John 3: 7-15
Jesus said to Nicodemus: “’You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”
Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Joyful Belief
Jesus’s dialogue with Nicodemus reminds us that the fullness of Christian belief eludes easy explanations.
As we meditate on Jesus’s resurrection in this Easter season, it might feel natural to identify with Nicodemus’s question, “How can these things be?” Encountering the great mystery of Christ, we desire, like Nicodemus, to more fully understand.
Yet we will become as confused and stuck as he is if we aim to grasp a divine mystery in human terms. The Paschal Mystery’s wonder invites us to embrace profound joy, but it is not neatly explainable in human logic any more than Jesus’s instruction that a true believer “must be born from above.” We journey through this season with humility before the awesomeness of what Jesus has accomplished.
Where in your life is God inviting you to prioritize joyful belief over needing to see the full picture?
—Brennan Dour, SJ, is a Jesuit scholastic and social studies teacher at Loyola High School of Detroit.
Prayer
Lord, let happen whatever you will;
and as you will, so will I walk;
help me only to know your will!
Lord, whenever you will, then is the time;
today and always.
Lord, whatever you will, I wish to accept,
and whatever you will for me is gain;
enough that I belong to you.
Lord, because you will it, it is right;
and because you will it, I have courage.
My heart rests safely in your hands!
—Bl. Rupert Mayer, SJ