In today’s encounter between our Lord Jesus Christ and the “Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews,” we learn how we can approach Jesus in those moments in our life when we have a hard time understanding God’s plan for our life or, perhaps, even what Jesus is trying to say to us in Sacred Scripture.
John the Evangelist tells us that Nicodemus recognizes who Jesus is when he addresses Jesus, saying: "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him." For us, when we approach our Lord Jesus Christ, whether it is in the Eucharist, during Holy Communion, at Mass or in the Blessed Sacrament, in Adoration, or even in our daily prayer time, let us be imitators of Thomas who recognizes Jesus as “Lord and God,” because Christ truly is the King of kings and the Lord of lords in our life.
When we approach Jesus with docility of heart, like Nicodemus, Christ speaks truth into our hearts. And, here is the key, when we at first do not understand what Jesus is telling us, we do not lose faith nor become despondent. Rather, we continue to walk by faith and ask Jesus to speak his Truth to us. Nicodemus does not understand what Jesus meant when he said - "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." - so he asks Jesus: "How can a man once grown old be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother's womb and be born again, can he?"
My sisters and brothers in Christ, like Nicodemus, it is okay for us to not fully understand what God’s plan is for our life or what he is asking of us. However, by faith, we that the Holy Spirit is the wind that “blows where it wills [in our lives], and [we] can hear the sound it makes, but [we] do not know where it comes from or where it goes” and we trust because “it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." This is what it means for us to be docile to the movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives, the Spirit of God that guides us on the path that leads to Christ, helps us grow in our relationship with our Father in heaven, through His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. We see this happening to Nicodemus after his encounter with Jesus that fateful night.
In John, chapter 7 (verses 50-52), we read that Nicodemus came to the defense of Jesus before the chief priests and Pharisees: “Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them, ‘Does our law condemn a person before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?’” Then, after the death of Jesus, we read in John, chapter 19 (verse 39) that, along with Joseph of Arimathea, “Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds. They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom.”
My sisters and brothers in Christ, there is no doubt that Nicodemus’ encounter with Jesus profoundly touched his heart and transformed his life forever. Jesus desires to touch our hearts and transform our lives in the same way. For our part, we must approach our Lord and our God with docility of heart to the movement of his Spirit in our lives and, by faith, trust that he will reveal himself and his plan our lives - “plans for [our] welfare and not for woe, so as to give [us] a future of hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).
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