"Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God." So says Nicodemus when he comes to Jesus "by night." Nicodemus "knows" that Jesus is from God, and yet Nicodemus is portrayed in John 3 as unable to understand when Jesus speaks of being "born from above." (The Greek word means both "from above" and "again," and it is impossible to render these words in English so that both possible meanings are apparent. Nicodemus hears the literal "again" while Jesus speaks of the more figurative "from above.")
Nicodemus is a learned teacher who comes to Jesus as one who "knows." Yet he seems to leave the encounter befuddled. And I wonder how often what I "know" gets in the way of what Jesus would say to me.
In other gospels, Jesus speaks of needing to become like children in order to enter the Kingdom. Being like children probably has many possible meanings, but perhaps one of them is to not be so sure of what we know, to be open to new possibilities, to allow the Holy Spirit to show us things we've never seen before.
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