John 3:10-12
“Jesus said, ‘You’re a respected teacher of Israel and you don’t know these basics? Listen carefully. I’m speaking sober truth to you. I speak only of what I know by experience; I give witness only to what I have seen with my own eyes. There is nothing secondhand here, no hearsay. Yet instead of facing the evidence and accepting it, you procrastinate with questions. If I tell you things that are plain as the hand before your face and you don’t believe me, what use is there in telling you of things you can’t see, the things of God?’”
“Jesus replied,’ You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possible believe if I tell you about heavenly things?’”
The pronouns used here are interesting. The NLT uses we, meaning Christ was speaking for the triune godhead. The Message uses I but develops it into Christ’s authority as a firsthand witness. Perhaps the link between them is miracles. God the Father’s power flowed through the Spirit validated Christ to do miracles. In them, the we empowered, and the I testified.
Both versions clearly take Nicodemus to task for his lack of spiritual sight. God reveals truth to us one step at a time. We only get to advance a space on the board when we fully map the one we are on. Could we jump further along, there would be no connection between our landings and we’d find ourselves disoriented and confused, the mysteries of God wasted.
I feel sorry for Nicodemus. It seems Christ was hard on him. We are not privy to Christ’s knowledge of Nicodemus’ heart, head, and recalcitrance. We must trust he knew what Nicodemus needed to move to the next space. Sometimes we also need a jolt to get us moving.
Lord, forgive my will-full blindness and self-orientation. Give me wisdom to fully explore what you give today, so I am prepared to move on tomorrow.