“He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.”
Matthew 28:6 ESV

This week we celebrate the final days of Jesus’ earthly ministry. It is the Passover, the first festival of the Lord in the Hebrew calendar. Jews from across Israel and Judah gathered in Jerusalem to remember their deliverance from Egypt.

Pharaoh had hardened his heart against the Lord and His people, even when God sent plagues that clearly demonstrated His power. Lastly, the Lord instructed his people to use hyssop to apply the blood of the lamb across the doorposts, so that the angel of death would pass them over.

How could the blood of a mere lamb save Israel and move the king of Egypt to release them in an instant? Yet, it happened. And Jews still celebrate this miracle of deliverance today.

It was not just about the blood of lambs and goats, but the people’s willingness to obey Adonai, their Master.

Humans crave for familiarity. We like routines and predictability, even when it’s not the best for us. This leads us to say or do things we might regret. It leads us to make decisions based on our felt experiences on what is right and wrong. We would rather be in charge and to rule everything, resulting in us missing God’s instruction, which ultimately leads to death.

Even the religious had to choose between the wisdom of men and the sovereignty of God.

Enter Nicodemus.

He was a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council called the Sanhedrin, which was is in charge of all Jewish religious and legal matters.

He was wealthy and highly esteemed in the society of his day.

Yet despite his academic rigour, he was intrigued when Jesus came onto the scene. He was so desperate to meet him and to inquire of his teachings that he risked his reputation to meet him at night, in darkness. He wanted to know who Jesus really was, and why God was with Him in such authority.

This was when Jesus delivered a saying that dismantled his decades of religious training and paradigms…

“Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’  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.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”
John 3:6-9 ESV

Nicodemus was genuinely searching. He wanted to understand what it meant to be born again. Jesus had impressed him, but he still needed to understand if He was who He claimed He was. He was a Pharisee, a ruler. In that conversation of the night, the Holy Spirit apprehended him in a spiritual womb. It shattered all his boxes, paradigms, mindsets.

Nicodemus met the Truth that night.
The Truth worked in his heart and birthed someone new — in His time.
All the knowledge he amassed became alive when He met Jesus — when He had that conversation with Jesus.

In the night.
In the dark.
In the womb.
Despite his initial fears, Nicodemus eventually gave it all to be publicly identified with Jesus in His death and resurrection.

I wonder as Nicodemus saw the unfolding of events on the specific Passover week in history, if the scriptures unfolded and unraveled for him…

that Yeshua is fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah.
that He is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of this world.
that He must die and be raised again.

that He will perform what He said, as He said, for he loved even those whose boxes have become tombs—like Nicodemus—so that he would believe in Him, and not die, but have everlasting life.

Will you obey the wind of the Spirit?
Will you allow Him to break your religious boxes like Nicodemus?
Will you allow Jesus to call you to walk with Him, no matter the destination?

I close with Mary’s prayer as she received angel Gabriel’s instructions to birth forth the Saviour of the world.

“…Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word…”
Luke 1:38 ESV

As He said.