ARE YOU THE TEACHER OF ISRAEL AND DO NOT UNDERSTAND THESE THINGS?

It was night time when Nicodemus came to Jesus, so it may have been the case that there were few other people around, but I can still imagine that Nicodemus may have felt a bit chided, scolded even, when he heard Jesus say, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?” Maybe Jesus was wanting to get his attention—He really did want to teach this teacher of Israel about some important things, things from our OYB reading from John 3 for today—things we won’t go into more detail about here.

But what may God want to be getting our attention about? Would He say to us:
“Are you a parent and do not understand these things?”
“Are you a church member/attender and do not understand these things?”
“Are you an elder and do not understand these things?”
“Are you a husband/wife and do not understand these things?

We don’t have further record in this passage of Nicodemus’ response to what Jesus said and taught, but later passages in John suggest that he may have become a follower of Jesus (see 7:50-51, 19:39). We too should keep a teachable, humble, open attitude to what the Lord may want to be teaching us, through Scriptures like these daily OYB readings, or by teaching from and fellowship with other believers.