“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.”
When Nicodemus said this, was he speaking for all the Pharisees? What if they recognized that Jesus was from God and still plotted against him? They weren’t just angry because of Jesus’ message, they hated Him because of His power. They set on a course to run God out of Israel so they could set themselves up as gods among their people.
Oh the Pharisees would never say, “bow down and worship me.” They were devout Jews, but the did insist on keeping the rules and making sure everyone else kept the rules–and the rules added to the rules. They emphasized right actions. To them, perhaps just knowing Jesus was from God should have been enough. From this perspective, Jesus’ answer makes a lot more sense.
v. 3 “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Just knowing in your head isn’t all it takes. It’s about yielding your life to the Spirit.
Maybe Nicodemus was sent to deliver a message from the Pharisees, “We know you are from God, now can you lay off with the miracles. You’re making us look bad.” I guess we will never know why Nicodemus came to Jesus that night, but we can be sure that Jesus rocked his world.
v. 9 “Nicodemus answered and said to Him, ‘How can these things be?’”
Jesus had caught Nicodemus’ attention by challenging the basic assumption that right actions/head knowledge is enough to please God.
Jesus had some hard reproof to offer. “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?” Then they sat down and Jesus shared the heart of God with Nicodemus the Pharisee.
