May 26, 2024: First Sunday after Pentecost
John 3:1-17
There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘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.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
If we believe that God became human in the person of Jesus, it changes our lives. The Incarnation of Jesus means that God fully understands what it means to be human, with all the challenges, joys, heartaches and messiness that being human entails.
Sometimes when I am praying with patients, I will make a reference to God’s ability to understand what they are going through, since God walked the earth in the person of Jesus. I do this because I think it’s important for people to know that God understands what they are going through when they are suffering.
The incarnation of Jesus also has implications for the nearness of God, which I also think is important for us as humans. Sometimes when I am with patients I pray that they know that God is as close to them as the air that they breathe. I want my critically ill patients, especially those on a ventilator and being sustained by life support, to know that God, the source of all life, is intimately connected to them. God is in the air they are breathing that is bringing them life.
All of us, no matter where we are in this journey called life, need to know that God is with us. God is with us when we are putting a cranky baby to bed, God is with us when we are spoon feeding an elderly parent, God is with us when we worry about money, God is with us in each and every circumstance of our lives. And that is reason to celebrate!