Day 9: John 3:1-21

Whereas Mark shows Jesus meeting with tax collectors and other “sinners,” John records a meeting between Jesus and a man named Nicodemus, who was a respected religious leader and a Pharisee. This man was a part of the Sanhedrin, he was well respected and among the Jewish elite in society. And he came to Jesus to seek clarity on what he had been teaching about the Kingdom of God.

I love that Jesus took time and care to meet with Nicodemus just as he did those who were considered to be sinners by this very man. It didn’t matter to Jesus who you were if you were earnestly seeking the truth. And out of this conversation came what is perhaps the most quoted Bible verse in history, John 3:16. But the context of this conversation is what makes that verse so important. 

Jesus didn’t hold back when it came to what he had to say to Nicodemus. He told him that the Pharisees were looking at the coming Messiah in a completely wrong way. Their entire basis for the Kingdom of God was flawed. This was a man that was most likely quite a bit older than Jesus, who had spent his entire life studying the Jewish Scriptures, and was a respected teacher of the Law, and Jesus informed him that his entire outlook was incorrect. God had sent his Son to earth not to judge it, but that the whole world might be saved through him.

The Gospel is for everyone. Romans 10:13 promises us, “For ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.’” It doesn’t matter what your background is or who you are in this life. You may be the most respected person in your community, or you may be an outcast of society, Jesus still wants to meet with you. And he doesn’t want to meet with you to condemn you, but to offer you salvation through the love of God! Let us not think that the Gospel is only for a few, or that it was offered only to those who are deemed worthy of it. “For God so loved the world…” That’s all of us, and that is what makes it so controversial.