Jesus and Nicodemus
There was a man named Nicodemus who belonged to the Pharisees, a religious group among the Jews. He was an important leader among his people. One night, he came to find Jesus and said to him, "Teacher, we know that God has sent you to teach us. No one could do the miraculous signs you're doing unless God was with him." Jesus answered him, "I'm telling you the absolute truth—no one can see God's kingdom unless they are born again." Nicodemus was confused. "How can someone be born again when they're already old? They can't go back into their mother's womb and be born a second time, can they?" Jesus explained, "I'm telling you the absolute truth—no one can enter God's kingdom unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Physical birth gives you physical life, but spiritual birth comes from the Spirit. Don't be surprised that I told you that you must be born again. Think about the wind—it blows wherever it wants to go. You can hear the sound it makes, but you don't know where it comes from or where it's going. That's exactly how it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." Nicodemus still didn't understand. "How can these things happen?" he asked. Jesus responded, "You're a teacher of Israel, and you don't understand these things? I'm telling you the absolute truth—we speak about what we know for certain, and we tell others about what we have seen with our own eyes. Yet you people refuse to accept what we're telling you. If you don't believe me when I tell you about things that happen here on earth, how will you ever believe me if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ever gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven—the Son of Man. "Remember how Moses lifted up the bronze snake in the wilderness? In the same way, the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. "God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life. God didn't send his Son into the world to judge and condemn it, but to save the world through him. Anyone who believes in him will not be condemned, but anyone who doesn't believe is already condemned, because they haven't believed in God's one and only Son. "Here's how the judgment works: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because the things they were doing were evil. Everyone who does evil things hates the light and stays away from it, because they're afraid the light will show everyone the wrong things they've been doing. But whoever lives by the truth comes toward the light, so that everyone can see clearly that what they've done has been done through God's power."
Jesus and John the Baptist
After these things happened, Jesus and his followers traveled into the countryside of Judea. He stayed there with them for a while, and they baptized people who came to them. At the same time, John was baptizing people at a place called Aenon, which was near Salim. He chose that spot because there was plenty of water there, and people kept coming to him to be baptized. This was before John had been arrested and put in prison. During this time, an argument broke out between some of John's followers and a Jewish man about the proper way to wash for religious ceremonies. Troubled by this dispute and other concerns, John's disciples came to their teacher with a complaint. "Rabbi," they said, "remember that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River—the one you spoke so highly about? Well, now he's baptizing people too, and everyone is leaving us to go to him instead." John answered them with remarkable wisdom. "No person can receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven," he said. "You heard me say this with your own ears: I am not the Messiah. I was sent ahead of him to prepare the way." Then John used a beautiful word picture to explain the situation. "Think of a wedding," he said. "The bride belongs to the groom, not to the groom's best friend. The friend stands nearby and listens for the groom's voice, and when he hears it, he is filled with joy. That's exactly how I feel right now—my joy is complete. Jesus must become greater and more important, while I must become less important." John continued his explanation: "The one who comes from heaven is greater than everyone else. Anyone who comes from the earth belongs to the earth and can only speak about earthly things. But the one who comes from heaven is above all things. He tells people about what he has actually seen and heard, yet hardly anyone believes what he says. But when someone does accept his message, that person is declaring that God tells the truth. You see, God sent Jesus to speak God's own words, and God gives his Spirit to Jesus without holding anything back. The Father loves his Son and has put everything under his control. Anyone who believes in the Son will live forever. But anyone who refuses to obey the Son will never experience true life—instead, God's anger will remain on that person."