John 3:1-21 "A Pathway to Repentence"

Whenever I read John 3, I feel just a little bit bad for Nicodemus. Here he is, trying to learn from Jesus, and it seems like Jesus gives him a hard time throughout the lesson. Part of me wants to go back in time and tell Jesus to give ol' Nic a break. After all, the Holy Spirit was virtually unknown in the days of Jesus. A full explanation of the work of the Spirit would come from the later New Testament (and at the end of Jesus' own ministry).

Now I have come to appreciate that Jesus isn't calling Nicodemus stupid or getting angry at him, but rather Jesus is lifting up just how important repentance and salvation is. Throughout their conversation, Jesus gets very clear about the process of salvation, even if He doesn't go at it in a step-by-step plan.

Jesus entered the world to save it, not condemn it. However, in coming into the world, Jesus exposes the world's need for salvation. This is uncomfortable, because it strikes to our very hearts. There are areas in which we are very comfortable living in disobedience to God and God's ways. Jesus calls us out for loving the darkness and fearing the light. He invites us into the light, which shines more brightly as He is lifted to the cross. At the foot of the cross, we find the light of Jesus showing us the way of salvation. This is confession, and it's a behavior that we ought to come back to on a daily basis. Confession is the necessary activity of lifting our deeds into the light, where God can deal with them in the grace-soaked way God chooses to.

God chooses to deal with our deeds by the Holy Spirit, who takes the work of Jesus on the cross and applies it to us. It is the Spirit who shows us the impact of our deeds and who begins to bear the fruit of repentence within us. And as the Spirit works in us, our capacity to see and receive the Kingdom grows. And as our capacity grows, so we get to join God's work in the world.

It is an amazing and humbling thought that we would have the chance to join God in doing what God does best. It is so humbling that I find myself hungering more and more for the Spirit's work in me so that my capacity to join God can grow and grow. I pray the same hunger for all of us.