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Daily Reflection

Acts 4:23-31 Psalm 2 John 3: 1-8 Love that our gospel today comes from a covert night time conversation Jesus has with Nicodemus. From what we know of Nicodemus, he was a wise man who was a member of the Sanhedrin. Nicodemus is mentioned in three places in the Bible: today’s conversation, at the judgment of Jesus by the Sanhedrin, and he assists Joseph of Arimathea in caring for the body of Jesus after His crucifixion. Nicodemus is trying to better know Jesus as Nicodemus seeks the Truth and doing this in the covert night time so that he can avoid being persecuted by other Pharisees for seeking the counsel of Jesus. In the Greek in which the text was written, Jesus speaks a word to Nicodemus, “anothen” that may be understood to mean “again” or “from above”. Nicodemus understands it to mean “again” but Jesus explains it to mean “from above”. Throughout the gospels, Jesus asks those listening to Him to go deeper with their faith. Nicodemus is an incredible example of going deeper in our faith. He is already wise in the scripture but he seeks out Jesus to better understand. Why? Because our intellectual curiosity enlivens our relationships. The more we know someone, the more comfortable we are being with them. Same thing with Jesus. The more we know Jesus, the more we will want Him. That is being born again. Our baptism brings us to a born again spirituality – keep encouraging young adults to get their kids baptized! Today, will you resolve to learn His teachings and how they really apply to our lives, not the way mass media or social media says they apply, but the way our Church tells us they apply? Go smile at God today!

April 13

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John 3:7-15 The Gospel reading today is part of the great dialog between Jesus and Nicodemus. It is typically read on the 2nd Tuesday in the Easter season. As with many gospel readings, it is particularly helpful to read the full conversation from which this excerpt is taken (John 3: 1-21). Having so recently gone through Lent, we recall many stories of conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees. The Pharisees were known for a strictly legalistic interpretation and enforcement of the Mosaic law. They were also known for using their positions as the authoritative interpreters of the law to serve their own interests - which Jesus frequently confronts. In the Pharisee Nicodemus however, we have something wonderfully different. Unlike many Pharisees, Nicodemus represents the Jewish tradition at its very best. He seeks out Jesus at night presumably because he was deeply intrigued by the teachings & miracles of Jesus but feared the wrath of his colleagues who saw Jesus as a threat to their power. John again uses the imagery of night as a metaphor for spiritual awareness. Unlike Judas, who in John’s account of the last supper (John 13:21-33) leaves the one who is the light of the world to go out into the night, Nicodemus does the opposite – he comes from the night to seek the one who is the light of the world. What follows is an extraordinary revelation that is at the core of several key Catholic beliefs. First is baptismal regeneration. When Jesus says “do not be amazed when I say you must be born from above”, he is referencing what he said two verses earlier. Nicodemus asks how such a thing could be possible and Jesus tells him that we must be born of water and spirit, a strong reference to baptismal regeneration (rebirth). Interestingly, Jesus mildly rebukes Nicodemus for being a leader of the Jewish people yet not understanding this, which means that this has been God’s true intent right from the beginning. Jesus then asserts his divine authority in “we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen”, which means that rather than the self-serving speculation that the Pharisees use so often in their interpretation of the divine, Jesus (and by extension his followers) have direct, first-hand knowledge. Jesus then foreshadows his crucifixion and the salvation of humanity by linking it to the seemingly strange story from the Torah where Moses used an image of a serpent on a pole to save the Israelites (Numbers 21:4-9). He draws the comparison that like the story from Numbers, he will similarly be “lifted up” and that all who believe in him will have eternal life. This is the set up for the next verse (not included in today’s reading), which is the famous John 3:16 where Jesus reveals to Nicodemus the true purpose of his incarnation: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life”. One can only wonder how Nicodemus must have endlessly pondered this extraordinary revelation. Nicodemus does seem to come to believe in Jesus – he defends him before the Sanhedrin (John 7:50-52) and helps Joseph of Arimathea in Jesus’ burial (John 19:39-42). Question for reflection: What do I see in the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus that can draw me closer to Jesus?

April 14

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April 15

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April 16

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April 17

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April 18

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