In order to remind them who they really are, Moses goes back
to the episode of the golden calf. In some
Jewish teaching this episode is actually as important as the sin in the Garden
of Eden. They refer to the Torah as the
Tree of Life. The tree that was
forbidden to them after they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
was opened to them in the giving of the Law.
The tree of life was truly the knowledge of God's will is the
teaching. When they broke the first
commandment by making a golden calf and declaring it their god, they lost what
would have been the blessing of life without death. Death would have been destroyed for all who
took on the yoke of Torah. The sin of
the golden calf then is far greater than most of us realize but the rabbis and
sages so revere the Torah that this was and is their view of things. In Jesus, we see the cross as the Tree of
Life and our faith is in He whom we believe perfectly fulfilled the Word of
God, embodied it, and we have life in Him.
Poor Nicodemus. He is
utterly confused by Jesus speaking of being born again, just as everyone had
been when Jesus spoke of the sign of tearing down the temple and rebuilding it
in three days. Nicodemus was in the covenant
community with God because of his birth, he was born into the kingdom by virtue
of being Jewish but Jesus says he has to be born again in order to see the
kingdom, born from above, of water and the Spirit. Nicodemus, a teacher of Israel, is now shown
to himself to have limited understanding of earthly and spiritual things in
comparison to Jesus. Jesus speaks truths
because only He has ever been in heaven with the Father, there are things He
alone knows and yet such a claim has to be validated somehow. Nicodemus has already acknowledged that based
on what he has seen God is with Jesus. To
his credit, Nicodemus will continue to seek truth. He will stay on the periphery, perhaps, until
the crucifixion, but in a true hour of need, he will step forward with Joseph
of Arimathea and care for the body of this rabbi who intrigued him so. He may have come at night this time but he
will boldly come in that day.
We are admonished to hold our original confidence firm to
the end. Nicodemus had imperfect
confidence and knowledge when he first came to Jesus, but in the end he
identified with Jesus when almost no one else would do so, it probably cost him
dearly among his fellow Pharisees, perhaps meaning he was no longer welcome
among them as they had determined to de-synagogue those who identified themselves
with Jesus. If we are to have rest for
our weary souls, we must come to Him and remain there, our trust and hope in
Him alone. Perseverance in faith and
love is required. Here, the writer
couples unbelief and sin. Life reveals
faith and belief. The golden calf
revealed the lack of faith of the people in the God who had delivered them, the
same one whose power was seen on the mountain.
What does your life reveal about your faith? Does it show your ultimate trust and
confidence in Him or does it show you trust in other things, both in this life
and the one to come?
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