. That’s God’s work, not mine. And being the light is exactly right. Light, salt, love — bearing witness with our lives to the truth and power of grace.