False Education

Do you trust what you have been taught?

Now 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. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God." - John 3:1-21

Jesus challenges Nicodemus.  He says to him, are you a teacher and do not know these things?

What a slap in the face that is.  And that is how John likes to portray Jesus.  Jesus challenges authority over what he sees is false education of the people of God.

That's a big deal, right?

It could be the main reason he came to live among them, to show them they got it all wrong.

The teaching is wrong.

Nicodemus takes Jesus literally, which one would expect him to do.  But since what Jesus says is so outrageous, an intelligent person should stop and think.  What is he referring to here?

We use the language and symbols Jesus uses all the time and no one questions what we mean.

We may say we feel like we were born anew after a good swim or a spa day, and people get it. They don't think we are talking about going back into the womb.

So, what would Jesus say to us?

Well, since we have made the term so familiar and commonplace, he would have to say something more radical.

The whole story about Moses and the serpent in the desert is an example of what would confuse us today.  We have no way to relate to that story.

God sent serpents to kill the people and then gave Moses the ability to save them by hanging a serpent on a stick?

That is supposed to symbolize Jesus on the cross?

You see how confusing it all can be?  No wonder our religious education is so ineffective.  

The bigger question here I think is this.

Did God make a mistake sending us out into this world where evil rules?  And did He decide to correct that mistake by becoming one of us to show us how to live in this evil world?

That's not the way we want to see God, is it?

So, Christianity is an enigma for many, and our job is to figure out what we can so we can gain what wisdom we can and live well in this crazy world.

What comes next, after this life, we don't have to worry about.  That's been dealt with for us.

More to come...