We live in a world of contrasts.
Belief and doubt, free and slave, life and death, light and darkness, love and hate, spirit and flesh, true and false.
John’s gospel is filled with them. And the following passage highlights one of those contrasts.
John begins to tell the story of darkness in the third chapter.
“Now there was a certain man among the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler (a member of the Sanhedrin) among the Jews, who came to Jesus at night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi (Teacher), we know (without any doubt) that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs (these wonders, these attesting miracles) that You do unless God is with him.’” — John 3: 1-2
Nicodemus was a man who had it all together. He was a Pharisee. He was a member of the Jewish ruling council, and he was a brilliant theological scholar.
People looked to him for all the answers and thought, “If anyone has a golden ticket to heaven, it’s that guy.”
But they were seeing all that on the outside. Nicodemus was seeing something else on the inside — and in his mirror every morning!
His world was filled with priests and prophets, but Jesus was different. All those priests and prophets talked about God. Jesus claimed to be God.
All those priests and prophets talked about the things God could do. Jesus was doing those things — healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, enabling the deaf to hear, feeding the 5,000 with two fish and five loaves, and raising the dead back to life.
Jesus was different and Nicodemus wanted to know more about him. But Jesus was surrounded by Pharisees and crowds during the day, so Nicodemus came at night.
He had questions he didn’t want his friends to hear, and he wanted to be alone with Jesus away from the crowds and the noise. Once there, he began to talk about Jesus and Jesus cut him off and changed the subject — to Nicodemus and light!
We think the light will condemn us, but Jesus’ light only heals us.
“Lord, I’m tired of pretending to be a Christian on the outside. Will you fill my inside with ‘the amazing grace of the Master Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God the Father, and the intimate fellowship of the Holy Spirit?
“Amen and amen?!”
Charles “Buddy” Whatley is a retired United Methodist pastor serving Dawson Street Methodist Church in Thomasville, Ga. With wife, Mary Ella, they are missionaries to the Navajo Reservation.
