A brief prayer is offered that you can add to your daily
prayers this week. The idea for the
devotion was sparked by the LSB footnotes, pp 1783.
GOSPEL READING John
3:1-15 (English Standard Version)
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a
ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to
him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one
can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus
answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he
cannot see the kingdom of God.”4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a
man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb
and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you,
unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of
God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which
is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you,
‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where
it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or
where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things
be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and
yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to
you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do
not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and
you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No
one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the
Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever
believes in him may have eternal life.
Devotion: 1+1+1=1
Even though Nicodemus is the teacher of Israel, our Lord is
not getting through to him about new birth through baptism. Human reason
darkened by sin cannot accept that God can grant spiritual rebirth through ordinary
water and His word [“I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit”]. Believers rejoice that the Lord sent His Son to die
on the cross for us and He fills us with the Holy Spirit in celebrating our
rebirth. We are like Nicodemus in some ways because the concept that our Lord
is indeed a triune God is a difficult thing for humans to grasp. So, we do not
worship three Gods we worship a God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. Now each of the persons is not 1/3rd of a God, each is a full-on
God. This is a mystery that baffles us sinners sometimes and we cannot completely
get our minds around it. I hope you will
agree and join me when I say that our God is an awesome God.
We pray: Lord thank
you for our salvation, you are an awesome God! Amen
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