Jesus came for all people

It often helps to look more closely at scripture passages. Jesus made a powerful, demonstrative, and all-encompassing statement during a conversation with Nicodemus, a leading scholar and ruler of the Jews: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (Joh 3,16).

Jesus and Nicodemus met on an equal footing - from teacher to teacher. Jesus' argument that a second birth was necessary to enter the kingdom of God stunned Nicodemus. This conversation was significant because Jesus, as a Jew, had to deal with other Jews and, as in this case, especially with the influential rulers.

Let's see what happens next. Next there is an encounter with the woman at Jacob's well in Sychar. She was married five times and was now wildly married to a man, which made her the number one topic of conversation among people. In addition, she was a Samaritan and thus belonged to a people that the Jews frowned upon and avoided. Why did Jesus, the rabbi, have a conversation with a woman of all people, which was unusual, and with a Samaritan woman of all people? Honorable rabbis did not do that.

After a few days, which Jesus spent among them at the request of the Samaritans, he and his disciples moved on to Cana in Galilee. There Jesus healed the son of a royal official, to whom he said: "Go, your son lives!" This official, certainly a wealthy aristocrat, served in the court of King Herod, and could have been a Jew or a pagan. With all his means, he was unable to save his dying son. Jesus was his last and best hope.

During his stay on earth, it was not Jesus' style to make a powerful statement about God's love for all people while remaining in the background. The Father's love was shown in public through the life and suffering of his only begotten Son. Through the three encounters, Jesus revealed that he had come for "all men".

What else do we learn about Nicodemus? With Pilate's permission, Joseph of Arimathea took charge of Jesus' body and was accompanied by Nicodemus. "Nicodemus, who had previously come to Jesus by night, also came, bringing about 100 pounds of myrrh mixed with aloes. Then they took Jesus' body and bound it in linen cloths with spices, as is the custom of the Jews." (Joh 19,39-40).

At the first encounter he came to the Son of God under cover of darkness, now he shows himself courageously with other believers in order to arrange the burial of Jesus.

from Greg Williams