Second Sunday in Lent Year A

Sunday 16 March 2014 Second Sunday in Lent - John 3: 1 – 17

Sometimes, we just don’t get it. Sometimes, the encounter seems (on the face of it) to be about one thing, when in reality it takes on a much deeper significance. It must be to do with the way our brains function at the level of logic or our pre-disposition to expect the answer that is in our head. The grooves of our thinking have been there a while and are probably getting deeper! So a learned man called Nicodemus finds himself in one of these conversations which, when he reflects back on it, was actually about something much more profound! Whilst he pursues the Rabbi for divine insight (v2), Jesus takes him to a place where the Holy Spirit dwells (v6). Jesus reveals one of those key requirements about the Kingdom of God: “No-one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit” (v5).

One of the steps in Lent is towards a greater openness to the Holy Spirit in our lives. Paul speaks of the Spirit as the source of a “mighty inner strength” (Ephesians 3:16). So, however tentative our steps of faith are, the Holy Spirit is ever present to support us and strengthen us.