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[00:03] You're listening to the Catholic Sprouts Podcast. This year, we are reading through all four gospels. Join us as we invite God to plant seeds of faith in our lives through His Holy Word. Hey, welcome back to The Catholic Sprouts Podcast, where we are reading the gospels this school year. Today is day 160 of this journey, and we are reading from the gospel of John, chapter three, verses one through 27. Now, among other things, we are going to be meeting a character that appears only in the gospel of John. His name is Nicodemus. Today, I am reading, as always, from the New American translation of the Bible, but before we begin, let's pray. In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created, and you will renew the face of the earth. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John 3, verses 1 through 21. Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. He came to Jesus at 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 are doing unless God is with him. Jesus answered and said to him, Amen, Amen, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above. Nicodemus said to him, How can a person once grown up be born again? Surely he cannot reenter his mother's womb and be born again, can he? Jesus answered, Amen, Amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and spirit. What is born of flesh is flesh, and what is born of spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you, you must be born from above. The wind blows where it will, and you can hear the sound it makes, 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 answered and said to him, How can this happen? Jesus answered and said to him, You are the teacher of Israel, and you do not understand this. Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen. But you people do not accept our testimony. If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light, and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done for God. All right, a very powerful conversation with so much to unpack. We are probably just going to be scratching the surface today. But let's do what we can. So who is Nicodemus? Well, Nicodemus is a Pharisee. And throughout this whole gospel journey, we have heard Jesus say some pretty harsh things to Pharisees. But Nicodemus seems to be different. He comes to Jesus and is genuinely seeking understanding. We also get the feeling like John didn't intend us to read just his gospel on its own, because we didn't hear about all of these, you know, bringing sight back to the blind and curing the lame. We will read stories in this gospel, but it's almost like Nicodemus has seen all of the miracles mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and that this conversation is happening after those miracles. So since those Gospels did such a great job of sharing those miracles, John doesn't go into them, but instead shares this story from Nicodemus that talks about how we need to be born again, born from above. And you can understand how crazy this would sound. And even though he is an educated, you know, respected Jewish teacher, he doesn't get it. And now we have the benefit of, you know, years of saintly theologians to help us. But we know that this is referring to baptism, that to be born of the Spirit and of the water, that the Spirit, the water working together, of course, the water is a sign that we have been washed clean of original sin. But the Spirit is taking invisible action, where we are born again, and this time we are born into a new family, the family of God, just as God speaks over Jesus in the stories of the baptism and calls him his beloved son. This is what God did for us during our baptism, that there is an indelible mark then on our soul that has claimed us forever as a child of God. Now, there's some conversation here that we also need to explain. Jesus talks about being born of the flesh and then being born of the Spirit. So all throughout John's Gospel, when he says of the flesh, this can mean natural humanity, also earthly, human, fallen, sinful humanity. And then anything to be born of the Spirit is supernatural, heavenly, divine. So our first birth, of course, was natural. We had parents, we were born as tiny infants, but then we are offered a new birth that welcomes us into the family of God through baptism. And that these two existences that we have, our natural flesh existence, but then also our spiritual existence, that they are bridged, that they are brought together through Jesus Christ, who was fully human, born just like us, but then also fully divine. And so that's an incredible concept that we're going to continue to unwrap and understand better in this gospel, which is just that because Jesus was able to possess a complete human nature and also a complete divine nature, he brings them together and allows us to access the divine life. Crazy. Crazy. Okay. And then the last part that we have here is Jesus talking about a story from the accounts of the Israelites fleeing from Egypt, but they're wandering through the deserts for 40 years. And then there's the bronze serpent. If you remember this story, God sent poisonous serpents to punish the Israelites. But, as a cure, all they had to do was look up at a bronze serpent that Moses made and that they would be cured. And then Jesus uses that symbol, that story, to explain what he has to do, that he has to be lifted up and that he will be lifted up on the cross, but he also will be lifted up out of the grave through the resurrection. And then he will be lifted up once more in the ascension. That this lifting up of the serpent, that if you look upon the serpent with faith, you were saved. If you look upon Jesus Christ on the cross, risen from the dead, ascended into heaven. If we look on to him with faith, we also will be saved. Now tomorrow we are going to continue on with the Gospel of John. But for now, let's go back and think about this conversation with Nicodemus. Specifically, I challenge you to think about your own baptism when you were born in the Spirit. If possible, find a photo of that day. Have your parents tell you about that day. And I want you to just spend a quiet moment reflecting on the reality that you are the daughter or son of your earthly parents. But through baptism, you are also the daughter or son of the Almighty God, the great King of the Universe. He has claimed you, and not in a sort of general way, but in a specific and loving way. So let's just reflect on how we can live out more fully our identity as a child of God. Hey there, Sprouts. Thank you for reading the Gospel with me today. I encourage you now to bring what you have heard to prayer, and then record what God reveals to you in The Gospel In A Year Notebook. You can find a free copy of this to download by following the links that you will find in the notes for this podcast episode. I'll see you tomorrow, but until then, continue to sprout into the person that God created you to be.